WWII WLA tribute w/sidecar

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RicksRides

Member
Feb 22, 2012
864
6
18
osceola IN
Took 2nd at the bike show in pierceton today. Heres som pix pic3 is a 1955 500cc Royal Enfield salt flats racer he took 1st. pic5 took 3rd a 1966 triumph with every peice of bolt on crome a man can buy, one seriously shiny machine. Took the Pennysworth as a conversation peice. Then the Suzuki with the wankel motor a true rarity
 

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GearNut

Active Member
Aug 19, 2009
5,104
11
38
San Diego, Kaliforgnia
Congratulations on earning the trophy! You certainly deserve it!

Years ago I coulda had one of those rotary Suzukis for free. I passed on it though. It was in a million little pieces in 10 or so crates and boxes. The whole engine and transmission were completely disassembled down to the last little circlip and washer.
 

RicksRides

Member
Feb 22, 2012
864
6
18
osceola IN
OK the machine has a couple 100 miles on it now and only has a few issues.
Should have gave it a little more trail 1" its just a little twitchy
After a long ride itll leave your PACKAGE numb takes round 30 minutes to get feeling back to that area
Ill post video of it soon
 

RicksRides

Member
Feb 22, 2012
864
6
18
osceola IN
Top end is over 60mph(with governer) and its getting 115 mpg using the preddy 420cc
SilverBear, the low end grunt from this engine is impressive I could gear dads bike out so itd do 80 and it'd still have enough torque for take off and not burn up the clutch belt
 

silverbear

The Boy Who Never Grew Up
Jul 9, 2009
8,325
670
113
northeastern Minnesota
Yes, I'd imagine with 420cc it would have some grunt. I'm trying to push my American flyer with the canoe sidecar with a 99cc Predator. Takeoff is not great. Was thinking to upgrade with the Jacobson 147 cc stroke.
SB
 

RicksRides

Member
Feb 22, 2012
864
6
18
osceola IN
Yes, I'd imagine with 420cc it would have some grunt. I'm trying to push my American flyer with the canoe sidecar with a 99cc Predator. Takeoff is not great. Was thinking to upgrade with the Jacobson 147 cc stroke.
SB
The jacobsen would improve your take off alot youll have to play with your gearing a little (the preddy turns 3600rpm and the jacobsen turns 4500) so your top end stays the same and you increace your low end by 25%
Rick
 

RicksRides

Member
Feb 22, 2012
864
6
18
osceola IN
GearNut, 420cc Predator motors are designed to run for 3 hours on a gallon of fuel @ 1/2 load
at half load the machine is cruisin around 37-38 mph. Now I ran 55-60mph on the return trip and got 65mpg.
Fuel economy was tested using a cruise control (MC style) and a gallon of (93 oct.) fuel on SR 19 Southbound & US 30 Eastbound (very few stops and flat) 114.7 miles under ideal conditions.
I'm curious to see what it'll get in town under stop and go conditions.
Getting better gas milage out of vehichles is kind of an obsession for me
My 1972 1 ton 4x4 ford truck with the 300 6cyl. gets 27+mpg in town
My Dads 2008 chevy caviler gets 48mpg in town and 59mpg highway
Heck a brand new vehichle can get 15-20% better fuel economy simply by correcting the factory air/fuel mixture settings. Then match the intake and exhaust ports to their counterparts so everything flows smoothly.
You can also increase the volume of your fuel. I'll explain what I mean by this: If you raise the temp of gasoline to 220 degrees in a oxygen free enviroment ( fuel just like water will expand), a gallon of fuel will become 1.09 gallons by volume this alone will increase fuel milage by 9%. This can be done with materials found at any hardware supply. The trick for me was to keep it that temp till it was in the intake. All lines must fuel lines need to be steel. I preheat the fuel in the long line under the car using heat tape wrapped around the line tightly plugged into a small power inverter thats plugged into a 12v power supply outlet in the trunk. Under the hood I have piece of copper pipe the same outer diameter as the inner diameter of the radiator hose coming out of the water pump. Inside this pipe is tightly coiled copper tubing that attaches to the fuel line using compression fittings. it is then ran back to the engine and wrapped tightly around the exhaust then back to the throttle body where it enters the engine @ 220+ degrees. Proof that it works my dads chevy gets better milage then a new prius
 
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GearNut

Active Member
Aug 19, 2009
5,104
11
38
San Diego, Kaliforgnia
Wow! That's some pretty fancy additions to the fuel system!
If I tried to do that in Cali, they would laugh my truck out of the smog testing station. There's no way it would pass the visual inspection.
Hmmm... I need to get a pre 1975 truck. It would be smog testing exempt!
 

RicksRides

Member
Feb 22, 2012
864
6
18
osceola IN
Wow! That's some pretty fancy additions to the fuel system!
If I tried to do that in Cali, they would laugh my truck out of the smog testing station. There's no way it would pass the visual inspection.
Hmmm... I need to get a pre 1975 truck. It would be smog testing exempt!
There are no vehichle inspections here
 

RicksRides

Member
Feb 22, 2012
864
6
18
osceola IN
Well, Ive got hundreds of miles on this build now, other then the vibrations I only have 1 complaint about this engine and that is it has no charging coil. So I guess Ill need to wire in a little battery tender to keep it charged up. I bought the battery this winter set it on the shelf and installed it without ever putting it on the charger and it lasted a couple weeks before going dead. I figure if charged once a week it outa work out ok.

I'll be posting video of it soon.
Rick
 
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curtisfox

Well-Known Member
Dec 29, 2008
6,048
3,960
113
minesota
Well you just have to build another. I bet that was fun to drive,there was a older guy that had one of the Russion bikes with a side car and drove it all around town and to work.
Even in the coldest weather he wore a snowmobile suit................Curt