Recent content by howardsmed

high compression engines need a slower advance, roller bearing engines will not tolerate high roller pressures at low rpm, if you do the big ends go

The race bike that Rick from Smedspeed runs for flat track use, has a programable Ignitech, rather than the oem mechanical advance. he has positioned the pickup in the LH cover, but this bike has no charging system which makes for much more space. The latest Ignitech box has two curves option (...

The larger displacement, ( we build mostly 880 and a few 1000cc engines) are so hard to turn over it wouldn't matter how good the spark is/was, the 880 i sold recently even with a longer kickstart and one of the XS2 exhaust cover/valve lifters, you kick it as hard as you can, and it comes up to...

i don't do d*ck measuring !

the standard coil was renowned to be of bad quality, when we first had XS650 ( in the 80s) they always packed up yes a good coil is a great addition. However if the compression is high or the engine of large displacement, the coil wont help, as you cant turn the engine over, that's where the...

The Norton Commando used the Prestolite starter motor in two brush form, it had barely enough guts to turn the 850 engine over, the exact same starter was used in 4 brush form on ironhead HD 1000cc Sportsters. When i was working on HD years ago at a shop in Kent, we sold all the 4 brush starters...

I saw a 1973 XS650 in Adelaide when i worked there in 1987, it was Orange and black with the 350B/TX650 petrol tank. didn't notice the switch, but had other things on my mind i suppose

i will look tomorrow, if i have it, ( which i am sure i do) i will be happy to sell it

i am sure i have one, but the postage to Canada would be really high, i will look it out anyway for you i think its drilled too

£6500 that's about $10K USD. An enormous amount of machining work, and parts, and six years of racing knowledge. In a trick lightweight frame and suitable suspension, the bike might be 350-370lbs, with 90 ( reliable) hp, that would be a fun bike for something near £10K

it is wholly possible to disassemble the front brake disc( rotor) and get the steel disc surface ground, i did it on my 1973 XS at the same we set the disc up on the CNC mill and drilled the 8.5mm holes zoom in the picture you will see the disc work the advantage to getting the disc...

Steve Mann recently sold the 880 engine, as the size puts him into the 1000cc bracket, and although the engine is 90hp, the BMW1000 airhead engines are over 100hp he got £6500 for it, for a guy who is going to put it in a road bike

That looks great, a friend of mine who lives in Auckland ( New Zealand) bought a 1970 Triumph to do Bonneville, unfortunately he has nearly no engineering knowledge, he needed 65hp and the whole project it didn't go quite as planned, BUT he did race a Kawasaki ZX10 on the salt and i have a video...

here is the cylinder after welding and prior to surface grinding, drilling and then counterboring for the repositioned dowel hole

The casting ( VAM copy) that Jerry used to sell me had 8 x 10mm through holes, which is what we wanted to end up with, but still had the holes for the large dowels, on a really big bore we had stopped using the cylinder stud dowels, we plugged, welded, and then surface ground and then re-drilled...