Saddle is repro 101, tank repro 101 modified for return oiling, Suzuki (rear) and Honda (front) wheels with aluminum rims and stainless spokes, forks a Bultaco/Ceriani mix, pivoting on taper roller bearings, DIY stainless exhaust pipes, stainless jockey shifter and a gazillion other details. The frame is now being used for a Land Speed Racing bike, aiming to be at Bonneville in 2009 (click here for the latest on the Salt Cracker LSR project). 

Cases were Glyptal coated inside and had flywheel scrapers fitted, as well as extra breathing capacity; all of this for improved oil control and reduced friction and pumping losses. The cylinders are nickel plated, and have big valves, big custom nipples and a modified Chief manifold with clamped o-ring sealing against the nipples (like 1960s Milwaukee models), as there was no room for nuts between the cylinders with the big manifold. 

The four long and four short studs on the lift table in the top photo are from an aborted attempt at "through-bolting" the cylinder heads; having long studs run from the cases up to the heads, relieving the cylinders of clamping stresses at their bases and where the heads bolt on, and putting the cylinders in compression under operating conditions instead of tension (meaning, among other things that, all things equal, they will have to stretch further in bending to start cracking at the bases). 

Pic shows modified ports, pins and spring for exhaust mount.

As the valves are in the way of this arrangement on one side of the cylinders, some modification of the cylinder castings, involving welding and machining, and a complicated stud setup with left- and right hand threads (so you can tighten studs both ends by turning them in the middle) was thought up, but ultimately deemed too fiddly - at least for now. Keihin CV carb, and IPE Electronic Ignition in new aluminum distributor, although it has a magneto temporarily fitted in the photo above. The cylinders also had most of the exhaust ports removed, with the pipes seating on crushable copper/asbestos washers as close to the valves as possible (like on many modern engines), being held on by springs from the cylinder fins. The idea behind this was to cut down on heat transfer from the hot exhaust gas to the cylinder casting by getting the gas from the port into the pipes as quickly as possible, minimizing port wall area that can pick up heat. One of the main problems with side valve engines is the asymmetrical heating of valve seats and cylinder bore from having the hot exhaust port at one side, within in the same cast body, with a short heat path to atmosphere - and, thus better cooling - on the other side. This is one aspect of this engine that I would like to experiment more with in the future.

The engine presently resides in an Ariel frame with a four speed foot change gearbox. As of 2009, the Scariel (Scout + Ariel, no?) is up and running, being shaken out - so stay tuned for more on this.