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With apologies for going 'off topic' again, Bill.

You mentioned the Rolls Royce Merlin engine, Kawboy. Well, the nature of my employment entails travel throughout Britain. A few months ago, I was passing through a village near Stansted, and noticed a quaint looking building housing a Rolls Royce car dealership. I could not resist having a look through the windows, and the first thing to catch my attention was huge, gleaming V12 engine on a display stand. Yes, it was a 27 liter Rolls Royce Merlin, the first time I'd ever seen one, other than in photographs. And this particular Merlin has been restored to a very high standard, by the Rolls Royce auto dealer whose showroom I was now in. Just look at the amazing attention to detail. I asked ( Stan, if you are reading this, you will be interested! ) about the type of paint used to achieve the glossy finish on the components, and was told that it is painted with two-pack.
Not long before my visit, there had been a Spitfire plane on display at this dealership. Although that had gone, there was another plane parked next to the Rolls Royce cars. I can't remember what make it was, but it had a rare type of radial engine.

This talk of Merlin engines reminds me of John Dodd, an Englishman who owns a home made road legal car fitted with a Merlin. The photo here shows the car in its original, and most appealing bodywork. I remember Dodd appearing with the car in the national newspapers in the mid 1970's, after having been clocked at 200 MPH on a German autobahn, much to the anger of the police over there!

Well, Kawboy, if you can't get your hands on a Merlin for your project, you could perhaps enquire about buying this one! But whilst I don't doubt your capability in building a Merlin powered bike, lord help you if it ever tips over!

That's amazing.

That's fucking awesome Jim! 27 liters... Should we call it a 'big block'? haha Definitely a detailed work on this one. If I only had a garage, to fit one goddamn bike! haha
As to the paint, I'd go for gloss on any internal engine, for sure. In our case, exposed without a shame and with a purpose in fact, all gloss in my opinion would make it look like a candy? I just painted the case, cylinder block, and the head cover - literally finished 15 minutes ago. Oh boy... Wait for the photos. A more subtle than glossy finish is the way to go, in our case in my humble opinion.
One exception perhaps... A Boss Hoss? I swear, one day when I win a lotto that thing will join me.
Back in a day the way to clean the cylinder sleeves and the head, and the crank case, was to crawl into it it. Mind you, I'm talking marine engines over 5000 HP. All were painted with usually blah blah green, but very durable! 30 years ago, no idea what that was. But durable indeed!
I wonder if anyone can relate, but I find the original locomotives a 25th century worth machines. So complicated, so precise, so perfect, and - so beautiful! If I had a space for it, I'd probably want to restore one of those monster which spew a cloud of black tar on us standing on a bridge waiting for it to roll by! Yeah, the blame was on the evil operator who would wait until the overpass and blow a black cloud of smoke on us! Oh, I miss the sound and these days, I'd shake his hand!

Thanks biltonjim for the fotos - excellent

Holger

You put a smile on my face this morning Jim. glad I made the coffee first.
I'm thinking I'd have to go with 4" tubing for the frame and I wonder if Batman would scare me up a set of tires otherwise I might have to go with sod farm tires from the John Deere dealership. And while I'm at it maybe a headlight from a Canadian Natonal Rail train locomotive? See what happens to my brain coming near the end of a very long winter. It's like I'm punch drunk. I need to get out into the garage and get going on the camshaft grinder build. If only the weather would turn a little warmer.

I live in a 4 year old 2,000 sq.ft. bungalow. It had a hydronic air handler fired with hot water from a Polaris domestic hot water tank. Last year the propane costs were $2,,800 for the year and I had heated the garage maybe 8 days over winter. This year the propane cost are over $3,600 and we're not finished with the heating season. Because of this, I've not heated the garage this winter and not been out working in my "shop". 2 weeks ago, I replaced the hydronic system with a high effeciency Lennox furnace. I went this way based in the next door neighbor's house being identical to ours and his heating costs are half of mine.

Bottom line, I hope to get back working on the beast in a couple of weeks God willing and I'm able. Then after it's done, MAYBE I'll go on the hunt for the Merlin. Don't tell my Porsche. Everytime I start working on another project, it hurts her feelings and see develops another electrical problem to draw my attention back to her. She's like a mistress. ( definition- a woman in a position of authority or control.)

Ya - There's two unique sounds you'll likely never forget. A 1300 and a Merlin in full-throttle. The Merlin's had the quirk of quitting if the pilot went neg-G to abruptly which was dicey if you were being pursued ! Then they developed the "Griffon" version and all bets were off.

That merlin would be in my living room !!!!!!!!.......after I bolstered the floor -joists!

When your '13" is running well, you don't miss the stress !