UL cylinders

[Any old iron]

Three piece UL cylinders. Brightens up your day no end!!

I wondered why it wasn't running as well as usual.
Still, you expect this sort of thing when you're running a bike that's almost 70 years old and it's given me an excuse to open up the engine.
It's the best advert ever for not re-lining cylinders. I wish I'd known about them before I bought the bike.

If anyone knows the whereabouts of any good UL or ULH cylinders, gizza shout! ( and yes, I have seen the S&S ones. )

Look between the third and forth fins from the bottom.

[banquo]

Ouch.
So they were relined, and left so little iron behind that they split?

[Any old iron]

I've never been keen on re-lining cylinders. I used to build engines for a living and I've seen this kind of thing happen time after time. You also get the problem of heat transference between the liner and the cylinder. The gap between acts as a heat barrier and lets be honest, it's a sidevalve and they run bloody hot! You need all the help you can get.

This could be a good excuse to convert it to 80 cu in. ( Mind you, I don't have a clue as to where the money will come from )

A few pics of the "telescopic" cylinder.

[girlyglide]

Originally Posted by Any old iron

If anyone knows the whereabouts of any good UL or ULH cylinders, gizza shout! ( and yes, I have seen the S&S ones. )

S&S cylinders are the way to go. Whatever you do don't be tempted by the darkside (AKA Taiwan Ted).

[Any old iron]

Originally Posted by girlyglide

S&S cylinders are the way to go. Whatever you do don't be tempted by the darkside (AKA Taiwan Ted).

I agree with you there! I bet the Indian made ones are cast from old gas cookers and bits of drainpipe.

[banquo]

As an ex iron foundryman, I'd have been extremely happy with old gray iron drainpipes and cast-iron cookers in our cupola. The older the iron the better...

They don't make iron like they used to. There's the remains of an old iron (as opposed to steel) fence up near Aviemore in the Rothiemurchus forest. It's Victorian, and I'd guess it's been outside for about 150 years or so, but it's hardly rusted, and pretty much as good as the day they set it into the ground. If we were to dig it up and melt it down it would make some great cylinders....

[Any old iron]

I wonder what the spec of the iron was for the original castings and how good the process was in the fourties. Being an ex foundryman you'll a lot more than I do about the different grades of iron and it's additives. There's a lot more to casting than pouring a bit of molten iron into a mold.

I've seen mention somewhere of leaving car engine blocks outside for a year or two to weather before being machined. All interesting stuff.

[Limey_Dave]

That's the second time in 24 hours I've seen that cylinder,and I think Kitabel aka Panic aka Jeff (Victory) nailed it.Someone has put an 80" liner in a 74" cylinder.
I'd get a quote from Phil for member/non member price of S&S cylinders,even just as a base line.
There's a lot of people paying top price for junk out there,just to get the right casting numbers on a show bike.Most of those cylinders wouldn't make it to the paper shop.
Re green castings,some of the old Manx Norton tuners used to leave cylinders outside to etch the bores for oil retention.
Years ago when BMW built F1 engines,they were machined under size,and run in road cars,then remachined for F1.

[Any old iron]

Standard bore 74 in 3 5/16
Standard bore 80 in 3 7/16
OD of liner 3 1/2

I'm just surprised they didn't end up with a lot of large flat washers.

[Limey_Dave]

Luck of the drawer,a percentage of cylinders would show daylight before the liner was put in.