This is the view from my living room window today. You can see snow at the top of those hills. We are only a couple of hundred feet above sea level here in Hope, so that hill ain't very high (1000 ft ??). Anytime you got snow showing on that hill, it's all over. The good part is that there is not much snow there so it looks like it might be an early riding season. Hard to tell though because it's only January. The snow threat ends the first week in March. On a negative note, the valley my buddy and I ended up walking out of because his machine broke down, is pretty much shot for riding. Road is now totalled and almost impassable. To bad because that was one of my favourite places. If this Engine runs I may be able to make a run or two around the block at best. That's not much of a test though.

What a view! Stop messing around and run that Engine.

Well time for and Engine install .
This thing passed the pressure test with flying colors.
It lost 1/2 psi in an hour and a half.

I am to old to ski. I also hate being cold now. So I will just work on oddy stuff in my warm shop.

So jealous of that view. In south Florida, the biggest hill is the dumps. I call them Florida mountains..lol

Fire this MFer up!!! My guess is it passes compression and runs like a top.

Well I yanked the red Engine out of the death machine and its a good thing.
It had very little counter balancer oil -- wtf -- I know it was full. The little bit that was in there was clean so I doubt the seal was leaking. Will have to do a pressure test on this thing to be sure. No leaks on the outside of the Engine. Also if you look close at one of the pics you can see that the sparkplug lead was broken and when I pulled it off the plug, the metal bit stayed on the plug. I don't even know how this thing ran and go home on the last trip. My buddy said it was running fine ??
My homemade Engine mounts seem to pass the test. They look good. Even though it has only been out a couple of times I am calling it a success. Homemade intake on this one as well and it passes.
Will try to install the R401 Engine tomorrow but will have to take mom to the heart specialist on Thursday. It may be the weekend before I spark it up.

Well it's in there .
Just have to hook up the new temp gauge and start it up.
It will be started on Friday because I am busy Thursday.
I will warm it up and if it is not raining, run it around the block .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zhqCccFsGc

I'm shocked.
This thing is strong for something that has a welded piston, used rings and a homemade head.
It spins the wheels on pavement. You can pull a nut on the street no problem.
Found two small issues. I have a microscopic leak under one of the fittings on the cylinder so I will have to weld that up. Also when giving it full throttle sometimes it misses but I think this is a carb issue.
The bottom end is real strong and the head stays cool. I think I may have stumbled upon a good thing by making the head this small with a small water jacket. The water will flow through quick so it is constantly getting a fresh supply of cooling water. Just a theory. Hard to be 100% sure because it is winter here so its not hot outside.

YES!!!!

Awesome CO!!! Great work.

I love the Bride Of Frankenstein clip, but after reading your post I was expecting neighborhood flyby video..lol Congrats on the success though.

So I think I can put this thread away for now.
I will post an update this summer some time after our first run up the hills.
As far as I am concerned this is a semi success at this point and if it makes one trip up the mountains then it's a complete success.
This test was really about welding a piston but it kind of got away on me and I built a head because I didn't have one of those laying around.

So at the end of the day, YES you can weld up a piston and it will be good to go.
If you lean out an Engine and blow a hole, just weld it up and even use the same rings until you can figure out your problem. The piston in this test was badly damaged when the bottom rod bearing let go. The bits damaged the ring lands and embedded into the crown and side. Even though it didn't have a hole in the crown, I did drill a hole in it for the tail stock live center on my lathe. You can clearly get away with a lot with regards to damaged pistons and there is no need to buy a new one every time you blow an Engine.

Just want to post the thread that shows the piston that is in this thing.
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=17519

Very cool CO, get new rings if it holds!

Way to go. That’s just awesome.

Ok I got the CO [Screen name] and the 18[year] and the 001 x[first experimental] but what is the significance of the 30? Is it cc's?

Holy crap you're good.
Yup 30 is the cc's.

I have busted the CO Code! Now If I can just figure out how to balance my checkbook..lol

Sell your machines.
They cost.

At the moment I am odysseyless, I live vicariously through you ..lol

CO, If you look at the factory water cooled set ups (ie CR250 etc) you see the small heads with relatively small surface area. The fact is, the larger heads can have "pooling" issues where fresh coolant is pushed through the head in a limited flow path due to cavities holding "stuck" coolant.

Update:
Went for a short ride up Hunter creek today.
Dozen of washouts to drive through because of the snow melt and little creeks running across the road.
Had an issue with fuel supply. Filter to small and has crap in it. I consider this a complete success as far as I am concerned because it didn't blow up and ran well until the fuel thing. Yes you can weld a badly damaged piston, run used rings and make your own cylinder head successfully.
I close this thread and call it a success.

As always, I’m completely mesmerized by your pictures! But truly awesome job, read through the entire project from start to finish, was definitely one awesome project!