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Tech. Advice: Series 'B' / 'C' 500cc/1000cc Bikes
Piston Clearances
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<blockquote data-quote="davidd" data-source="post: 104548" data-attributes="member: 1177"><p>Erik,</p><p></p><p>I think .0025-.0035" is to small for a standard Vincent with a low expansion piston. That number would work well for a Vincent with an aluminum Nicasil liner and a low expansion piston. This type of liner sheds heat readily and there is little chance of oil migration between the cylinder and muff.</p><p></p><p>An older high expansion piston would need more than .004" clearance. Vincent tried the .004" figure and had a rash of seizures reported by dealers, particularly in the US.</p><p></p><p>Due to the design of the stock Vincent, overheating of the barrels is not uncommon. For the barrels, the liner and muff allow oil migration in between the two and this creates a layer of carbon that inhibits the free flow of heat to the muff. Additionally, the cylinder sits very low in the crankcase compared to other motorcycle designs. This means that a good portion of the cylinder is not exposed to air flow. These factors tend to make for uneven heating of the cylinders. They can get hot spots.</p><p></p><p>This uneven heating is a much more serious problem on the Comet motors because they cannot share the load with another cylinder. Thus, they need a little more clearance than a twin to deal with rapid spot heating that cannot be air cooled quick enough. So, for a Nicasil aluminum cylinder, .0015 is recommended and I use .0035 on my single racer, as an example. If I were running it on the street I could go lower, but I do not see any advantage to that because I get years of wear and good compression with the higher clearance. If the compression goes down, I put new rings in, like everyone should.</p><p></p><p>If you are not running air cleaners, you will need to renew the top end in 25,000 miles. I always took that bet and I don't use air cleaners. The stock liners will take a beating, but I found the Nicasil liners will last decades under the same conditions.</p><p></p><p>In this thread, as in the other threads, no one has listed any problems with running larger clearances, while there are a lot of excellent reasons to avoid running small clearances. I would say that erring on the large clearance side has no penalty.</p><p></p><p>David</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="davidd, post: 104548, member: 1177"] Erik, I think .0025-.0035" is to small for a standard Vincent with a low expansion piston. That number would work well for a Vincent with an aluminum Nicasil liner and a low expansion piston. This type of liner sheds heat readily and there is little chance of oil migration between the cylinder and muff. An older high expansion piston would need more than .004" clearance. Vincent tried the .004" figure and had a rash of seizures reported by dealers, particularly in the US. Due to the design of the stock Vincent, overheating of the barrels is not uncommon. For the barrels, the liner and muff allow oil migration in between the two and this creates a layer of carbon that inhibits the free flow of heat to the muff. Additionally, the cylinder sits very low in the crankcase compared to other motorcycle designs. This means that a good portion of the cylinder is not exposed to air flow. These factors tend to make for uneven heating of the cylinders. They can get hot spots. This uneven heating is a much more serious problem on the Comet motors because they cannot share the load with another cylinder. Thus, they need a little more clearance than a twin to deal with rapid spot heating that cannot be air cooled quick enough. So, for a Nicasil aluminum cylinder, .0015 is recommended and I use .0035 on my single racer, as an example. If I were running it on the street I could go lower, but I do not see any advantage to that because I get years of wear and good compression with the higher clearance. If the compression goes down, I put new rings in, like everyone should. If you are not running air cleaners, you will need to renew the top end in 25,000 miles. I always took that bet and I don't use air cleaners. The stock liners will take a beating, but I found the Nicasil liners will last decades under the same conditions. In this thread, as in the other threads, no one has listed any problems with running larger clearances, while there are a lot of excellent reasons to avoid running small clearances. I would say that erring on the large clearance side has no penalty. David [/QUOTE]
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Tech. Advice: Series 'B' / 'C' 500cc/1000cc Bikes
Piston Clearances
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