1911 Indian
- Thread starter cobrafreak
- Start date
I was one block from home and thought I heard something like there was a loose spoke dangling about. Engine stopped running. I got it started and rode half speed to my driveway where it finally died for good. Engine froze. I took the head off and look what was on top of the piston:
Both of these little chunks of metal were non-ferrous, a magnet could not attract then. Piston pieces? I have spare engine #2 on my workbench that I will swap it out with tonight and do a thorough autopsy on. Total milage on this engine, 1250 miles.
Both of these little chunks of metal were non-ferrous, a magnet could not attract then. Piston pieces? I have spare engine #2 on my workbench that I will swap it out with tonight and do a thorough autopsy on. Total milage on this engine, 1250 miles.
Well I did some deep thought and came to the conclusion that for what I want to do with the bike I really need a four stroke engine. So I'm in the process of converting from two stroke to four stroke, and making it look cool. More photos to follow in the coming weeks.
Cobra - I talked to this co, and they said they would sell just the engines. The bike is 10g's I would like to see someone that had the funds to pull of one of these engine's and have a go with it. Your bike is perfect. I never got a price for the engines. I would want the engine in raw not polished would look better, also they said they would sell the bike as a kit. Its hard to hide the honda clone engines. whizzer would look good too. Have fun
Timeless Motor Company_Classic
Timeless Motor Company_Classic
It is a nice original type engine but for what they would ask for one I could probably buy ten GX200 motors. I would be afraid of operating an antique engine. If I didn't pump enough oil into it it would freeze and if I pumped too much in it would stall. They are total loss, so after the oil goes through the bearings it pours out the bottom. Bottom line, hard to live with. Lurker did an outstanding job on his Cobra bike with GX engine. He has given me lots of ideas. Thanks for the complement on the bike. I like the look, but the longevity of the China Girl doesn't agree with what I want to do with the bike. I have a 24 mile round trip commute and I need Uber reliability. I'll do the best I can to make it look good.
Last edited:
Another nice alternative is this:
Top Ends - 8 valve racer
This place replicates the Twin-Cylinder 8-valve Boardtrack Racing Engines!
Put one of these below my seat, I'd have a mad grin on my face that nobody could wipe off.
Ok, started phase two of the Indians' engine upgrade. Here I have a Harbor Freight 6.5 hp 200 cc air cooled engine other wise known as the "Greyhound" or "Honda GX 200 clone". BTW they are one sale now so get one now if you are interested. They are internally governed to not rotate past 3500 rpm. They can spin to 6500 rpm but you must do a couple of things first to keep it from blowing up, which is what I am doing now. After disassembly and removal of the mechanical RPM governor the connecting rod and the valve springs must be replaced. The connecting rod is merely adequate for 3500 rpm operation. The bearing surfaces on the crankshaft are steel, but on the connecting rod they are just machined into the aluminum. The rod is also thin and will most likely snap and go through the case. For higher rpm duty you need to upgrade to a billet aluminum connecting rod that has steel bearing surfaces for longevity. The valve springs are far too light. They need to be upgraded to 18lb springs to prevent valve float. I am not making this engine for all out power, just the ability to rev higher so the CVT transmission can spool up fully. If I were to truly go all out for all the power I could get I would also upgrade to roller rockers and a high performance cam shaft. Here is the new engine apart with the china girl cylinder for size comparison.
Here is the upright orientation of the clone engine. Normally the engine has the cylinder pointed to the rear, but I am pointing it strait up for looks. Everything is tipped 90 degrees North.
Here is a groove that I ground out to be able to drain all the engine oil out of the case. The oil drain hole is too high when tipped 90 degrees so this little channel that I made will allow most of the oil to now be drained out during oil changes.
Here is the upright orientation of the clone engine. Normally the engine has the cylinder pointed to the rear, but I am pointing it strait up for looks. Everything is tipped 90 degrees North.
Here is a groove that I ground out to be able to drain all the engine oil out of the case. The oil drain hole is too high when tipped 90 degrees so this little channel that I made will allow most of the oil to now be drained out during oil changes.
Oh man I think I started a trend with these Clone engines, I love it. I cant imagine what this baby will do with out the governor. Keep us up dated on you progress.
Yes, you did Lurker. And I will be the first to admit that I am inspired by your work. I did not know about the Clone engines just as I did not know about the China Girl engines when I first saw one. That is why we are in a community to show and share ideas. I know a good thing when I see it and your power plant was the path to travel. Yes, the governor was a thought out decision, to remove or keep. Realistically I may never go beyond 4k rpm but the cost of doing so is the rod and the spring replacements. Which btw was $59 for the rod and $8 for the springs, so it wasn't really that much money to do so. The work involved has to be done right. Everything will need to be checked 3 times under super clean conditions. If you saw my garage right now you would scream. I need to go out there and scrub it down Lol!
Would it not have been easier to drill and tap a new hole in the bottom of the case for the new oil drain location? I just picked up yesterday a new 6.5 clone for 74.95 at HF and planning to remove the SLG, upgrade the rod and valve springs, install a 22 mm Mikuni Round Slide and a down header with a megaphone exhaust for a replica 1920's era flat tracker. Nice to see you putting a clone in this bike. It'll rip. Also, are you going to stabilize the front of the motor in the frame? Nice work.
I wouldn't have felt comfortable threading a hole for a drain plug in such thin aluminum without at least welding a nut to the case for extra strength. I had the engine apart for the connecting rod and piston removal anyway and I noticed that a small amount of oil will not be able to drain due to the slant of the case with the piston up. The grinding took about 3 minutes and I can use the existing drain plug. No big deal. I will probably ad a motor mount to rear, front and top to hold the engine in place. From what I hear it produces lots of torque. I was test running the engine on the back patio on the cement and it was hard keeping the engine in one spot with it wanting to move around under throttle
I got the extra wide crank today. It was set up for loose bearings and my bottom bracket was set up for cartridge bearings so I ground down the bearing races on the spindle and pressed on a spacer with the hydraulic press and slid the cartridge bearings on. Works great. Lots of room for wide engines now.
Sure is fun to see the evolution of power for the bikes. I have a few of the Honda engines the clone is made from. I was going to cut the cam and change the orientation so it would run the engine in reverse, with the flywheel on the left side, cut the shaft completely off on the normal output, and add a sheave like the Whizzer for the drive on the flywheel. I also have a few Honda engines for the rotary mowers. Put in place stood up like you are doing the drive side has a large disk look similar to the early engines, and is flow through so the exhaust is out the front. Love your project thanks for sharing. Have fun, Dave
PS: I can take a pic of the Honda vert if you would like to see what it would look like.
PS: I can take a pic of the Honda vert if you would like to see what it would look like.
If the clone engine is running backwards will the connecting rod cap/oil splasher still work to lubricate the engine fully? It wouldn't be "lifting" the oil out of the case bottom anymore and slinging it upward. It would just be "diving/splashing". I would suspect that the oil wouldn't lube the top end as well.
