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Hello All in the UK and elsewhere.

The Supercharged 350 Morini smashed a 50+ year old record at the El Mirage CA lakebed last Sunday by more than 10 mph with seeming ease .

Miss Amy, the pilot, celebrates back in the pits just before the post race inspection....

She and the Bike are heading to the Bonnieville Salt Flat in August to hopefully repeat the trick there

Wish us Luck!

Well done all.

You appear to have reliable power from the Morini. That makes me think the engine is designed to last with the standard power output. Thanks for doing the destruction testing for us!

well done.... more pics

Brilliant, well done
110 mph wouldn't be bad from a 350 Morini without a side car
More pics on Instagram?
Mark

Durability is a key factor in our success for certain.

It has taken "Years" to work out the cylinder cooling issues and the oiling issues when operating at 175%+ of OEM power levels.

What we have Learned :

Change the oil OFTEN !!! or you WILL trash your bottom end plain bearing inserts and C/S journals from sludge buildup in the C/S internal oil passageway

Overhead oiling of the valve rockers, springs and valves makes for quieter cooler running cylinder heads.

Stick to a 8000 rpm redline instead of 8500 rpm....The power falls off after 7800 rpm on these engines like you can't believe and higher than needed rpm stresses everything without any real gain!

Food for thought,
Robert "Smitty" Smith

More Pictures:


The Startup Dance just before launch...

Wow, that's something completely different!

smotorboy wrote: ↑18 Jul 2023 14:38 Durability is a key factor in our success for certain.

It has taken "Years" to work out the cylinder cooling issues and the oiling issues when operating at 175%+ of OEM power levels.

What we have Learned :

Change the oil OFTEN !!! or you WILL trash your bottom end plain bearing inserts and C/S journals from sludge buildup in the C/S internal oil passageway

Overhead oiling of the valve rockers, springs and valves makes for quieter cooler running cylinder heads.

Stick to a 8000 rpm redline instead of 8500 rpm....The power falls off after 7800 rpm on these engines like you can't believe and higher than needed rpm stresses everything without any real gain!

Food for thought,
Robert "Smitty" Smith

Invaluable information for those of us who like to (or at least used to) press on at times WFO.

The 250 tacho on my 2C/375 naturally has a 250 (8750) red line. Though TBF when speed hill climbing you don't really have time to study it so "some revs".

What oil are you running?

My 375 is vibrating more than I recall recently. The bottom end was last apart 35 years ago, plus I think being in a small tube 250 frame with only 3 front engine mounting points (the main one having been beefed up to M10 bolts) lets the vibes through more.

Having said that, my oil change regime suffered a bit over the last couple of years due to simply not riding it much. It gets 10w/40 semi-synthetic.

Oh well, probably time to swap back in the rebuilt engine with timing side roller bearing conversion and switch over the 375 with Kanguro heads top end. Then I would really like to put the genuine L5 cam from the Forgotten Error power unit in to the refreshed engine. That could also do with some gear bushes. The 375 tends to drop out of gear occasionally too. Worn selsectors perhaps though I think the late Phil Smith may have addressed that way back when.

I have a fleet addition for longer VMCC section runs. A Honda (there, I've said it) CB250RS Deluxe (Brrmm button version), so I could strip both engines down and mix/match/renew.

What could possibly go wrong?

I used to have a Superdooperdream when I was a lad. On bike night ride outs I used to swap with a 250RS. What a cracking bike.

Talking of reliability, anybody notice the power and torque of the new Triumph 400 single? Appears very similar to a 350 Sport from 1974!

Maybe Morini should just add fuel injection to the old Strada and launch it again.

MickeyMoto wrote: ↑19 Jul 2023 08:25 I used to have a Superdooperdream when I was a lad. On bike night ride outs I used to swap with a 250RS. What a cracking bike.

Talking of reliability, anybody notice the power and torque of the new Triumph 400 single? Appears very similar to a 350 Sport from 1974!

Maybe Morini should just add fuel injection to the old Strada and launch it again.

Indeed. Or just buy suitable engines in (Hyosung ?) and do more badge engineering
A sporty small capacity single would be very much in the tradition of Morini. The Husqvarna/KTM comes in a 250, 200 and 125 version as well as the 390.
No doubt they wouldn't sell power units to Morini. A Chinese clone might be OK. A 'nuovo Tressette' could prise my wallet open.

It has taken "Years" to work out the cylinder cooling issues and the oiling issues when operating at 175%+ of OEM power levels.

What we have Learned :

Change the oil OFTEN !!! or you WILL trash your bottom end plain bearing inserts and C/S journals from sludge buildup in the C/S internal oil passageway

Overhead oiling of the valve rockers, springs and valves makes for quieter cooler running cylinder heads.
It has taken "Years" to work out the cylinder cooling issues and the oiling issues when operating at 175%+ of OEM power levels.

What we have Learned :

Change the oil OFTEN !!! or you WILL trash your bottom end plain bearing inserts and C/S journals from sludge buildup in the C/S internal oil passageway

Overhead oiling of the valve rockers, springs and valves makes for quieter cooler running cylinder heads.

Returning to the original thread! And if you prefer not to reveal any secrets that's Ok!

Presumably you have an external oil cooler, what what about filter, external or modified internal?
Oil pump feed , normally the later 350s would use a six start gear? Have you modified the relief valve pressure?
The stock CDI based ignition system does retard beyond 7000rpm , black style pickups might give you another 500rpm, are you running stock CDI based or battery ignition? But i think you are implying it doesn't matter about the ignition as other factors are limiting performance.

Anyway hats off to you for getting 175% of stock power with a 350cc, of course there are other fast 350s but all excess of 350cc, the Devimead racers of the 70s destroyed bottom ends.

Thanks for sharing
Mark

Really good work and very interesting. I would love to be able to watch live one day.As you well know getting any gains takes a lot of things to go right.
Back in the day I saw Jim Balchin on a Gold Star engined drag bike slaughter Henk Vink on a double Kawasaki engined machine.
All this talk of oil and bottom ends……now what was it?Ah yes the T160. You knew it had to happen.

3potjohn wrote: ↑19 Jul 2023 16:25 …now what was it?Ah yes the T160. You knew it had to happen.

I understand Just Stop Oil are on their way to your house as I type this, John! Mind you, they don't like leaving the comfortable, leafy London suburbs and an electric car will take an age to get to your neck of the woods, so you have time to hide.

Mild rebuke for thread drift deserved and noted Mark

Great admiration for the achievement from me too!