Panther 1935 Model 50. 3. The Search for Parts

Naturally with a machine in this condition and of this age there are a lot of parts to find and usually they do not readily come to light. I have been playing with Panthers for almost 40 years and in my time have owned many of the different models from a 1921 500 to a 1962 Panther Princess Scooter so I have collected a pile of odds and ends. These are not catalogued or organised so I have had to search through the junk to see what I had that could be of use on this project.

Since finding replacement Model 50 flywheels seemed unlikely, I decided to rebuild the engine as a 600cc. I had owned a 1933 M100 so there was a good chance I still had some suitable bits laying around. I had good dig in my jumble of parts and this produced an early barrel of standard size in usable condition. These barrels have a small upstanding top lip, unlike the later ones which have a large flat for the copper gasket. I also found a standard slipper piston, some suitable rings, a cylinder head which would fit the rocker box supplied with the bike and a suitable conrod. My stock of Model 100 taper fit flywheels appeared to be a pile of mixed pairs with balance holes all over the place. I decided to use the pair I took from the engine of the Wreck, the subject of a former blog, knowing that they had run together. These were very rusty having lain in water for 25 years but being made of cast iron the rust is only on the surface so they should clean up well and are uncracked. 

Flywheels from the Wreck before cleaning.

Other parts came to light; the large top engine hanger, a rear brake lever. the dynamo drive sprocket rings for the magneto drive, a dynamo sprocket, valves, springs and the collet fittings, suitable push rod ends (no pushrods), some worn tappets, the tappet block and pushrod tube, a carburetter, a pair of crankshaft roller bearings and a new big end missing its outer race, steering head races, an eight inch headlight and all the parts for a clutch. All of this stuff needs work naturally but other parts may surface in the fullness of time.

Correct head

M 100 Barrel and Slipper Piston

Original ring set.

Push rod tube, carb, brake lever, U-bolt saddles,
top engine mounting.

Dynamo spacer, (cast by Sherb), conrod, cams, push rod ends.

Clutch parts

8 inch headlight

I then turned to the POC Spares Department, that excellent service available to all Panther Owners Club members. Anticipating a problem with stretched tapers in the old flywheels I bought a big end with slightly oversize tapers. Spares Secretary Ian Fox turned up with the short engine top hanger; it is different to later ones as it fits on the U-bolt and not on a pair of bolts at wider centres on the rocker box. He also produced a rear stand, a pair of refurbished cam followers (on exchange) and the chain cover for the dynamo drive. Rex dropped by with a front mudguard with the correct long trappings that clear the Webb forks.

Refurbed cam followers, small top engine mounting, big end,
dynamo chain cover, dynamo mounting strap.

Rear Stand.

 On Ebay I found a pair of remanufactured top fork links to replace the home made ones and a set of hardened washers for the spindles. A visit to the local Metal Supermarket produced a length of half inch diameter EN24 bar to make a set of fork spindles.

Head races, new fork links and washers

As I was in the throws of making a chainguard for the Model 70 I made a second one for this project, then I measured up the battery support on my 1936 M100 and made one of those too.

New Chainguard

Battery support

A photo appeared on the Panther Facebook posted by Markus Orth of an aftermarket speedo drive running from a large gear on the front wheel. I had the large gear, and low and behold, I have had the rest of the drive in a cupboard for years; at last a use for it.

Markus Orth's speedo drive

Speedo drive gearbox and Smiths MA Speedo

This collection of parts took a serious turn when I posted photos of this project on the Panther Facebook page along with an appeal for parts, particularly a gearbox. This should be a  Burman BAPH with front and bottom mountings. I have two early CP boxes which have top and bottom mounts and I toyed with the idea of removing the top one and bolting a mount to the front. Also I thought of fabricating a battery tray to include a top mount. However FB produced a response from Shaun Omaonaigh in  Australia who offered me most of a box at a very reasonable price although that was doubled by the cost of shipping halfway round the world.. This was without the kickstart case cover and the contents of the kickstart case  Shaun also had a BA body shell with the correct mountings.  I discussed with Fred Baggs the possibility of using parts from the CP box but Fred confirmed that there was little chance of the parts fitting correctly. 

BAPH gearbox as offered

BAPH shell offered

I further bent Fred's ear asking if later BA parts, of which I have a stock, would fit the early shell. The answer was again in the negative.

I gratefully accepted Shaun's offer of the part box and contents and tracked its slow progress as it moved to Perth airport, thence to Coventry and finally here. Foxy alerted me to a kickstart cover on Ebay and I snapped that up. This solved one problem as I found that the kickstart ratchet from the CP box would fit and the selector parts from later BA boxes are the same and I had plenty of those.

Kickstart case cover from Ebay.

Finally Petsch in Germany sent me a Miller dynamo.

Miller dynamo.

I am sure there are many other minor parts to be found but I have now collected a fair proportion of the bits required to assemble another Panther. So let battle commence, onward and upward!

My thanks to Fred Baggs, Ian Fox, Shaun Omaonaigh, Rex Norton and Ralf Petscheleit.