2-by-4: 8 cylinders; somewhat quicker than a Buick
By Keith Arnold
Photos by Action Photos
Why do m en wa nt to go fast? Who
can answer that one? Ask Don Vesco
about his Bonneville streamliners or
Dick Mann about his road racers, what
about J .N . Roberts and desert racing?
These people have been asked and their
answers are varied: th rill, competition,
to work with fine ma chinery then watch
and feel the result of their efforts.
Different answers for the forms of cycle
racing. .
Why would anyone want to race for
less than ten seconds, go only 1320 feet
and t ravel at speeds up to and exceeding
150 miles per ho ur? Wha t would such a
nu t ride? Obviously, this is the still
all-too-o bscure sport of mo torcycle drag
raci ng.
O ne of the b est a nd ce rtainly o ne of
th e fas test an d q uic kest gas d rag bi ke
riders is Bill Hahne of the Action Fo urs
racing team. Hahne pilots the n ew bu t
alre ad y legendary " 2-by-4 ", th e twin
en gin e, eight cy linder H onda.
Bill is cu rrently the wo rld 's fastest
human o n a gas burning tw o-wh eel
quarter mil e mo torcycl e.
How d oes h e do it? Well h e does n 't !
T he question is: "how doo they do it ?"
Th e Act ion Fou rs Tea m and
Without the aid of h is partners in
business and racing, it couldn't be done.
With Bill in this effort are his th ree
partners, Jim Dickenson, Fred Stepp
and Bruce Barnes. Together these men
ow n a handful of records and a few of
the more unique motorcycles in the
world and drag racing.
F irst and foremost in the stable is the
already mentioned "2-b y-4". The bike
sounds so simple. However, don't let
first impressions fool you. The bike can
b e described as a moving powerplant.
Not so you say? What about the
frame and seat and such? This cycle
weights 465 pounds and, of that, the
frame wieghs 29 pounds, give another
40 pounds for fend ers and wheels, and
what you have left is two modified CB
750 Honda motors. In others, a moving
powerplant.
I asked Bill Hahne what it is like to
rid e suc h a powerful beast. T his is
pro bab ly the only serious answer
received fro m him the whole mo rn ing.
His reply, " It rides beautifu lly . With all
th at weight, it is a very smooth ride. It
h as a lot of p ower to make up for t he
extra w eigh t ."
J ust how mu ch power is "a lot?"
Would yo u thin k 200 p onies enough?
According to J im D ickenson however,
the'Ae:tT Fou rs.
on
2 BY 4 SPECIF ICATIONS.
WH EELBASE
OVERALL LENGTH
WIDTH AT WiDEST
WE IGHT OVERALL
CyLI NDERS
ESTIMATED HORSEPOWER
BORE
STROKE
SIZE PER ENGINE
TOTAL
CARBURETION
FUEL CAPACITY
OIL CAPACITY
C.R.lPISTONS
RODS
_
,
CAM
IGNITION
FRAME
EXHAUST
_" t CLUTCH •.;.;;.:;::
96"
91"
21"
465 Ibs.
291bs.
200
65mm
6 1mm
836 cc
1672cc
8-28mm Keihin
3 quarts
:
5.5 quarts
11.5:1 by Action Four
Balanced-Polished
Kenny H arman F-grind
',.; '
_
:. ' :.'
Total loss
Mild steel
Action Fours-Tuned
Modified CB 750 .
co
C.
-
U
The Beast .
th e potential o f t he engines is not b ein g
used . J im says, "These engines ar e only
836cc. We ca n go up an o th er 5 00cc"
(250 each) .
To understa nd how it will produce all
this power, it is necessary to get d own
to details.
This is what has been done.
To begin with, the heads have been
ported
and polished by Bra nch
Flowtronics. This work would be in itself
wasted if the valves hadn't received a
similar re-work ing.
The rocker arms and pushrods are
ligh tened and have had suc h ' an
incredib le job of polishing and working
over, that they are beautiful enough to
hang on the wall and just look at! Credit
for the cam goes to Kenny Harman; it's
an "F" grind ca m.
The next item is a thing Honda Four
owners have come to know well, rods.
The stock Honda rods have been a weak
spot in an otherwise well b uilt machine.
To break a rod m eans lo sing the cases
which in turn means you join th e $500
club . That's righ t, it costs that mu ch
every time you th ro w a rod.
So what does the "2-by-4" utilize?
Stock ro ds! To alleviate the problem of
th e weak spots, Action Fo ur simp ly
balanced and polished t he stock ite m
and have ye t to b low a single ro d. This
is amazing w he n you co nside r that o t her
raci ng Hondas are using special ly b uilt
o r very modified rods.
"T h ere is a lo t of u nnecessary wo rk
done on so me Ho nda Fo urs . If the
mo to r is put to get he r properly, .t here is
need
for
all
th e
exotic
no
modifications." Results speak lo ud er
than wo rds and t he Action Four team
has yet to take t he "2-by-4" o ut to
lunch.
T he P is to n is a h igh p erfo rm an ce
ite m w it h an 11.5 to I co mpression
.ratio .
T he re is a great deal of secrecy
surrou nding t he cra nk shaft and its role
in co nnecting the two motors.
T his is a big q u est io n about t h e cycle,
how are th e engine s j oined ? Ac tio n
Fo urs answers varied fro m UIn the
middle", to these replies by Bill Hahne :
" Wo uld yo u believe an aborigine?
String? Oscar Mey er weiner wra ppers?
Or p erh ap s th at even we dOtt~_k now? "
Either th is is a very lame crew, o r
they won't tell their secret.
Th e author pro udly points out' here
tha t th is didn't affect h is reporter's w ill
"tell
it
all".
With
bulldog
to
de terminatio n and devilish trickery t he
author attempted another go at the
.mysterious b lack box t h at joins t he two
Honda Fo u rs together.
How o ld is the abo rigi ne? Does h e
wo rk for Diamo nd Ch ain Co mpany?
Isn't Hy-Vo owned by Oscar Meyer?
T his and mo re to no avail.
Just when it see med no longer wo rth
fighting to see, Bill Hah n e offered th is
tidbit .. 'Course fo r $500 you ca n take a
one seco nd peak". Thanks, Bill.
A surprisingly stock clutch, a little
re-worked, is fo und on the scooter. This
item can be b ou gh t by any rider that
wants to stop at th e Actio n Four shop .
The motor b reathes th rough stock
28mm carbs. Total fuel capacity of the
rig is three q uarts. Most of this fuel is
consumed in a single run! It takes five
quarts of oil to keep things slippery. To
cut down weight, a total loss ignition
' sy stem is employed . A tuned exhaust
system is utilized that was designed and
built by Action Fo urs .
How lo ng , . to o k to. pu t the rig .- '
toget h er in a runable fo rm makes all th e
previo us info rmation see m rath er sad by
comparison. One fra me, two m odified
Hond a Fours , and a ll t he tr im mings
to o k exactly 14 days !
As Jim pointed out, the bike was far
from fully finished . It was a real tap e
and bailing wire affair.
O n the first run down the track th ere
was water in the gas. Only five cylinders
worked, resulting in a 11.30 run.
Cleaning out the fuel lines and tank
yie1ed an incredible ru n of 10 . 16 on a
national record of 9 .99! The motors
were checked out and found to be
A-QK . Final run of the day was a
sub-record 9 .96 second pavement
scorcher.
Successive outings saw even be tter
times and speeds. A 9 .90 came first.
Then a clocking of 9.88 was turn ed in
just a week before a national at Lions
Drag Strip. A week after this run the
Action ' Four team made history b y
run ning an unbelievab le 9.72 seco nds!
[ should point out here that records
can be set only at a nat io nal record
meet. There are few suc h meets in the
year for mo torcycles.
On Saturday of the na tio nal , all
reco rd s would be open. Ro n Fringe r on
a Harley had run a 9.96 in the Atco ,
New J ersey meet. Would the Honda p ull
through?
Bill Hahne comments o n the
national: ,
.....Had a big party and go t righteously
drunk t he nigh t before...A lmost didn 't
make the track in time to get in enough
ru n s to so rt out th e b ike ...Had a
ha ngover that was as bi g as an
elepha nt... As I sat there o n that
throbbi ng power h ou se... 1 k new that t he
Ha rley riders we re hearing their d eath
be ll.i.By the time t he sun ha d set and
my m ind had cleared and in t he last
fo rty mi nutes of qualifying we made
histo ry by se tting a new NH RA and
worl d gas-powered mo torcy cle record
by going 9 .57 and 146.34 miles per
ho ur."
The other Action Fo ur b ik es we re, in
one case, set ti ng a new record , and in
t he othe r, breaking the b rakes and
having to q uit. T hese two o ther b ikes
are the B-gas d rag bikes t hat broke and
the new C-gas record h old er t ha t turned
_
1 0.7 3 and 12 4 .30 mph.
the results of th is
Wha t are
unpreced en ted win for Honda? Lead ing
d rag bike writer . an d ed ito r Coo k
Neilson said. "All the Ha rley guys are
going nu ts" . While th e autho r was th ere
talking to one of t h e Milwa uk ee
co ntingent, the rider disclosed pl ans fo r
twin big- inch Harley in o ne b ik e.
T he Action Fo ur team isn't really too
worried
though b ecause, as was
previously men tioned, they can go to
"ho tt er" motors. Also a hin t was
dropped th at after a few mo re lo we rings
of th eir own natio nal record , th ei r plans
include going to nit ro-meth ane as th e
fu el. Bill Hah n e said t he gasser is
possibl y capable of th e h igh eight
second bracket runs.
Ano ther project that many w ill h ear
about in the weeks to co meis t he newly
b uil t, Honda 4-500 Four. This bike has
tu rned in the 12.50s and is going to d o
better. The final teaser passed out b y
Hahne was t he possible three engi ne
500. The new b ike will be called t h e
3-by-4.
Action Fours is confident t hat the
"2-by-4" will be obsolete within the
next six to eight months so n ew projects
wi ll soon-beseen. Look-o ut .
. ... "".""
