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Interesting idea, looks pretty cool too. Not a fan of open rocker arms and blow-by venting through the open lifter blocks but it made me wonder about making one of my own sort of. I wonder how the open rockers worked on the early knuckles and if that's doable on a bike that doesn't see more than 1K miles a year.
So I put some knuckle cylinders on my 41 UH and they fit right on. Oil return and supply would need to be thought out. The idea here is just to be different, not practical or necessarily beneficial vs just putting an OHV engine in and moving on.
I saw an experimental 45 OHV bike sell less than a year ago, a baby knuckle I think they referred to it as. I dont recall the price but it wasn't more than 100K in this case. Wasn't 8 valve though.
Go for it! You are probably getting bored with doing beautiful perfect restorations and can use a challenge beyond matching paint and finding parts.
More like worn down and it seems to be never ending. Tonight I watched a painted right side tank enblem on ebay. I have some original paint badges in different colors but not a set and I have others that are chromed. Ideally I find another original paint one in black or white then I have a set. Watched the birch white one ( I prefer black) just to see what it would get and told myself not to bid. It sat at $327 for a while then in the last 3 seconds it sold for over $1100, one badge, chipped and scratched.
I'll keep looking but Im going to take some that are chrome and paint them for now. Originally the painted ones are steel and the chrome ones are brass. So I'll suck it up and have a brass right side painted emblem and cross my fingers no one sneaks up with a magnet.
That kind of open rocker gear held up by two flat plates bolted to the sides of the heads is more than do-able, it was done many times by pretty much all British bike manufacturers in the 1920s and early 30s. You squirted a bit of oil in the oil holes on the rockers before going for a ride and wore your old jeans that didn't matter when the oil sprayed eveywhere.
Burt Munro did the same thing when he converted his "world's fastest Indian" from flathead to OHV. Made his own cast iron cylinder and heads with open rocker gear. Looked suspiciously like he may have used or copied heads off a Brit bike of some sort. EG the 1925 Big Port AJS or 1930 Ariel below.
Would make a really interesting project, and give the "experts" something to pontificate on when you park at the next AMCA meet!
There's been a bunch of 45 Flatheads built with OHV Matchless jugs and heads but they used the later 1950s parts with enclosed rocker gear. Nowhere near as cool as open rockers ticking away in full view.
That kind of open rocker gear held up by two flat plates bolted to the sides of the heads is more than do-able, it was done many times by pretty much all British bike manufacturers in the 1920s and early 30s. You squirted a bit of oil in the oil holes on the rockers before going for a ride and wore your old jeans that didn't matter when the oil sprayed eveywhere.
Burt Munro did the same thing when he converted his "world's fastest Indian" from flathead to OHV. Made his own cast iron cylinder and heads with open rocker gear. Looked suspiciously like he may have used or copied heads off a Brit bike of some sort. EG the 1925 Big Port AJS or 1930 Ariel below.
Would make a really interesting project, and give the "experts" something to pontificate on when you park at the next AMCA meet!
There's been a bunch of 45 Flatheads built with OHV Matchless jugs and heads but they used the later 1950s parts with enclosed rocker gear. Nowhere near as cool as open rockers ticking away in full view.
Thank you. Not being a fan of the open rockers is just me thinking about mechanical wear. The idea defies logic when you have heated metal parts constantly rubbing on each other. I did see an application with roller tipped rockers which would solve part of the problem. What about rocker shaft bushings? I do like the look of the open moving parts and it would be infrequently used. Just not sure yet how useless I want it to be.
Thank you. Not being a fan of the open rockers is just me thinking about mechanical wear. The idea defies logic when you have heated metal parts constantly rubbing on each other. I did see an application with roller tipped rockers which would solve part of the problem. What about rocker shaft bushings? I do like the look of the open moving parts and it would be infrequently used. Just not sure yet how useless I want it to be.
They seemed to work OK on those old low-revving engines. Even the Harley J Models had that one exposed rocker on each cylinder and seemed to last forever. These days you could fit the rocker arms with sintered bronze Oilite bushings that hold oil in the granular structure and lubricate themselves to a certain extent. Rocker spindles would be hardened. Valve guides were all cast iron in those days, and it is almost self-lubricating in nature, due to the graphite in the iron. And rocker arm tips did not seem to wear excessively without roller rockers. The radius on the end of the rocker arm was matched to the travel of the rocker and well hardened. Sure they wore out but over many miles of use. If you are looking for something to ride sedately for gits and shiggles 1,000 miles a year it would last for decades before it wore out.
They seemed to work OK on those old low-revving engines. Even the Harley J Models had that one exposed rocker on each cylinder and seemed to last forever. These days you could fit the rocker arms with sintered bronze Oilite bushings that hold oil in the granular structure and lubricate themselves to a certain extent. Rocker spindles would be hardened. Valve guides were all cast iron in those days, and it is almost self-lubricating in nature, due to the graphite in the iron. And rocker arm tips did not seem to wear excessively without roller rockers. The radius on the end of the rocker arm was matched to the travel of the rocker and well hardened. Sure they wore out but over many miles of use. If you are looking for something to ride sedately for gits and shiggles 1,000 miles a year it would last for decades before it wore out.
So it'll be my kids problem, sounds good to me haha
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