Race 350

[pedro]

I'm wondering if anyone knows anything about the very tasty looking race bike advertised on "car and classic.co.uk" is it a known bike?

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C639043

[EVguru]

It's based on a 250 frame.

[tobydmv]

Wow, that is a sweet ride. Whats going on with the valve covers? Too bad they dont list anything interesting from an engineering perspective.

[pedro]

I can only think they have done that to aid plug removal, not sure of it's effect on cooling.

[MarkB]

Just to save weight? They've carved off or drilled a lot of metal elsewhere...

[EVguru]

I've got one modified like that on the shelf. It was traditionally done for making sparkplug access easier.

It probably improves cooling marginally as the air can reach the rocker cover directly.

[norbert]

I have made and mounted some covers like that on Rocinante. Aesteticly I don´t like them much, but they help to reach the spark plug and the covers can be more easily unmounted. Espacially if you have a 500/501 motor in a 350-frame. A small advice about this problem: the valvet covers of the 501 are a bit lower (maybe 5 mm?), also the covers of the very first 350 It´s not easily to be seen on the first foto: it´s the left one. You can identify it because of a small triangular slope on one edge

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I have mounted them for years without problems. I don´t realy think that it helps to cool the head of the cilinder. I think its even the reverse, there is less material/surface that helps to cool down. For any reason the 501 covers have got a breaking through on the outlet side. Well anyhow, it works.

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This bike looks very nice! It seems to have the rectangular crank (? for the rear wheel) from Fridegotto

norbert

[Pat]

Must be for plug access less metal, less surface area to conduct heat away.

[72degrees]

Must be for plug access less metal, less surface area to conduct heat away.

Certainly makes access to the rear plug possible. With a standard rocker cover on a 350 motor in a 250 frame it's pretty hard to do without removing the cover first. Probably needs a special universal joint type plug box spanner like the one KTM supply for the 350SXF. Plus it also saves weight

I cut them down when I first built the 2C/375 but have reverted to standard, as until recently I had little need to get the EVX plugs out