For Old Guys Only

[fasteddy]

Here's one for you. Goes back to 1944. Wonder if we can still find the parts.

Steve.

http://api.viglink.com/api/click?fo...;s=0&z=2&jsonp=vglnk_jsonp_13587983142034

 

[Intrepid Wheelwoman]

Can old girls join in too? That belly tank scooter is a great piece of work and i guess with it being a military base of some kind all the raw material was just lying around for the taking. My Dad was a Leading Aircraftsman in the RNZAF during the war working to keep the planes in the air and in spare moments they used to make all kinds of weird and wonderful things using material from the scrap heap.

 

[Greg58]

Today my wife and I went by her grand dads old home in the next county where her dad and our son were doing repairs on the back porch of the house. Behind the house is a 30x30 building that was full of what the pickers call a "gold mine ", no one has lived there for nearly 20 years. Well the thieves found it and took anything of value as scrap metal, they probably got pennies on the dollar of the value. I did find a few things tucked away on the floor under a shelf in the back corner. In one wood crate was tubes of grease from probably the late 50s or early 60s, three and a half cases total.

 

[Ludwig II]

Some of those would do well in a museum. There is much ephemeral in this world that is unrecorded and unremarked, and there will be engineering, motor and packaging collections who would welcome them.

 

[Ludwig II]

The tank scooter is wonderful. Do we have any information on it, or is it just a lone piece of film?

 

[fasteddy]

Ludwig,
I found it on another site. I clicked on the bottom right where it said Back to Thumbnails and it took me to a site that had a lot of old movie films about the same length.
Many training films ect from WW1 to Vietnam from the U.S. Military and the R.A.F. That was the only film of it's kind. The first one is a pilot and photographer- gunner suiting up and getting ready to take off in 1918.

Steve

 

[2door]

Steve,
That was great!
Ya jus ain't cool unless there's a cigarette dangling. Those old tanks were used for lots of stuff. There were quite a few Bonneville salt flat cars and dragsters made from them. I liked the name at the bottom of the screem too. "Split S" that's an old dog fight maneuver where you roll inverted then pull hard on the stick to do a half loop so you change directioins 180 degrees. It's the opposite of one called the 'Immelman Turn' Invented by a WWI German Ace, Max Immelman. You climb into a half loop then roll out at the top to level flight.

Cool video. Made me think of my Dad. He drove midgets during the late 40s powered by Evinrude outboard engines and Ford V8 60s. Thanks for sharing.

Tom

 

[fasteddy]

Glad you liked it Tom. I went to the site where it was posted and watched the airforce films and thought of you.

Silverbear has a 2 cylinder outboard motor that he took off a motor and we were brain storming as to how we could get it in to a cycle car or bike and get it working. It obviously works because your Dad was using them. Not a lot of information on how it was done but a load of why it can't be done.

Steve.

 

[2door]

Steve,
All I know is that they used radiators for the outboards. And hand pump fuel injection. Dad used to tell me how when they came out of a turn and into the straightaways they had to pump like mad to get the fuel pressure back up. Sounds like a handfull. Steering wheel in one hand, the fuel pump in the other.

Tom

 

[fasteddy]

Tom,
That explains why I always see pumps on the side of the early track racers. Yep, getting straightened out from a corner and pumping like crazy so you can keep going.
That's when they were racers.

Steve.

 

[Intrepid Wheelwoman]

I have a British Anzani twin cylinder outboard engine (just the powerhead) which I always thought would be perfect in a cyclecar. I think it's 250cc. It certainly has a nice vintage appearance.

 

[Trey]

Did'nt know such a thing existed. They should still be making those. Guess I don't qualify as an old guy here, that's good- more experience to draw from.

 

[Ludwig II]

Is the Anzani a flat twin or parallel?

And you could go one step on from the trike and make a replica Anzani Astra

 

[Intrepid Wheelwoman]

It's a parallel twin and they were a really good design. British Anzani outboard engines were often tuned for racing and were highly successful. Mine is out of the box standard with a single central carb and a rotary valve arrangement on the central main bearing assembly.

I must say that a big part of me liking these engines is the name. 'British Anzani' just plain has a nice sound to it

 

[2door]

Looks like maybe a British version of the Crosley.

Tom

 

[Intrepid Wheelwoman]

Is the Anzani a flat twin or parallel?

And you could go one step on from the trike and make a replica Anzani Astra

It certainly is an interesting little vehicle and maybe when I was younger I might've agreed with you about a replica. Done far too much work on cars over the years I'm afraid, - the last was rebuilding a 1954 Series II Morris Minor from nose to tail and I don't feel much like doing something like that again (Oh why did i sell you Maeve, - foolish girl that I am I should have kept you......... sniff....)

Recently I helped my daughter get all the valve gear on her 16 valve twin cam Rover engine back together and while it was sort of nice to be doing stuff like that again I'm just glad I'm not doing it anymore as a regular thing. Bicycles and tricycles are much more fun

 

[Ludwig II]

I think there's a picture of Anzani himself on a race bike with W engine in the Europeans. To be honest, that twin sounds fairly hefty and likely to have good torque. These indicate use on a trike or quadricycle to me; or this:

FN AS24 air drop trike, there was a matching tailer as well.

 

[Greybeard]

In the '60-70s, I hung with one of the all time greats of outboard hydro racing, Ron Anderson. Ron raced in the two smallest engine classes, 15, and 20 CID. He build Champion and Mercury 20" motors, and then while he was at the U-dub getting a degree in mechanical engineering, he build an Anzani into an unbeatable World Record holding outboard. He actually built two sizes and became the first outboard to run over 100mph. At one time the 250 engine was making in excess of 60hp, 67 if my memory is correct. He had a huge homemade floatless carb, the first expansion chambered exhaust seen in the outboard world, with a feature I've never seen since. Because a 2-stroke tuned to the nth degree has such a narrow power curve, and as the engine has to be started "in gear" so to speak, and then excellerate out of the pits, and then get up on a plane, many DNS were a simptom of hydro racing. Ron build a sliding primary pipe into his X chambers. Started out with the pipes slid back, and after the boat had reached the end of the tuning of the "long pipe", he'd slide his shift lever forward and you could see and hear the sucker take off. Wonderful memories that.

 

[Ludwig II]

The trombone pipe is such a logical device, I'm surprised so little use has been made of it. Getting 60+ out of an Anzani at that time was a, impressive in itself, b, impressive now because you wouldn't have thought to get even 2/3 of that out of an equivalent Villiers twin.

Something else that could be used on any expansion chambered 2 stroke, but ignored by most, is having the stinger come out of the side of the expansion chamber. I've only ever seen it done once, on my mate Roffe's Swedish 50cc sidecar outfit. It makes the exhaust so much more compact.

 

[Greybeard]

Here's a short thread about a coupled Anzani of 500cc making BIG power.
http://www.screamandfly.com/showthread.php?140043-1968-British-Anzani-Class-D-Alky-To-Exist-Again!