A sleeve that is just pressed in is normal. There is no lip on the sleeve for a cast iron cylinder Ariel. The top lip is generally only used on alloy cylinders However it is also normal to pin the sleeve somewhere at the base of the cylinder, below the ring line. Tapered pins for that purpose used t...

Torgir If you set the Piston to the same height as original you will not have the same compression ratio. A 6.8 piston means a 60cc combustion chamber, 350 +60 = 410/60 = 6.8. However as you will now have 433cc 433 +60 = 493/60 =8.2 to 1. No problems with that on 95 octane fuel but it is around the ...

Vincent The outer timing cover needs to be maintained at the original oil level to avoid over oiling the magneto. That is why the copper pipe goes in the original crankcase oil drain hole and connects through to the timing cover which is maintained at the lower level. The main source of oil to the c...

Vincent I doubt that shortening the inlet follower would achieve anything. It would not increase duration but would only alter the opening and closing points while maintaining the same duration. The inlet follower in your photo is a HS follower and combined with the VH exhaust follower shown, the mk...

I tuned a 48 NH by fitting a P2 Franklin cam (54HS mk1) HS inlet follower an 8.5 piston and a 1 and 1/8” 289 carb and a 20 tooth engine sprocket. It pulls 85mph. I also tuned a 57NH fitted with a P2 Franklin cam VH followers std compression a 1 and 1/16” monobloc and a 19 tooth engine sprocket. It a...

While I cannot find the details at the moment, an article that I have states that Ariel fitted the spitfire cam and big bearing crank, which became a sore point with BSA, when they realised what Ariel was doing. However that may have related to export models. For even more performance the 1954-56 50...

I think that you will find that the Ariel Cyclone used the BSA spitfire cam which is the 357 cam, however for road use the 356 is a much better cam and the bike accelerates faster with the 356 than with the 357. The 356 cam and 8 or 9 to 1 pistons work very well together. But the problem with the Hu...

For those that are interested the VB will run well with a very hot cam. The cam below was ground by an unknown tuner from the A6/664 to a 1.25” base circle. The shafts were also rust pitted. After obtaining the cam and measuring it I believed it had potential so I had the shafts ground and hard chro...

The alloy rings work very well and stop all oil leaks around the gearbox mainshaft, even when the chaincases are overfull. I initially purchased a set for my 4, the instructions for which said if fitted to a single the discs would require a little sanding down. I then did some metal spinning and mad...

Over the years I have used Rolls Royce gasket cement (remember when that was available), Hylomar, Silicone rubber and Yamabond or Three bond. All were successful. As Paul stated there are other areas more prone to leakage, the pressed metal sump plate being one. However for non spigotted crankcases ...