Nitro Harley Connecting Rod (and Other Breakages) (1 Viewer)

[stitcherbob]

Ever see this?

 

[Cliff]

Little nitro problem, huh?

 

[BOO BOO]

Jay Turner ran 237 mph at the last race. Wildest machines on the NHRA tour.

 

[Bob G.]

Trying to make something engineered 100+ years ago run 5's.

 

[stitcherbob]

 

[Cliff]

Trying to make something engineered 100+ years ago run 5's.

That's kinda what the nitro classes are doing. Running OHV engines designed in the early 1950's.

 

[dboxell]

Run Nitro they said, It will be fun they said.....
Don't know for sure, but may have been a plate rod, not forged.

 

[DrRocket]

Trying to make something engineered 100+ years ago run 5's.

Well, think about it for a minute. The Harley Davidson engine V-twin is really just a slice out of the radial engine pie. Radials usually produce a pretty healthy amount of HP.

 

[Nick Name]

Got our wrist pins in all of those, including the one in the video that survived when the piston and rod went away. We are quite proud of that.

 

[stitcherbob]

you guys need to start making rods out of the materials used in your wrist pins.....

 

[stitcherbob]

And once the rods get figured out......

 

[Nick Name]

And we have our pins in the Spiderman bike too.

 

[stitcherbob]

And we have our pins in the Spiderman bike too.

Do you have any pics of broken parts or war stories? I think we are just scratching the surface of how much power and fury these nitro bikes make

 

[Ramjet]

Don't know if the Nitro bikes actually use a Harley style Wheels and Rods assembly, but if they do it is amazing that those things even stay together after they start, never mind under power. The rods fit together with one straddling the other (not side by side) on a pin that is pressed into the two wheels. The bearing width is about 1" across total. The "Crank" is two Wheels and a pin not even welded - just pressed. You align the wheels with a Dead Blow hammer. These parts have to be made out of "Unobtanium".

 

[nwspeedshots]

OK; not entirely on-subject, but I’m stuck at home, and bored, so here’s my connecting-rod story.

I was Chief Photographer for a hydroplane racing group consisting of large, big-block (and a few small-block) powered boats. At the time, they were essentially the next step below the turbine-powered Unlimiteds. Racing in Valleyfield, Quebec, one of our teams (Wil Muncey, son of the late, famous Unlimited driver, Bill Muncey) bent a rod. A four-boat exhibition, scheduled for the following Wednesday in South Dakota (!) didn’t allow time for parts shopping. Tthe team clamped the rod to the crane-deck, attached the crane-hook, and pulled it “straight”. Worked well enough to run the exhibition, guaranteeing a race-site for the next few years.

I’m sure y’all are going to chime in with the fact that a BBC rod is available at any Walmart… I’m a photographer; I don’t know anything about all that. Just know what happened, and that it worked.

 

[Nick Name]

Don't know if the Nitro bikes actually use a Harley style Wheels and Rods assembly, but if they do it is amazing that those things even stay together after they start, never mind under power. The rods fit together with one straddling the other (not side by side) on a pin that is pressed into the two wheels. The bearing width is about 1" across total. The "Crank" is two Wheels and a pin not even welded - just pressed. You align the wheels with a Dead Blow hammer. These parts have to be made out of "Unobtanium".View attachment 5823

The nitro bikes use a one piece billet crankshaft with side by side aluminum rods on plain bearings.

 

[Butch]

Mark was that the Grand Prix boats? When the series came to Toledo for a few years, I sponsored one out of Quebec, Exectiff.
Ran a blown Rat on alcohol

 

[nwspeedshots]

Mark was that the Grand Prix boats? When the series came to Toledo for a few years, I sponsored one out of Quebec, Exectiff.
Ran a blown Rat on alcohol

We were the west coast version of that. We were called ‘Unlimited Lights’. The Grand Prix are primarily an east coast and Canadian series. Where they are entirely supercharged on methanol, we also allowed a normally-aspirated package ( and a small-block combination as well ). The varying combinations were ultimately the demise of the series; it became difficult ( with a few exceptions ) to keep the carbureted boats competitive with those running blowers. Eventually, the blown boats split off and formed a Grand Prix series of their own. Our series was pretty healthy through the early 2000s, and in its heyday, it was a lot of fun.

Incidentally, one of our teams purchased one of the former Executif hulls and, following a fairly extensive rebuild, raced it as an Unlimited Light.