Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

the pond presumed inre n uon of creari ng a swirl effec t. " We d oubted i t was righ t. too." says C ei rl , " b u t then we fo un d with ex perimenta tion tha t the standard heads w ith very lill ie a lte ration give a ll the flow the engi ne needs. We j u st open up the porrs a Ii u le, that 's a ll. " P iston s are supplied to the Arner ican team a s unmach ined blan ks from j a p a n , w hich ena bles the m to employ different co mpressi on ratios fo r difIereru circu its va ryi ng from 10.8: I up to as h igh as 12.2: I . for Da yto na they use 11.2: I , r u n ning o n 118 oc ta ne fu el as per mi tted u nder Al\IA ru les. H onda Br ita in o n the ot her hand em p loys 11.5: I fo r the 850 regardless. u sing Avgas. Con rods are tita n iu m , a nd s u rprisin gl y enough a re man ufactured in the U.S. to G eirl 's speci fication fo r use in a ll raci ng V4 engin es the wo rld ove r: th e japanese acce p ted that doing it thi s wa y wo u ld res u lt in a s uperior prod uc t. T hey ' re ret a ined o n th e tw o cra n kp ins by sp li t end -caps, clamped by h igh -tensile steel bolts. T he fo rged p istons ca rry short but fu ll skirts: sli p pe r- ty pe pis to ns were n ot emp loyed , accordi ng to Osh irosa n. because o f the difficulty with a short -st ro ke engine of preventi ng the engine rocki ng in the barre l. Different p hi losophi es are evide n t co ncerning the type of clutch filled , w h ic h on the Superbi ke is a 13 -pl ate a ll -meta l d ry clu tch, but o n the Gard ner m achine is a wet , o il-ba th sort. Both are fi xed units , a fte r Am er ican H o nd a disca rded the lim ited -slip sprag cl u tc h fill ed to th e FW S a nd th e road bike ea rlv in the season. " We had a p roble m' with high -gear starts lik e a t Da yto na ," says Gei tl. "w here th e clu tch just wouldn ' t take th e a b use n ecessa ry to get off the lin e wit h a h igh overa ll gea ri ng fi lled . We co n vened a ll th e engi nes to fix ed clu tch after th a t, a nd a lso ai r-coo led the m a ll (the s u pport tea m bikes were o rigi na lly wet-clutch ) because we had problem s under raci ng co ndi tio ns wit h th e engines retai n ing heat from th e wet cl utch; th e ser vice life was mu ch 'sho n er with th em , too. No w we h a ve no co ncerns ." Yet Barry Symmons , Udo 's co u nterpan a t H on da Br ita in , cl aim s no suc h proble m with th e 850, possi bly because o f the coole r Bri tish cli ma te a nd torq ui er big g er engi ne. H o wever, j us t to co mplica te things th e engines fill ed to the th ree H o n d a j apan bikes wit h a lloy frames, o n o neof w h ich D u n lo p won th e Wor ld Cha m pions hip title. had air-cooled cl u tches . Ta ke yo ur cho ice! Wha tever th e p ic k, sta nda rd h yd ra ul ic action was a co ns ta n t. . The camshafts run in plain bearin gs, a nd than ks to their moderate lift b y racing sta ndards, p lus the lo wis h co mpression ratio a nd the use o f CV ca r bs as we ll as the iru r in sic va l ues o f a 90 0 V4 d es ign, result in an excep tio nally smooth -ru nni ng eng ine with vast reserves of torqu e a n d pracri call v no carn rn y effect. You ca n even r ide i t lik e a road en g i ne , as not o n ly the H o nd a Br itain m ec hani cs proved at th e "IT w hen they ran th em u p a nd down between the garage and padd ock quite cheerfu lly, even stopping a t tra ffi c lights an d ta king off aga i n wi tho u t slippi ng the cl u tch , b u t as too di d Udo Ceitl him self at Da yto na last Ma rch. H o w so ? Well , Freddie's race bike n eed ed a bit o f runni ng-in , yo u see, a nd th e Speedway was closed, so well. a ny way , he got ca ug h t with it o u t o n Vo lusia Avenue by th e loca l ge ndarmes. slick tires , ra ce exhausts a nd al l. What got them interested in th e lo ok -al ik e ra cer ? No license plate! ...... ...... MASTER PERFORMANCE CYCLES Home of 1983 Pro Comp #1 DRAGBIKE #2 NMRA #4IDBA Nat ' J # 1 Pro Drag ster '79, ' 8 0 & '81 JIM McCLURE Specia l Thanks To Tho se Who 'v e M a d e 11 Hap pe n l MEL MAGNET OF RIVERA ENG, HOWARD FORESTER OF PRIMO Bob Wehman of Spectro Oil John Linden of Sudco Dave Galbreath of Sifton M/ C Prod, Dan Baisley of Baisley Hi-Perf. M Taylor of Barnett ike Butch Walker at Simpson Bonnie Truett of Truett Frames Elmer Trett for Fuel Systems Jerry Jardine of Jardine Headers John Shumaker of Shumaker Racing Perry Sands at Performance Machine And To All The Fans If You Wan t Yo u r Harley Bu i lt Rig h t . Ca ll J im McC lu re Tonig ht! Engi n e B luep rin t i ng - Balanci ng - Boring - Mach in ing V alve Work - We ld ing - St o c k To Full Competit ion S PEC IALIZ I NG I N HARLEY -DAVI D S O N ON LY I 1 0 Natio nal E.T . & M .P .H . Records set i n 1 9 B3 1 530 Ran dolph Road ,.Newport News, VA 23601804/~99-0 362 51

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