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Matt Walksler of Wheels Through Time rebuilds a rare Harley-Davidson WLDR engine.

When we say the WLDR engine is incredibly rare, we kid you not. While many motorcycle lovers fantasize about assembling engine parts, Matt Walksler from Wheels Through Time is capable of rebuilding engine parts so well that they can run again. Recently, Walksler worked on a Harley-Davidson WLDR engine.

The folks at Bikes and Beards, an online store that sells motorcycle gloves, tank straps, and motorcycle-focused apparel, bought a bike in Maryland, USA, and brought it to Wheels Through Time. In a video, Walksler reveals that although the bike’s motor was already tapped out, some parts still worked fine.

Walksler and his team disassembled the engine. Some 40 to 50 hours were used for the process. In this mini-feature, we share what we gleaned from the amazing video with you.

Well, it's kinda like what they do since Wheels Through Time is part museum and part restoration center. It focuses on rare American motorcycles and a few unique automobiles with limited production runs.

Located in Maggie Valley, North Carolina, they currently contain nearly 300 precious machines. With that wealth of experience, it's easy to understand why Bikes and Beards instantly thought of Walksler.

RELATED: Wheels Through Time Museum Reopens Without Its Founder, Dale Walksler

From the video, we learned that the engine was a WLDR and measured 45 cubic inches. According to Walksler, Harley-Davidson replicated the engine design between 1929 and 1973. At that time, only two-wheel versions were available.

When we saw the engine, we noticed that it looked clean.

Remember that it'd been taken apart in a previous video. Now, we see how the parts fit one another. The cases had been sandblasted, the crank rebuilt.

Walksler replaced the oil screens and polished the oil pumps. Being a flathead engine, the pumps were two, and they were called the feed pump and scavenger pump. The engine was previously a part of the famous “W” series. It is the first circulating oil flathead engine built by Harley.

We noticed that the engine now had light flywheels, polished rods, and quick revs. The gears and cams had been cleaned up. Now, the cams contained a part called the “big intake lobes” which guaranteed the WLDR engine’s potency.

RELATED: The 15 Craziest Engines In Motorcycles, Ever

As the cam cover was redone, so was the vent which gave the inside a sleek feeling. Walksler replaced the flutter valve, a part that allowed the engine to exchange crankcase pressure.

Moving on to the electrical components, the 32 e generator was rebuilt by Dale Cashman, a technician. A new relay was installed in the engine. The V Twin Company manufactured it. Here's where Walksler’s expertise came into play.

Although the bike came with a relay, it could not be used because it could have developed issues. To be on the safe side, a new one was put in.

The finished product was a joy to behold. While others may have substituted the original engine parts with new ones, Walksler opted to retain the engine’s originality.

He only used new parts when there was no other way around it. This video is a gift to all who enjoy the assembly of engine parts, whether automobiles or motorcycles. We loved it, and so will you.

Kolawole Samuel Adebayo (KSA) is a Tech Writer and Harvard-trained Entrepreneur with 6+ years of experience in SEO Copywriting, Content Strategy, Leadership, Coaching, and Brand Identity Management. He is the Founder of Expolitus NG— one of Nigeria’s fast-rising startups in the content marketing and sales strategy landscape. Kolawole enjoys reading, writing, and talking about the automobile, manufacturing, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, generative design, construction, and mental health and addiction recovery industries. He has worked with several organizations all over the world, helping them meet their content marketing goals, as well as multiplying their ROI. Kolawole, a former poetry reader at Feral Journal, is a poet with works published in several journals around the world. His chapbook manuscript, INVOCATIONS, was recently selected by Kwame Dawes and Chris Abani for the APBF New-Generation African Poets Chapbook Box-set Series (Akashic Books, 2021).