Wal Phillips Fuel injector

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Aug 5, 2017
Messages
1,414
Country flag
Out of interest had any one ever attempted or indeed had success in fitting and setting up of a single (I dread to suggest a pair) of Wal Phillips gravity fuel injectors.
My last outing with one of these was on a 5TA... and despite many attempt to master the set up it beat me into submission.
Somewhere in the garage are a pair of 1"1/4 wallies......but I have no intention to fit them
 
It's decades ago since the last time I saw one, and never seen one on a Commando, they were not injectors in the sense of today's fuel injection systems, but rather a "controlled dribble" and as far as I remember a sure way to get the bike on fire.
Wal Philips was a speedway guy, and his injectors were primarily intended for full throttle use.
 
Last edited:
The Wal Phillips injectors actually worked. These days they might be a way of getting around the historic-racing rules to fit a well-hidden, full engine management system to a 60s race bike.
 
...and as far as I remember a sure way to get the bike on fire.
Yep...
Wal Phillips Fuel injector


And, no, I don't know if this bike had a Phillips on it, but I have seen them catch fire with similar "flare" as this.
 
Without an EMS, if you forget to turn the tap off when the motor is not running, you have the fire.
 
Syd Lawton used a Wal Phillips 'injector' on one of his Aermacchi's that Tom Phillips rode in the Isle of Man. Instead of feeding fuel in direct from the fuel tank, Syd fed it first to a SU float chamber, and then on to the 'injector'. They found that peformance was improved, but the economy was very much better than when they tested with a conventional carburettor.
Unfortunately, Tom crashed in the Greeba Bridge section on another machine and was hospitalised, so the race value was left undetermined. As far as I know, this combination was never used by Syd again.
 
I didn’t know Syd Lawton tried one, he was no shop egg for sure.

However, the fact that he didn’t persevere with them probably tells us that he explored, and discounted any perceived benefits.
 
An opportunity to learn something new every day . . . . .

The June 4 , 1964 copy of Motor Cycle magazine carried a picture of Syd Lawton's Aermacchi thus equipped, with comment on the following page. While I don't have my notebook covering this TT (lost in many house moves) I would suspect the reason for not persevering with the 'injector' was because of a difficulty in bump starting. Today's live engine starts would be so very much easier.

The 'injector' was intended for use in a racing environment, I doubt it would be a sensible proposition for a touring motorcycle
 
Yeah, but would one be better than a Gardener ?

At least the Gardener is a proper smoothbore at WOT.

But then again... I imagine you are familiar with the MogVin that used to (maybe still does) race with the BHR club? That had a pair of vast Wal Phillips units on it. It didn’t hang about either!
 
John Gurney , the Norton Guy at Birkinhead , N.Z. ( a pommy bike repair shop ) ran them
on his grey 750 P.R. , on the street .

Apparently you had to have fuel in the tank .

Fuel to low , no go or lean , on ' gravity feed ' .

Used S.U. float set up ? did they . Think maybe He did .
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top