Matchless said:BMW didn't seem to have any problems with them on Airheads though.
No need to insult Ferguson. My Ferguson tractor was second to none!Fullauto said:...Harley Ferguson...
Dances with Shrapnel said:Yes, the symmetrical cooling of the HD and BMW cylinders may have something to do with it. Even the Yamaha XS engine which Junkyard Dog races with aluminum sleeves and Nikasil coating has a cam chain tunnel between the barrels so should be oil cooled.
Jim Comstock tried them and I don't recall hearing about any distortion issues, only cost to benefit but I don't recall Jim stating what clearances he ran.
From John Ellis's experience it sounds like the big advantage is being able to close up piston skirt to cylinder wall clearance.
Just my humble opinion but distortion may or may not be an issue with aluminum sleeves in aluminum Norton barrels. Who is ready to experiment?
Dances with Shrapnel said:Thanks Jim. Good stuff.
What skirt to barrel clearance did you run and were they cast or forged Pistons?
What bore size did you try it on. Do you think a thicker liner wall would have helped much?
Dances with Shrapnel said:Taking it one step further, if an aluminum barrel were made of the appropriate alloy to receive Nikasil, do you think that it would solve or greatly reduce the distortion. Intuition tells me it would reduce it to some degree but I would like your take on it.
marinatlas said:Hi, not clearly Nikasil, but alloy jugs related........
http://www.nortonownersclub.org/noc-cha ... /419723705
jseng1 said:I emailed Steve Maney a couple days ago asking him about Nikasil coated alum sleeves. His reply was that I would need HE30 aluminium liners then coat them with Nikasil then you will need compatible rings. He said it wasn't worth the cost. I emailed him again asking about distortion and blow by when he tried it. His answer was that there was no distortion or blow by.
I then emailed Dave at LA sleeve about costs. His answer was that the cost for sleeving would probably be around $700 for sleeves and installation. Another $485 for Nikasil.
I like to collect info before I embark on a project and weigh it out before I make a decision. I never take one persons advice. I have found that everyone has a natural bias and that experts on both sides will disagree. I have had to find solutions to problems that others have not and sometimes these solutions go unrecognized by some (no matter how long or how well they work) which is disappointing. But the Alum Nikasil cylinder problem looks like a hairy one and very expensive. There are no successful reports of Aluminum Nikasil cylinders for Nortons. The proven solution for Alum Cylinders are the Austentic liners which would be affordable if some vendor/manufacture would make them in quantity. Everyone agrees that tighter clearances are beneficial provided everything stays round and there are no seizures. Austentic iron liners exist but are not readily available for Nortons and that's a shame.
What about the Aluminum/Nikasil M.A.P. cylinders? Does anyone have any experience with them?
J. M. Leadbeater said:Wonder how long it will be before some clever soul starts playing with Aspin rotary heads on Nortons and telling us on these pages.....with modern ceramics stc .........I was told 40 to 50 years ago that Honda were playing with the idea......