I've done some work on a yamaha bike that was a parallel twin with a double overhead cam. It drove it's cams with a gear on the crankshaft centrally located between the cylinders with a chain that linked the cams above to the crank below. How do you plan on driving the overhead cams on the norton I wonder?? Bevel gear drive? chain drive ? something on the timing side off the crank gear? something else??
Good question, measuring the height of a spare RH4 head and comparing it to the drawing the Merlin is quarter of an inch taller. I don't know what frame i will put it in, the originals were used in sidecarcross frames.
Could you post some pictures?? I think it has to be of interest to a lot of people on this forum, Thanks for your post. Chuck.A friend and I have recently acquired the Merlin DOHC engine mentioned in the article above. It is pretty tired looking but complete and apparently ran really well back in the day. I know this is an old thread, but is there still interest in these engines and does it have any value? Dobba99, are you still working on this project? It would be great to know more about the engine. We acquired it as part of a job lot of other spares and are not sure whether to restore it or sell it on. We also have the bike the engine was originally fitted in; it currently has the shell of a turbo charged 850 motor in it and some great chassis upgrades (Astralite wheels, Spondon front end etc). Unfortunately we are new to Nortons but know more about BSA triples and twins so would appreciate any info. Thanks.
Hello BsamatA friend and I have recently acquired the Merlin DOHC engine mentioned in the article above. It is pretty tired looking but complete and apparently ran really well back in the day. I know this is an old thread, but is there still interest in these engines and does it have any value? Dobba99, are you still working on this project? It would be great to know more about the engine. We acquired it as part of a job lot of other spares and are not sure whether to restore it or sell it on. We also have the bike the engine was originally fitted in; it currently has the shell of a turbo charged 850 motor in it and some great chassis upgrades (Astralite wheels, Spondon front end etc). Unfortunately we are new to Nortons but know more about BSA triples and twins so would appreciate any info. Thanks.