Photo Gallery #2
© Copyright 2012, R.
Fleischer
photogallery2.htm
BMW supplied its early 500 cc boxer engine for airplanes and
also for the Victoria and later the Helios motorcycles.
Information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_M2B15
The above engine was a 1921 development, and was produced for a long time.
Re: this Flxicar:
John Goff informed me that the patent for Hugo Young's design is
readily available, complete
with drawings. The design worked, but from an modern day
engineering point of view, it's
function had issues. The nature of the tilting wheel design meant
that the sidecar body "dipped" in
the lean. If you were to compare it to a modern unison leaner and
the Armec Sidewinder, the
Hugo Young Flxi Flyer is another half-step in-between in terms of
design.
For LOTS more on "leaners", where at least the bike leans in
turns, and how to contact
John Goff, an authority and historian on leaner sidecar rigs, see
on this website:
flexit.htm
Here is the patent:
Smith motorized bicycle
I had two brand-new early Triumphs. Here is one I used a lot on both street, touring, and in Dirt:
Above is me getting ready for a run down Ellie's.
Ellie's is my favorite run at Heavenly Valley
Ski Resort (which is only a handful of miles from my home).
Ellie's has almost every type of
skiing, except no big bowl. For tree skiing you do have to
go off-piste. What you see above is
me on the flat area at the very top, with the beginning of the
run to the left side of the photo.
Below is a view from a few feet further.
Below are two photos of my first 'hot-rod'. This
started off life as the lightest Ford, a 1949 Business Coupe.
I gutted it. The engine I installed was the 49 Ford flathead V-8, with
many modifications, including the longer-stroke
Mercury crankshaft, a special cam, special head (Navarro), special
magneto (Joe Hunt Scintilla Vertex), and the water-warmed supercharger
(worm drive type) that you can clearly
see here. I did all the work myself.
For the
times, this was a VERY fast street car. It produced roughly
300 horsepower. I never had it on a dyno.
After a few years I decided to cut the car up into pieces and
dispose of it (yes, really did that, cheaper than taking to the
dump), and then I installed this engine
into a 1952 MG-TD, with numerous modifications to make it fit.
That car would raise its nose like
a dragster, with the pedal to the metal. Unfortunately, I
gave all the photos of that MG to the new owner; who got the car
cheaply, after I decided to get out of hot-rodding entirely.
When I sold the MG-TD it had the same engine and the same
supercharger, but a Norden single low pressure fuel injector.
I had purchased ALL of the last of the Norden items at a sale.
I obtained a 1-3/8" wide
gears Indianapolis rear end center section free from a friend,
and with the big thick axles, no more twisted off axle problems.
The MG-TD had 16" wheels and tires, faired-in running boards, a 32 Ford radiator shell (cut down a bit), and faired-in but otherwise stock rear gas tank. The dash was homemade, and had mostly aircraft type instruments.
I do wish I had kept photos....but I was off to join the Service, and decided to get rid of most all my old projects.
Here's another of it, PRE modifications:
Here are a few photos of some of my other vehicles:
For Photo Gallery #3, CLICK
© Copyright, 2012, R. Fleischer
Return to Technical Articles LIST Page