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Showing content with the highest reputation on 02/20/2014 in all areas

  1. I would doubt very much if you could get a reliable 200 hp out of one of these engines. You would certainly have to spend gobs of money to get close. And the basic design and metallurgy probably won't support it for all that long. I think a 35% to 50% boost in power is something a lot of us might appreciate and is probably an attainable dream. Honestly 25% more power would be easily noticed. I would be very happy with that if I could do it without changing the sweet running characteristics of the engine or creating a potential grenade. When I first built the old motorcycle engine I mentioned above I had to learn some valuable lessons. Initially I used later aftermarket parts and it ran but did not perform as I expected. One of the main characteristics these engines were known for was their ability to produce good usable power at throttle settings below 200 rpm. My initial build did not want to play nice at that sort of engine speed so I started researching the issue. I went through everything I could find that was published at the time these bikes were produced. Thanks to the Brit's great tradition of documenting the crap out of things I was able to find dozens of articles and even a few videos of them in action at the Scottish 6 days trails and the like. This whole process was very enlightening. I came to understand what was truly needed to get one of these engines to run like it was supposed to. The bottom line was that in order for it to behave like it was designed to it needed a very specific wire wound piston that had not been made for over 50 years. All the aftermarket pistons were of different designs than the originals ....different weight....different c/r.....different rings.....and designed to run at higher clearances. I really wanted to do this right......and I was able to find a NOS piston and rings. That combined with a re-sleeved barrel machined to the .001 clearance that these piston were designed to run at......and Bingo! the engine was transformed back into what it was designed to be. I am sharing this with you because I think these engines were designed to behave very similar to that old motorcycle engine. Simply put they are plodders.....beasts of burden if you will. Plenty of low end grunt......and never created to be speedsters. Jeff
    2 points
  2. While at a high level I agree with most of that you have missed three major changes in everything made today versus 50 plus years ago. There have been major advancements in material compositions, in design features, and in process control. Material changes are happening at breakneck speeds these days with new alloys and processes being tested daily - just the other day I was talking with a company that is developing breakthrough technology in laser sintering that allows them to precisely PRINT 3D metal objects - one of their demonstrator pieces to show how strong and versatile this new process can be is a fully printed and functional 1911 hand gun printed using various stainless steel, Inconel, and titanium alloys. Major steps have been made in aluminum and iron forging and castings - the alloys are much better, the castings more refined, less porous, and just flat out stronger than those of just a decade ago. Design has come leaps and bounds with the computing power afforded to us these days. Engineers like myself can now design components and do finite element analysis on the part to determine stress levels, flow rates, heat dissipation, etc... all with a few clicks of a mouse and keyboard and then refine those designs multiple times if needed to get the desired results. Out of the box we can make an engine much more efficient without lots of mechanical revisions and slow real world testing. Of course I am still a fan of the real world tests, but those just validate the design these days instead of producing mile long punch lists of issues and major design revisions to work through to try again. Process control - I don't even know where to start on that one... today companies outfit the manufacturing machines such as die cast machines with thousands of sensor to collect data on the production piece of every part and trend these over thousands of pieces to actively predict issues and correct them. Today there are parts that all get x-rayed and ultra-sounded to detect potential defects. There are methods in place for repeated checks to ensure the quality is there and that it continues to be there. 50 years ago it was much more black magic and voodoo (and even today some of that still exists under certain scenarios, but its much better), they knew problems were happening when they were found, the equipment to hold tight tolerances and even measure some of those tolerances on every part just simply did not exist.
    2 points
  3. If I recall correctly the discovery of fire was one of the most helpful discoveries in the education of man, the invention of the wheel the second. There is a gigantic difference between fire and the wheel. Fire is a natural action to be discovered the wheel was invented. According to reports from the early explorers, the grasses in the North American Plains were knee and waist deep before they were plowed under. With that much matter and nothing to eat it all, after a winter's covering of snow that would be a thick mat which would not allow anything to grow through, so how then did the grass survive? Fire! Not only were the plains renewed by fire, so were the forests. Scriptures state that gold is refined by fire. They also say that at the judgement man kinds' life accomplishments will be tried the same way. Now those could be metaphors, yet they carry a serious meaning. When a fireman looks at a fire, all contents to him are fuel; not precious antiques, or papers, or trucks. The only thing that is important is to control the fire and then extinguish it. The only fuel the firemen at our fire did not go after were rounds of ammunition. When they started to pop, the fireman looked me up. Before a fire the owner's possessions are valuable, some priceless. Yet after a fire, when the clean up begins the fire separates the important from the mundane. We clean our buildings and often times we don't really clean, we just reorganize putting less valuable items further back into the room, rafters, or attic. There they may eventually become fuel! There were items I found that at one time I could not discard yet after the fire no longer had meaning. After just a quick thought they were tossed. They had served itheir purpose.But what survives does become important. For example, in one pile of debris taken out by the firemen and tossed in the back yard, I found wrapped in wet newspaper a porcelain nativity scene, complete with animals, shepherds, wise men, Joseph, Mary and the baby Jesus, God incarnate, lying in a manger, not one arm or horn or finger was broken or cracked. It reminded me of a verse in Matthew 28.20 where Jesus said, "I am with you always, even unto the end of the world [garage]"! Two things in closing. I did not realize how hard it is to get soot off of my hands, if so there, then the same everywhere else. No wonder the smell of a fire lingers so long, and finally how a fire draws out one's friends. I hope I am worthy so that my friends stick to me like the soot.
    1 point
  4. On my DeSoto, I had installed a speedi-sleeve and seal, but the seal leaked. The speedi-sleeve was too short, and was not located at the right depth. Also, I've got the long wheelbase sedan,so the opening for the seal is larger than for the standard car, and the seal outside diameter was not quite big enough. So I made sure I got a deeper speedi-sleeve, and got another seal. I installed the old seal to keep the lubricant in, then I cleaned the outside of the seal and the edges of the opening, and installed the second seal with RTV silicone around the edges. The last I looked, it was not leaking. Knock on Bakelite wood-grain plastic laminate.
    1 point
  5. I've been using Pertronix for close to 20 years in all my cars with no problem. Sure points work fine but trying to find good American points today is hard to do. With Pertronix I know my 57 Vette runs much smoother, and if you've ever messed with setting up dual points in a Vette you can appreciate the conversion to electronics. I personally have nothing against the stock setup but I wouldn't give up my Pertronix system. Just my two cents.
    1 point
  6. I am annoyed that the white lettering will no longer be seen. I am annoyed seeing the fuzzy dice. I am annoyed.
    1 point
  7. Why would we get annoyed? Those look very truck like on there!
    1 point
  8. A very good Old Car Friend, had a set of SUV/LT tires off a vehicle he sold a couple of years ago, they are also a couple years old, mounted on old 80s Ranger/Bronco rims. So I put em on the 55 and went out driving, yes a night and day difference in handling, very good traction, steering, and no vibration, cruised nice at 60 mph on the highway too. Some pics, before anyone gets annoyed , the tires are being pulled off these rims, back to 60s style rims and baby moon caps, white lettering on the inside...
    1 point
  9. The Orient automobiles were manufactured in Waltham, Massachusetts, about 10 mile from my old home. There is a museum in the old Waltham Watch Co. building next to the Charles River that has a couple of Orient cars, including the buckboard. Its pretty neat that you have one in running condition. I've only seen them sitting in the museum.
    1 point
  10. 1 point
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