Search found 98 matches

by FloridaMike
Thu Feb 15, 2018 4:40 pm
Forum: technical interest and new ideas
Topic: Chains
Replies: 6
Views: 6832

Re: Chains

Confirming Richard's comment about enclosed chains on Munch Mammut, mine has it. The rear axle isn't adjustable fore and aft, so chain tension is adjusted by a small idler and some linkages. The idler is on the "return" side, so it doesn't have to be able to absorb the power of the engine ...
by FloridaMike
Wed Feb 07, 2018 2:24 am
Forum: technical interest and new ideas
Topic: Paper Victory at Last!!!
Replies: 4
Views: 6413

Re: Paper Victory at Last!!!

I do have to admit I am not terribly impressed with the Florida DMV rules. They are terribly byzantine, and especially difficult to negotiate when there is anything the least bit unusual. They mostly understand new or newish cars bought from dealers. I do have a fairly good working relationship with...
by FloridaMike
Tue Feb 06, 2018 9:19 pm
Forum: technical interest and new ideas
Topic: Paper Victory at Last!!!
Replies: 4
Views: 6413

Re: Paper Victory at Last!!!

I expect that it will. The engine was overhauled by me a few years after I got it. All the seals and gaskets were replaced, it is clean inside, slobbered up with oil, and ready to go. The parts came from RotaryRecycle, which is unfortunately now gone. I got everything I needed plus the workshop manu...
by FloridaMike
Mon Feb 05, 2018 9:22 pm
Forum: technical interest and new ideas
Topic: Paper Victory at Last!!!
Replies: 4
Views: 6413

Paper Victory at Last!!!

About 20 years after physically acquiring my Hercules, today, in the mail, I received a Florida title! As we say out here in the colonies, "Yee Hah!!" Florida had been giving me a hard time for years. They told me I had to write a certified letter to the last owner, but they wouldn't tell ...
by FloridaMike
Mon May 01, 2017 11:25 pm
Forum: General discussion (eveything else)
Topic: food for thought
Replies: 2
Views: 4634

Re: food for thought

Who has the right of way in Florida? Most jacked-up pickup truck with most long guns in the gun rack of the rear window. Worst beater, four mismatched tires, lots of dents and primer, at least one window covered with plastic sheeting held on with duct tape, leaves a smoke trail (helps kill the mosqu...
by FloridaMike
Sat Mar 25, 2017 2:19 pm
Forum: General discussion (eveything else)
Topic: jaguar
Replies: 4
Views: 7733

Re: jaguar

Umm, wonderfully reliable and dependable Lucas electrics? (Nomex on!) ;-)
by FloridaMike
Sat Dec 24, 2016 6:59 pm
Forum: login and say hello!
Topic: Hello
Replies: 6
Views: 14247

Re: Hello

David,I'm of the understanding that the brakes are Grimeca, and that parts are still available if you do some looking.I've also had little luck joining the German Hercules club. The website is firewalled and you need a password to get in. The last time I lost my password and requested another, I got...
by FloridaMike
Wed Jun 15, 2016 12:09 am
Forum: General discussion (eveything else)
Topic: Epitrochoid magazine
Replies: 10
Views: 13151

Re: Epitrochoid magazine

A few (not many) years ago I had a friend visit an aviation convention in Moscow. VAZ automobiles was making an aero-engine conversion of their two and three rotor Wankels - design originally "borrowed" from Mazda, who complained about the total lack of licensing fees, USSR said "Da, ...
by FloridaMike
Fri May 27, 2016 11:05 pm
Forum: login and say hello!
Topic: w2000 oil mixture
Replies: 8
Views: 15823

Re: w2000 oil mixture

'Nother USA W2000 owner here.The injection pump seems to be a Yamaha autolube pump, and these are not noted for their great reliability. Considering that W2000 engine internal parts are pretty much unobtanium, I'd suggest you pre-mix. I'm told these motors like Rotella straight 30 or 40, sometimes W...
by FloridaMike
Wed Feb 17, 2016 1:54 am
Forum: login and say hello!
Topic: parts help for newbe
Replies: 4
Views: 7047

Re: parts help for newbe

Well, lemmesee . . .The front forks are Ceriani, and parts are available, not easily, but they are available.I do have a manual for the engine, it came from the RE5 guy in Ohio, now sadly deceased. It can be copied, but there really isn't much in it. The engine is so dead simple it is amazing. Harde...
by FloridaMike
Sun Nov 15, 2015 2:34 pm
Forum: General discussion (eveything else)
Topic: Mazda Rotaries
Replies: 9
Views: 11489

Re: Mazda Rotaries

John, the 3.5 litre V8 Rover engine was a development of the Buick engine and was, I believe, an alloy block. Yes, it was a GM engine destined for Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, originally 215 cubic inches (3.6 liters), in the early 1960s. The three cars were essentially an exercise in badge engineeri...
by FloridaMike
Thu Nov 12, 2015 3:26 am
Forum: General discussion (eveything else)
Topic: Mazda Rotaries
Replies: 9
Views: 11489

Re: Mazda Rotaries

327 cubic inches is 5.45 liters (60 cubic inches per liter). The same block became the current 350 (5.8 liters) and with some fiddling and a different crank can be opened up to 400 cubic inches or 6.6 liters. The 400 inch version can easily be tweaked to produce well over 500 hp and still be very dr...
by FloridaMike
Wed Nov 11, 2015 2:39 pm
Forum: General discussion (eveything else)
Topic: Mazda Rotaries
Replies: 9
Views: 11489

Re: Mazda Rotaries

My guess is an internal corporate war like GM, which had the engine numbers for the GM Rotary in the Dealer's catalog (as an Option), a new car designed around the engine and so on. Was it Ed cole who became CEO and finally killed the project? In any event, GM had the car, which now needed a V-8 to...
by FloridaMike
Thu Apr 30, 2015 3:32 pm
Forum: for sale and wanted
Topic: W2000 welded rotor vs bolted rotor?
Replies: 5
Views: 6448

Re: W2000 welded rotor vs bolted rotor?

Here are the last two pix - this is a fixed (setscrewed) rotor. phpBB won't let me send more than three attachments per message.
by FloridaMike
Thu Apr 30, 2015 3:29 pm
Forum: for sale and wanted
Topic: W2000 welded rotor vs bolted rotor?
Replies: 5
Views: 6448

Re: W2000 welded rotor vs bolted rotor?

Answer provided by Hans (in this group). He replied directly to me and sent photos.Frame #s 1,000 and lower are definitely at risk. The outer race (sleeve) is tack welded to the rotor and after enough heating/cooling cycles, the welds break and scatter bits of metal in the engine. The sleeve moves i...
by FloridaMike
Wed Apr 22, 2015 3:03 am
Forum: for sale and wanted
Topic: W2000 welded rotor vs bolted rotor?
Replies: 5
Views: 6448

Re: W2000 welded rotor vs bolted rotor?

Question - obviously the early bikes had the welded rotor. Did series production change to the bolted rotor (and if so, at about what year/serial number) or was the welded rotor used to the end?I'm wondering if I could use a borescope to look inside without taking the engine apart . . . I don't thin...
by FloridaMike
Thu Apr 16, 2015 2:35 pm
Forum: for sale and wanted
Topic: W2000 welded rotor vs bolted rotor?
Replies: 5
Views: 6448

W2000 welded rotor vs bolted rotor?

I notice in another W2000 related post that "the sometimes problematic welded rotor has been changed to the bolted rotor".Anyone have some background on this? Was the welded rotor used in earlier models and the bolted rotor in later ones, or was there a running change so that all the later...
by FloridaMike
Sat Dec 20, 2014 7:05 pm
Forum: General discussion (eveything else)
Topic: no posts
Replies: 3
Views: 6113

Re: no posts

Yes, I had noticed that the group has been VERY quiet lately . . . must be winter and nobody's riding (or fixing, or thinking about fixing, or thinking about motorcycles) or something.Well, I'm still alive here in Flori-duh and I check in every few days to see if anything's going on.With best regard...
by FloridaMike
Sun Oct 19, 2014 7:49 pm
Forum: for sale and wanted
Topic: wanted DKW W2000
Replies: 1
Views: 3265

Re: wanted DKW W2000

If you area asking for the autolube pump (in fact, there is no other), you have a late production bike as I understand the earlier ones used pre-mix.I just took a look at mine and it looks suspiciously like the autolube oil-injection pump fitted to a mid-60s vintage Yamaha 250 (mine was a YDS-3), an...
by FloridaMike
Thu Aug 21, 2014 3:25 pm
Forum: technical interest and new ideas
Topic: rotary recycle
Replies: 2
Views: 4122

Re: rotary recycle

FloridaMike here . . . back from spectacular computer crash, many bytes were deliberately harmed . . .As to Rotary Recycle closing in October, here's a proposal: If someone or a group of someones wants to buy the inventory and ship it to the UK, I have a large aircraft hangar that can serve as a sta...
by FloridaMike
Thu Apr 17, 2014 7:21 pm
Forum: technical interest and new ideas
Topic: Are Rotary Engines Supposed to be Produced?
Replies: 2
Views: 4503

Re: Are Rotary Engines Supposed to be Produced?

I've been following the "progress" of rotary engines since the early 1980s.I remember buying an RX-7 engine out of a junkyard specifically to take it apart and see what was inside of it. My W2000 arrived in several boxes, it is now back together. I have Norbye's book and some other literat...
by FloridaMike
Tue Apr 15, 2014 1:52 pm
Forum: calendar dates and announcements
Topic: Aeronca fly-in and Air Cooled Classics Rally. 17th May
Replies: 3
Views: 5472

Re: Aeronca fly-in and Air Cooled Classics Rally. 17th May

Old and air cooled . . . 78 thundering miles an hour, 1,500 feet AGL.
by FloridaMike
Mon Apr 07, 2014 2:58 pm
Forum: General discussion (eveything else)
Topic: DVLA
Replies: 3
Views: 4710

Re: DVLA

??????????????!!!If I am reading this correctly, do you guys over in Blighty have to tell the motor vehicle bureau that you've had some medical problem or other which might affect your driving ability?Incredulously,FloridaMike (where the ATM machines in the drive-thru lanes at banks are required to ...
by FloridaMike
Thu Mar 13, 2014 3:55 pm
Forum: General discussion (eveything else)
Topic: sat nav's
Replies: 7
Views: 8427

Re: sat nav's

Have a little experience with these . . . they are interesting, to say the least.First one was an older unit, only did lat/long, and you needed to reference that to a paper map. Once you did, you could say with some confidence "I'm here". Garmin 12, I believe, still have it in a box somewh...
by FloridaMike
Wed Feb 26, 2014 3:37 pm
Forum: General discussion (eveything else)
Topic: Rotary, but from afar and not as expected
Replies: 2
Views: 4287

Rotary, but from afar and not as expected

This one is a little off the wall, but since the engine IS a rotary (but not a gasoline one), I beg your collective indulgence to ask here . . .Friend of mine had a chance to drive a Tesla Electric car (see, it IS a rotary engine, right?) and he wants one, oh man does he want one, holy mackerel does...
by FloridaMike
Thu Feb 06, 2014 3:40 am
Forum: calendar dates and announcements
Topic: Best Wishes and a Speedy Recovery JB
Replies: 5
Views: 8530

Re: Best Wishes and a Speedy Recovery JB

Congrats from the colonies on being done with this, and successfully. Take your time and enjoy being "cosseted", you'll know you are well when the missus hands you a "honey-do" list and a screwdriver and/or paintbrush. Good season to stay inside anyway, I'm told the weather sucks...
by FloridaMike
Wed Nov 20, 2013 5:13 pm
Forum: login and say hello!
Topic: Hello From a New Member
Replies: 20
Views: 21059

Re: Hello From a New Member

I think wev'e been down this road before re: "how quiet electric vehicles are" manufacturers will have to build in some noise,especialy for bikes,(if car drivers can't hear a noisy old Hog on open pipes what chance an electric bike exclaim,)rgds, J.B. Agreed. I had read about this situati...
by FloridaMike
Tue Nov 19, 2013 9:29 pm
Forum: login and say hello!
Topic: Hello From a New Member
Replies: 20
Views: 21059

Re: Hello From a New Member

Well, I'd say an electric motor is in fact a rotary, just not a gasoline powered rotary.In October of 2012, a friend of mine got me a pit pass at Daytona for the electric Grand Prix race. This is no small accomplishment - it is easier to get an invitation to speak to the Pope or to Vladimir Putin, t...
by FloridaMike
Tue Nov 19, 2013 3:55 am
Forum: login and say hello!
Topic: Hello From a New Member
Replies: 20
Views: 21059

Re: Hello From a New Member

Hi and thanks for that.Replacing the smoothest engine around with one of the roughest wasnt the best of ideas IMOH...lol. And it would seem that lots of them have reaquired their rotatries or been fitted with Audi 4 cyl engines....which is probably the only acceptable compromise. So thanks for the ...
by FloridaMike
Wed Sep 18, 2013 6:35 pm
Forum: technical interest and new ideas
Topic: Flat Battery mystery
Replies: 33
Views: 33698

Re: Flat Battery mystery

Hi Mike,In all my years of messing about with cars,bikes,trucks,construction plant,ect;I have never had a battery explode using jumper leads,(I supose this could happen if one connected a 24v from a truck to a 12v car or bike,but I expect a lot would bepend on how long they were connected smiley)rg...