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Do You Really Want

Know About-
Exmuion Chambers? BY GORDON JENNINGS

improvements, between engines fitted with the usual thing: simple, uncomplicated igno-
mufflers and otherwise identical engines rance of how an expansion chamber exhaust
with expansion chambers, vary according to system does what it does. What I proposed
pansion chamber exhaust systems: "You'll how good (or bad) the stock muffler is, and doing here is to dilute the general ignorance
know when you have the design right, be- are further influenced by carburetor size, regarding these chambers enough to im-
2ause the chamber will then be impossible to port timing, etc. However, the difference prove the average man's chances of arriving
fit on the motorcycle without having it drag will be in the order of 10- to 25-percent and at more satisfactory results. I must add that
the ground, bum the rider's leg, or force the can go as high as 50-percent when used in I do not regard my own understanding of
relocation of at least one major component." conjunction with altered czfrburetion and the expansion chamber's inner workings as
His remark was made in jest, but contained timing. The degree of difference possible is being the Almighty's Revealed Truth. My
s lot of unhappy truth. That bulky item of widely appreciated, and that accounts for theories are in reasonable coincidence with
exhaust plumbing we call an "expansion the brisk sale of replacement exhaust sys- physical law, and when applied in-formula
chamber" i s for a fact very difficult to tems. It also has led many an enthusiast to to specific engines they do seem to shape an
mount on a motorcycle. Routed underneath, construct an expansion chamber of his own expansion chamber that works. Those of you
it devours ground clearance until it is itself design. who hold different views on the subject (and
devoured by rocks; curled back on the bike's Sadly, the end result of most people's experience tells me you cling to your views
side, it wages a hot battle for space with the shade-tree experimental work is simply the with a tenacity most people reserve for mi-
rider's entire leg. And always it assaults the discovery that it remains possible to acquire nor religions) are welcome to them.
eardrums with its fiendish rasp. all of the expansion chamber's disadvantages Understanding expansion chambers be-
Attended as it is by these manifold incon- without realizing any of the compensating gins with an understanding of the behavior
veniences, the expansion chamber exhaust benefits in performance. Or, as I heard one of sonic waves in tubes. These waves, which
system still has become the ubiquitous help- experimenter (distinguished from the rest actually are quanta of energy, zip along
mate of high-performance, two-stroke en- only by his honesty) commenb looking be- through gases at speeds determined by tem-
gines. Why? Because without it, and a mused at a chamber he had cobbled together perature, and have the peculiar property of
damned nuisance that it is, there is no sub- for his own bike, "It doesn't make much being reflected back from whence they came
stitute for the expansion chamber anywhere power . . . but it sure is noisy." by either the closed or open end of the tube
in the engineer's bag of tricks. Percentage Where did he go wrong? Probably it was in which they.are travelling. Even more pe-
44 CYCLE
culiar is these waves' habit of inverting their due to the fact that the chamber bleeds off peak at 7000 rpm. Wave speed we will take,
sign at the open end of a tube. A positive pressure to the atmosphere through a re- for preliminary design purposes, to be 1700
pressure wave, reflecting at a tube's open stricted orifice, and because the pulse of ex- feet per second.
end, goes back up the tube as a negative haust gases has been expanding to fill the
pressure wave; conversely, a negative wave chamber faster than pressure inside can be Thus: L, = 180 x 1700
will reflect positively. But reflections from equalized, there is a general pressure-rise 7000
the tube's closed end remain unchanged in throughout the system. This pressure rise
sign: positive stays positive; negative does works in concert with the reflected pressure
the same. wave to prevent charge loss.
These aspects of sonit wave behavior are This entire, rather complicated, process * That length, 43.7-inches, is measured
employed in the expansion chamber exhaust works wonderfully well-if all the various from the exhaust port window, at the piston
system to help scavenge the cylinder-and waves and pressures surging at the exhaust face, back to a point slightly more than half-
then to prevent charge loss. To illustrate port are in agreement with what the engine way down the bafle-which must, in the in-
this, let's watch in slow motion the activity is trying to accomplish at the moment. Un- terest of efficiency, be a cone rather than a
in a typical chamber through a single oper- fortunately, the motions of the waves are at flat plate.
ating cycle: When the exhaust port opens, a pace stubbornly tied to exhaust gas tem- The angle given the baffle-cone, and that
exhaust gases still under considerable pres- perature and supremely indifferent to the en- of the diffuser, are selected with an eye
sure are spilled out, and a wave-front starts gine's requirements. Thus, the primary task toward engine output characteristics. My
its march down the exhaust system. After in designing an expansion chamber for some own preference in angles of divergence, for
moving a short distance in a parallel-wall particular engine is to establish a length be- diffusers, is a low of 6-degrees and a high of
tube, this wave reaches the megaphone, tween the engine's exhaust port and the 9-degrees. Diffusers tapered at less than 5-
more properly called a diffuser. Here, the point at which wave reflection occurs in the degrees, included angle, are almost impossi-
surrounding walls diverge, and the wave re- chamber's baffled end that will return a pos- ble t o accomodate within the available
acts almost as though it had reached the end itive pressure wave to the exhaust port just length; those with angles greater than 10-de-
of the pipe-except that the diffuser is a before the port closes. grees are inefficient wave inverters and wave
much more efficient converter of wave ener- To find this tuned length, one must first energy recovery with them suffers. Re-
gy. In the diffuser, a lot of the positive-wave know the speed at which sonic waves travel searchers have shown that maximum diffus-
energy is inverted-to a negative wave-and in the chamber-and therein lies a great dif- er efficiency occurs with a divergent angle of
is promptly reflected back up the tube to a p ficulty. As was previously stated, sonic 8-degrees. However, if you want maximum
ply a vacuum at the exhaust port. This vacu- speed varies continuously in the course of a horsepower and are not concerned about
um is stronger than one might suppose, hav- single operating cycle. The diffuser expands power range, a 9-degree diffuser returns a
ing a value of about minus-7.0 psi at its the gases and cools them; the baffle causes a very strong wave of short duration that will
peak. Obviously, it can be of great service in degree of recompression and raises gas tem- help. Conversely, if you want a broader
clearing exhaust gases from the cylinder and perature. And there is an overall cooling of power range, diffusers having a slower taper
in hauling the fresh charge up from the gases within the chamber that also influ- will spread the power at some expense to
crankcase through the transfer ports- ences wave speed. Fortunately, it is neces- maximum. For any roadracing application, I
which is precisely how it is used in an expan- sary to know only an average figure for wave would recommend a diffuser of 8- or 9-de-
sion chamber. speed. This will, as you might expect, vary grees. Small-displacement motocross bikes,
Now if the exhaust system ended there, as somewhat in the specific instance, but my up to 250cc, are probably best fitted with
was the case back in the days of the super- experience indicates that a high average is 7-degree diffusers; big motocross bikes,
charged DKWs and "blooey-pipe" Greeves, about 1700 feet per second. At least, that has which usually have more power than their
this vacuuming effect would be a mixed proven to me to be a good number to use in rear tire can apply to the ground, will be-
blessing: anything that will pull exhaust establishing a length with reference to the come more rideable with 6-degree diffusers.
products out of a cylinder will pull the fresh anticipated engine speed at maximum horse- But what about the baffle-cone? As it hap-
charge right after them. Horsepower being power. You can use it with some assurance pens, the strength and duration of the re-
very directly related to the weight of the air/ that it will give you a t u n a e n g t h , back to flected wave, and thus the engine's power
fuel charge trapped in the cylinder at ex- the baffle, that will be close, but slightly characteristics, are influenced by taper here
haust-closing, this side of the megaphone's longer than what you really want. The sys- as well. Within limits, the correct taper will
activity is undesirable. tem's length can then be trimmed shorter to be twice that of the diffuser. Thus, an 8-de-
Right here is where the closed end of the bring the engine's peaking speed right on gree diffuser is matched with a 16-degree
expansion chamber comes into play. While a target. baffle cone. However, you may vary this a
portion of the original positive wave moving Here's a very simple formula for finding couple of degrees-sometimes more-in the
away from the exhaust port has been invert- that tuned length: interest of obtaining pkicisely the power
ed and sent back to help scavenge the cylin- characteristics you need. For example, a 6-
der, the rest has moved onward. Eventually, degree diffuser capped with a 20-degree baf-
it reaches the chamber's closed end and this fle-cone would produce a good spread of
naturally reflects the positive wave back, power right up to the power peak-and then
still positive in sign, toward the exhaust cut the engine dead just beyond. The rule
port. Arriving there, it stalls the outflow of Where, L, is the tuned length in inches here is that the diffuser influences the power
the fresh charge and will actually gather up Eo is exhaust duration in degrees curve below the peak most strongly, while
a lot of what already has escaped and stuff it VS is wave speed in ft/sec the baffle-cone's taper has its effect on the
back in the cylinder-holding the charge N is engine speed in rpm. curve after its peak. Again, as in the diffuser,
there until the exhaust port closes. a long, shallow-taper baffle-cone gives a
It must be mentioned here that the expan- For example: an engine has an exhaust- good spread of power at some cost to maxi-
sion chamber is not purely a sonic device: open duration of 180-degrees, and a power (Continued on page 86)
46 CYCLE
C H A M B E R S Continued from page46 For example, for a diffuser having a 1.5-
inch minor diameter, a 3.75-inch major di-
ameter, and a divergent angle of 8-degrees,
mum output, and vice versa.
While the baffle-cone must be placed
very precisely with regard to distance from
the exhaust port window (this distance
measured along the exhaust system's cen-
terline), there is no single point within the
cone where reflection occurs. I n fact, a Having covered diffusers and baffles and
wave entering the cone begins to reflect tuned lengths, we can now grapple with
back right from the moment of entry, and lead-in and outlet pipes. The former's di-
reflection continues over the cone's entire
length. There is, however, a midway point
in terms of the reflection-which is not, as
r
ameter is established primaril by the size
of the engine's exhaust port. f the engine
has an exhaust port window with an area
you might suppose and as I once thought, of, say, 1.7-in2, the lead-in pipe connecting
halfway down the baffle cone. To find this this port with the diffuser should have a
mean point of reflection, imagine that the cross-sectional area 15-20 percent larger,

A TIRE FOR EVERY BIKE baffle cone is complete, rather than trun-
cated at its small end to make a hole for
the outlet pipe. If you use half the distance
or an inside diameter (in this example) of
1.58- to 1.61-inches. But (and here's where
choice becomes difficult) increases in lead-
UNIVERSAL
350-15 275-17 325-18 325-19 between the cone's big end out to its imagi- in pipe area up to 50-percent greater than
275-16 300-17 350-18 350-19 nary tip, that will give you your mean re- port area may be indicated if for reasons of
325-16 350-17 400-18 400-19 flective point. For example, a cone having convenience in installation it becomes nec-
350-16 250-18 SUPERSPORT essary to use an unusually long lead-in
500-16 275-18 250-19
a 3-inch diameter and converging on a 16-
degree included angle would have a length pipe. Also, a long, large diameter lead-in
225-17 300-18 275-19
250-17 325-18 ~00-19 of about 7.1-inches if cut short to join with pipe may be helpful in broadening the en-
LIGHT MOTORCYCLE (Rib) a 1-inch outlet pipe-but its complete gine's power range downward-but then
length is 10.7-inches. Thus, you would use the same effect may be obtained with a
2Y4 x 16 2 x 18 - .- x
2% .. -18
-
2Y2 x 17 2% x 18 1% x 2 0 a point 5.35-inches back from the cone's shorter, smaller-diameter pipe joined to a
open end in establishing the expansion shallow-taper diffuser. The pattern is that
LIGHT MOTORCYCLE (Universal)
chamber's tuned length. large diameter pipes behave as though they
2% x 16 2% x 18 2 x 22% WW
were shorter than their actual length, and
2% x 16 2 x 19 WW 2V2 x 22% Anyone who has watched the develop-
2% x 17 2% x 19 2xl3WW ment of expansion chambers over the years small-diameter pipes vice-versa.
2 x 18 1% x 2 0 2% x 23 may have noted that the biggest change in In actual application, the matter of lead-
2% X 18 2% x 2 0 in pipe diameter will have been settled for
their appearance has been in girth. The
SCOOTER & MINIBIKE (Universal) early examples were fairly slender-but you by those who designed your engine-
300-5 Rib 376 400-8 350-10 WW that was before researchers established and who gave the exhaust port its diame-
350-5 Uni 433 275-9 300-12 that diffusers, within the divergencies and ter. There isn't much you can do to alter
350-7SC 80 Stud. 300-10 350-12 that. So I offer only a rule-of-thumb for
350-8 300-10 MC 250-13 pressures applicable here, offer maximum
350-8 WW 350-10 25/4-16 efficiency when their cross-sectional areas length: For a power curve biased toward
for inlet and outlet are proportioned as maximum output, the lead-in pipe's length
RIB
16.25. That is to say, when the sectional should be equal to between 6 and 8 diame-
250-17 275-18 250-19 325-19
275-17 300-18 275-19 350-19 area at the diffuser's big end is 6.25-times ters. Thus, a pipe having a diameter of 1.5-
250-18 350-18 300-19 that of the inlet end. So, if the inlet diame- inches would be between 9- and 12-inches
Trials & Motorcross Spanish Tread ter is 1.5-inches (to match a lead-in pipe of in length-and this figure includes the
the same diameter) then its area there will length of the exhaust port from its window
400-18 MC 350-19 T 300-21 MC
400-18 T be (1.5 x 1.5 x .7854)= 1.767 s q u a r e in the cylinder to the connecting flange. A
MOTORCROSS inches, and to find outlet area multiply broader power range will be obtained with
1.767 by 6.25, which equals 11.05-in2. lead-in pipe lengths of between 9- and 11-
250-17 350-18 250-19 350-19 diameters. Should you not be able to make
300-17 400-18 275-19 400-19 Knowing that, you then must find a diam-
300-18 300-19 eter that will provide 11.05-in2 of area, the connection between port and diffuser
SEMCKNOBBY and working back from the Eormula for with lengths in these ranges, then alter the
finding area, D2 x .7854, you arrive at di- diameter in the appropriate direction. Sim-
325-16 250-17 350-18 250-19
ameter-which in this instance is 3.75- ilarly, if you want to broaden or narrow
TUBES the power range, to improve low speed
inches.
350 x 8 300/325 x 16 350 x 18 torque or raise the power peak, and there
400 x 8 350 x 16 400 x 18
Determining the length of a diffuser, or
275 x 9 500 x 16 250 x 19 a baffle-cone, after the major and minor isn't room to play with lead-in lengths, you
300 x 10 225 x 17 275 x 19 diameters and taper have been established, can make the adjustment with diameter.
350 x 10 250/275 x 17 300/325 x 19 is a simple exercise in trigonometry. I use The outlet pipe is a less complicated
300 x 1 2 , 300 x 17 350 x 19 the following formula: matter. It functions as a pres'slire-bleed re-
350 x 12 350 x 17 400 x 19 sister, which means that there is more than
250 x 13 200 x 18 175 x 20
350 x 15 225 x 18 225 x 20 one "right" combination of diameter and
275 x 16 250/275 x 18 225 x 23 - x Cot A length. Nonetheless, I have found that
300/325 x 18
L = D2 something very near the optimum is ob-
2
tained with an outlet pipe diameter be-
GET IT AT YOUR Where L is length: tween .58- and .62-times lead-in size. Thus,
PlRELLl DEALER OR WRITE: Dl is the minor diameter if lead-in pipe diameter is 1.5-inches, then
outlet diameter should be between .87- and
D2 is the major diameter .93-inches. Chambers having larger o r
HATBORO. PA. 19040 = (21 5) OS 2-9100 Cot A is the cotangent of half smaller volumes than those developed as
the diffuser's, or baffIe cone's, angle outlined here may require correspondingly
CIRCLE NO. 65 O N READER SERVICE PAGl of divergence (or convergence). smaller and larger outlet pipe diameters-
86 CYCLE
the inverse rules applies.
And the outlet pipe length? Make it 12-
diameters and forget about all the trim-
ming others (and I) have suggested in the Western Canada's Largest stocking
-- - - --- past. You won't get any closer without a dealer f o r all 750cc models!
LIFETIME GUARANTEE I NO MORE TO Buy I dynamometer to guide your efforts.
A word of caution: don't make the out- MAIL ORDER SERVICE ANYWHERE!
let pipe too small in diameter; always select
the next larger size, as compared to what Chopper Goodies for:
my "rule" says is correct, from the availa- NORTON HONDA
ble.stock of tubing. My dynamometer test- TRIUMPH YAMAHA
ing has shown that the engine temperature, BSA KAWASAKI
particularly &at of the piston, rises very H-D SUZUKI, etc.
Weld, braze,. solder, cut almost any thing of metal
sharply when outlet diameter is restricted FREE CATALOGUE
including aluminum. Use regular l/a" rods, 1/4" even slightly more than the optimum for
corbons. Operates on ordinary home llOV outlet,
30A fuse. Make or repair uars, boats, toys furni- power. Conversely, an outlet pipe slightly CHARIOT CYCLE LTD.
Box 3534, Station "B," 303 Selkirk Ave.
ture, bic cles, farm and garden equipment. Adjust- too krge has an equally slight depressing Winnipeg. Manitoba, Canada
able corgon arc torch to easily regulate heat up to
11,000° for light a heavier welding without chong- effect on power, but allows the engine to
ing heats or cobles. HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS run at much more comfortable tempera-
SOLD I N 3 0 YEAH. PROOF YOU CAN'T BUY A
BETTER WELDER FOR LESS. LIFETIME GUARANTEE. tures. Incidentally, a too-steep taper in the
If ever inoperative. return prepaid, we will repair
ond reship without charge. FREE TRIAL. i f not com-
plekl satisfied, return in 10 days and we will
baffle-cone will have much the same effect. ...........................
refuni purchase price. SEND ONLY $2.00, pay
I do not recommend convergent angles ex- SLOWEST PRICES ON CYCLE TROPHIES:
216.95 lus C.O.D. and delivery chorges or send ceeding 30-degrees (included) for these
$18.95 for prepaid shipment In Continental U.S.A.
Ill. rer. add 5 % soles tax. FOUR WAY WELDER CO., cones.
1810 S. Federal St., Dtpt. C32 Chitago. IU. 60616 Neither can I recommend the very com-
mon practice of flattening, notching and
denting expansion chambers to make them
fit more tidily on the motorcycle. Diffuser
efficiency is compromised by any depar-
ture from a round cross-section. Overall ef-
ficiency ,suffers from notching, anywhere,
BSA* BMW* YAMAHA* NORTON- DUNSTALL as sonic waves feel every change in section.
PARTS/CYCLES SHIPPED ANYWHERE! On the other hand, the exhaust system can
~ 1 2 Brighton
4 Ave..Boston,Mass.02134 617-254-1175 - - -- . -
be looped and jogged all over the place ,6400N.W.'77th COURT C
MIAMI. FLORIDA 33166 4
without any bad effect. You must be care-
ful about providing a smooth passage in
the lead-in pipe and at the diffuser entry:
gas velocity in this part of the system is
very high, and although sonic waves are
indifferent to abrupt turns, gas flow is not.
GUIDE TO EARNING
Expansion chambers constructed to the EXTRA INCOME
design principles provided here will not A Ziff-Davis Publication
........

represent the optimum. Following the for- All new-first time ever pub-
lished! Everything you need to
mulae will bring you close, but there will know about full and part time
always be room for improvement in light money-making. How to start
of what the dynamometer reveals. Still, my your own mail order business.
22 proven and profitable home
experience is that chambers built to these business ideas How t o earn
formulae are quite good, lifted right off the
paper. They are better, in fact, than most
-
extra $ 3 Franchising Vend-
ing machines Advice on cut-
ting Irving costs. Only 756.
of those being sold as replacements for Order from Ziff-Davis Service Division
595 Broadway, New York, New York lb012.
stock mufflers. Enclose an additional 25c for Dostwe and handline.
Obviously, I do not expect you to take
ON A BIKE! my unsubstantiated word as proof of all I
have said. To prove the point, I am con-
INDIVIDUAL ECONOMY JET FARES OR structing an expansion chamber, to formu-
GROUP INCLUSIVE TOUR PACKAGES
OVER 15 MAKES OF TAX FREE MOTOR-
la, for trial on a standard Yamaha DT-1E.
The people a t Webco permit me use of
kosman specialties
CYCLES FROM 50CC - 750CC
their excellent dynamometer facility,
LICENSE. REGISTRATION & INSURANCE MANUFACTURERS OF:
INCLUDED which will allow taking power curves for
RETURN SHIPMENT FROM ANYWHERE IN the Yamaha engine with its stock muffler, ALLOY RACING WHEELS
EUROPE TO THE U.S. OR CANADA and then with my expansion chamber. You QUICK CHANGE ~ S P R ~ K E T S
DISC BRAKES
will be advised of the results of that testing, OIL TANKS
and also what sort of power the Yamaha OIL FILTERS
..................................... develops with a sampling of chambers DISTRIBUTORS OF:
: Euro-Bike Inc. D e p t . 4
- 810 18th Street, N.W.
:Washington, D.C. 20006
made for it by others. Finally, we'll investi-
gate the effects of changes in port timing,
TITAN HY-VO PRIMARY DRIVES
REDLINE RACING FRAMES
compression ratio and carburetion-and ROUTT BIG BORE CYLINDERS
.
Name
:
please p r i n t o r write plainly
cap it all with some information about ARD MAGNETOS
mufflers to quiet the expansion chambers. SEND $1.00 FOR CATALOG
.
Address We can live with the chambers' bulk; un- KOSMAN M-C SPECIALTIES
:...................................... less we quiet the things, all the rest will not 340 FELL STREET
City & State Zip- SAN FRANCISCO. CA. 94102
matter. 0
88
You Really Want
Know About
1BY GORDON JENNINGS

ore than a dozen exhaust sys- A final and essential ingredient in our sembled, checked, reassembled and carefully
tems, two each of carburetors, plans was the dynamometer facility at Web- tuned to factory-recommended specifica-
pistons, cylinders and heads, co. This motorcycle accessory firm's owners, tions. We had a hunch that the engine would
two months of grinding, saw- Tom Heininger and Bob Hughes, decided a not deliver the advertised 21 bhp, and we
ing, shipping and welding, and couple of years ago that rule-of-thumb de- wanted to avoid being accused of hav; -
fifty hours of peering at a dynamometer signing and seat-of-pants testing was no done our work with a "bad" engine. I4_,
scale went into the making of this report. longer appropriate in what had become a the hunch? Because past experience with
We promised you an investigation into the major industry. So they spent many months other motorcycles has shown us that rarely,
effects of sundry expansion chambers, car- and many, many thousands of dollars in the if ever, does advertising mesh with reality in
buretors, compression ratio and porting on a creation of a first-rate research and develop- matters concerning horsepower. We are pre-
two-stroke engine, and by Gadfry we have ment shop. This shop contains all the ma- pared to accept discrepancies in the orde
investigated! Some of the results of that in- chine tools, etc., for experimental fabrica- 8-10 percent, because Webco's dynamome-
vestigation are, fairly startling. tion-and the best dynamometer we've seen ter is chain-driven, off the motorcycle trans-
Central to all the above-described activity for testing same. Webco's dynamometer is mission's output sprocket. Motorcycle facto-
was a Yamaba DT-IE, of which there are built around a Schenke eddy-current brake, ries may very well take their power readings
about umpteen jillion in off-road service. with automatic controls and a digital ta- right from the end of the%rankshaft. But we
This sheer ubiquity was half our reason for chometer, and has been certified by the Los are not going to believe that power losses
choosing the Yamaha: whatever we learned Angeles County's Department of Weights can ever be much more than 10-percent:
in the course of our investigation would and Measures for accuracy. You can believe there is a loss of about 3-percent where pow-
have direct application for a large portion of the numbers you get with this kind of preci- er is transferred across gears, and perhaps
Cycle's readers. The other half was the Yam- sion instrument, and we are extremely fortu- there is a 2-percent loss in the drive chain
aha's proven reliability. We anticipated nate to have had access to Webco's dyna- and sprockets; that adds up to 8-percent for
many, many hours of full-throttle, full-load mometer facility-and shop-for this expan- most motorcycles. The actual difference be-
running, and a halt in mid-experiment to re- sion chamber project. tween what we usually find being delivered
build an engine would have stalled prog- Before any modifications to the Yamaha t o t h e rear wheel, and what advertising
ress--% well as casting doubt's shadow over DT-1 were performed, its engine (nicely bro- claims, is much greater. But ad copywriters
the validity of results obtained. ken in, after 800 miles of running) was disas- aren't engineers either.
52 CYCLE
The exhaust port width was increased to 1.71-inches; keep port shape standard.

The
Perhaps these engines will f2ash something
near claimed output; they will not sustain it.
We have found that power output falls very
rapidly as a two-stroke engine comes UD to
operating temperature, with a drop of
percent between cold readings and those taken
after running temperatures have stabilized.
This could, added to transmission losses, ac-
count for the difference between claimed pow-
er output and our figures. Even so, we consid-
er our method-whichpeflects the power ac-
tually being delivered to the motorcycle's rear
wheel under "normal" operating conditions-
to be more accurate. The power an engine
might develop at its crankshaft, cold, is of lit-
tle interest to the rider charging up a sand-
wash on a warm summer day.
In any case, we bolted the Yamaha DT-1 in
place beside the dynamometer, hooked up the
chain, and after bringing it up to operating
temperatures, made a complete run-taking
readings at 500 rpm intervals from 3500 rpm
CYCLE
'be Webco dyno facility has o temperature metering system whichproved its worth during tests. Webco head (pictured above) replaces standard one.
up to the engine's 7500 rpm redline. We had the exhaust port window to the point of mean ameter for a starting point in all the rest of my
determined, in advance, that not even a duffer reflection inside the chamber's baffle cone). calculations.
rider used anything below 3500 rpm-and we All the other dimensions would depend, more Which instantly brought me up against yet
had decided to accept Yamaha's judgement of or less directly, on the lead-in pipe diameter, another problem. The inside diameter of 1y8-
-,hatconstituted a safe upper limit for the and that's where a lot of trouble fell upon my inch O.D. tubing (with a wall-thickness of
3T-1 engine. And how much horsepower did head before I could get any further. .049-inch) is 1.777-inches, and when you ap-
the Yamaha actually deliver to its rear wheel? As it happens, the Yamaha's lead-in pipe, ply the 1:6.25 area rule, the diffuser outlet di-
The difference between the claimed 21 bhp at the tube that connects the exhaust port and ameter becomes 4.44-inches, and even using a
7000 rpm and what we observed was consid- the muffler, had a diameter just over 2%- divergent angle of 8-degrees, the diffuser will
erable: 5.14 bhp, to be exact. Our stock, fresh- inches-which may be right for Yamaha's have a length of 19.0-inches. Add another 7.9- ..
ly-tuned DT-1E showed a maximum of 15.86 muffler; it would be all wrong for my expan- inches for the distance to mean reflection back
bhp, at 6000 rpm. sion chambey. On the other hand, my usual inside the baffle cone, plus 2.5-inshes for ex-
Our primary purpose in this project was to system of making lead-in pipe diameter equal haust port length, and you have already used
demonstrate that an expansion chamber ex- to exhaust port area plus 15-20 percent didn't 29.4-inches of the 41.75-inches of tuned
haust system built to the formulae I presented seem like the best possible approach either, as length-which leaves only 12.35-inches for
in the March, 1972 issue of Cycle would per- the exhaust port's outlet diameter in the DT-1 the lead-in pipe's length. That is getting pretty
form as claimed. So I set to work with slide- engine is larger than that, and engines do not short, when used in combination with an 8-de-
rule and pencil, designing an expansion cham- like sudden constrictions in their exhaust out- gree diffuser, for any kind of power spread,
ber for the Yamaha DT-1. Using the exhaust- lets. Then it was discovered that ly8-inch ex- but I had promised you a test of a purely by-
open period of 172-degrees and anticipating a haust pipe tubing would plug right into the formula expansion chamber, so I went ahead
power peak at 7000 rpm, the chamber's tuned Yamaha engine's exhaust spigot, so for lack of and constructed a chamber to the dimensions
length was to be 41.75-inches (measured from just mentioned.
MAY 1972
any better answers, I decided to use that di-
-/' . 55
Did it work? You could say so, because tain point (which we have found to be about gave 19.79 and 19.36 bhp, respectively-
just switching from the stock muffler to my 450" F., measured at the spark plug washer) both at 6500 rpm.
expansion chamber bumped maximum en- preignition follows and there is an abrupt In terms of peak power, my first formula
gine output from 15.86 bhp Q 6000 rprn to sag in power, after which the piston crown pipe won this contest-but I would be less
18.52 Q 6500. That's an increase of 16.7- caves in. than honest if I failed to tell you that the
percent, and it isn't bad at all, if you're just It may be of interest that my expansion real winner was the chamber from Strader
considering maximum power. Unfortunate- chamber, bolted on a stock DT-1 engine, did Engineering. This chamber of Strader's was
ly, there's more to performance than that: edge all the others for power. But that is of about an even horsepower short at the pow-
what really counts is power range-which in little value in real terms, because all of the er peak, but it was very strong from about
this instance had to be, at minimum, from chambers we tried would urge the engine to 4000 rpm right out to the 7500 rprn redline.
5000 rprn to 7500 rpm. The DT-1's trans- fatal exertions. There was a cure, of sorts, in My formula pipe, in contrast, didn't begin to
mission and normal riding coditions will switching to-a larger mainjet in the carburet- work well until the engine was brought past
not permit stayini right on top of the power or, as the cooling effects of a lot of raw gaso- 5500 rpm, and wasn't as strong after passing
peak. My first "formula" pipe was, in those line whooshing around inside the engine its peak. The MCM chamber, incidentally,
terms, less than a resounding success: at were sufficient to bring spark plug tempera- showed much the same characteristics as the
5000 rpm, it dropped the engine from 13.54 ture down below the disaster level. The Strader-but was somewhat stronger mid-
bhp (with the stock pipe) to 11.77 bhp; at problem was that while this kept the piston range, and dropped quite sharply past the
5500 rpm, the figures were 14.92 bhp for the from melting, and even provided a slight power peak. All the rest of these chambers
~ t o c kpipe and 14.49 for my expansion boost in peak horsepower, the over-rich mix- showed the same general characteristics as
amber; and at 6000 rprn it was 15.86 bhp ture was simply too rich for clean running at the formula expansion chamber: their effec-
compared with 16.97. anything other than peak revs. In short, the tiveness was limited to a narrow range be-
So, my expansion chamber was an im- engine became even more peaky-and devel- tween 5000 and 7000 rpm, which makes
provement over the stock muffler, but the oped a marked tendency to foul its plug at them acceptable to the expert rider, in rat-
improvement was a little too high on the en- low revs. ing applications, but otherwise tends to limit
:ne speed scale to be satisfactory. An expert Webco came to the rescue at this point, their usefulness. A regretable state of affairs,
rider would think it marvelous, because such with a replacement cylinder head Bob in a world where most riders do most of
riders run flat-out most of the time anyway; Hughes has developed for the DT-1. There's their riding away from the track. Clearly,
lesser lights would have found it somewhat nothing really tricky about the Webco cylin- what was needed here was an expansion
peaky. And most of us definitely are "lesser der head: it has a part-spherical combustion chamber that combined my formula cham-
lights" and need a better spread of power. chamber centered over the bore and sur- ber's peak output characteristics with the
While performing the tests that gave us rounded by a small squish band, and is cast broad range capability of the Strader and
these power figures, we noted an ominous of a very common aluminum alloy. It works MCM chambers.
warning from the temperature gauges. Par- better than the stock cylinder head however, Now the combination just mentioned is
ticularly, spark plug temperature. The fact is probably just because it is a lot thicker and easier to want than to get, and I have not
that with this expansion chamber, cylinder has more cooling-fin area. Cranking pres- had much luck in that direction in the past.
charging at the torque peak (also at 6500 sure with the stock head was 120 psi, and Still, it was worth a try, so I thought and
rpm) had been improved to the point where that was all the compression the engine calculated a great deal (I won't bore you
we were getting serious overheating. Some- would tolerate at sea level even with the with a complete accounting of all the mental
thing of the same effect was noted with the stock exhaust system. Spark plug tempera- machinations) and eventually came up with
stock muffler, and in both cases had we not tures with the Webco head were about 30" a staged-diffuser expansion chamber. This
had temperature metering equipment to lower, consistently, with cranking pressure one has the first part of its diffuser diverging
warn us of impending disaster, an engine at 155 psi. The increased compression ratio at 7-degrees, and a shorter second part at
xilure would have resulted before power was good for a 2.5-percent boost in power 12-degrees, with the parts being propor-
-readings completely stabilized. The over- (as compared to the stock head) over the en- tioned 70/30 for length. The baffle cone re-
heating was there even with the stock muf- tire power range, but we d o not consider mained the same, converging at 16-degrees.
fler; it became an overwhelming problem that to be as important as the improved And, because the staged diffuser is a bit
with the expansion chamber. cooling. I t could make the difference be- shorter than one having a constant 8-degree
There was a question implicit in these tween clearing or not clearing a sandwash to angle, I was able to lengthen the lead-in pipe
-ndings: would the engine overheat with any you-and the Webco cylinder-head made to 13.0-inches.
expansion chamber? We were prepared to the big difference in our experiments with Of course, I was prepared t o accept a
fmd out, for we had at hand a representative expansion chambers: without-'it, we could slight drop in peak power to gain in terms of
sampling of chambers manufactured as ac- . not have gone anywhere. power spread; I wasn't prepared for what
cessories for the DT-1, including chambers Having overcome the heating problem, we actually happened. For the first test with
from Hooker, Torque Engineering, MCM, proceded with our testing of expansion this staged-diffuser chamber, we changed
and one from Strader Engineering-in addi- chambers. My own formula chamber, in back to the stock cylinder head, and checked
tion to Yamaha's GYT-M and MX cham- conjunction with the Webco cylhderhead, to gee how far below the previous 18.52 bhp
bers for the DT-1. We tried them all . . . or, pushed engine output up to 19.93 bhp Q we had dropped. What happened was that
to be more accurate, we tried to try them all, 6500 rpm. The Hooker expansion chamber we found a slight gain in peak power, t o
for all produced such serious overheating delivered 19.36 bhp, at 7000 rpm. Torque 18.75 bhp-still at 6500 rpm-in addition to
that it was t& dangerous to try for a stabi- Engineering's chamber came in with 19.49 a considerable improvement in broad-range
lized power reading at the torque and horse- bhp, also at 7000 rpm; the MCM chamber power. Switching to the Webco head pushed
power peak. Pressing the issue would have gave us 18.10 bhp @ 6500 rpm; and the the entire power curve upward, with the
resulted in a piston failure (as had happened Strader Engineering chamber, 18.93 bhp @ maximum being raised to 19.97 bhp, and
in the past with several engines). When cyl- 7000 rpm. We also tried the Yamaha GYT- useful power stretched from 3500 rprn all
inder-head temperatures get beyond a eer- kit and MX expansion chambers, which (Continued on page 11 5)
Find out why. Send for illustrated KONl brochure, cut-away
drawing & free decal kit. Send 254 to cover postage/handling.
CHAMBERS Continued from page 57
the way right up to 7500 rpm. Bikoni Limited
Having found an expansion chamber 150 Green St., Hackensack, N.J. 07601
that appeared to be the answer to a tuner's C/5/72
Name
prayers, I then decided to do some experi- Address
mentation with lead-in and outlet pipe di- City S t a t e Z i p -
ameters. I could have saved myself t h e Make M o d e l Year
I notbyalongshot it isn't!! t r o u b l e in b o t h instances. Within t h e
lengths dictated by installation space and
the chamber-proper's size, the rather arbi-
There's certainly nothing t o p secret about
the classified pages of Cycle Magazine. trarily chosen lead-in diameter of 1%-
They're wide open t o t h e searching eyes of inches proved to be exactly what the Yam-
every buyer who's i n the market f o r the
product or service that he knows can be aha engine liked. I tried reducing the lead-
found in Cycle's Classified Advertising in pipe to 1%-inches in diameter, and in-
pages. creasing it to 2-inches, and both of these
The 350,000 monthly buyers of Cycle changes gave a distinct drop in power over
are your guarantee of knowing that your ad the entire operating range. The 13/4-inch
is being read by people who are constantly
l o o k ~ n gfor and buying motorcycle prod- pipe was closer to being right, but only
ucts. I t is these people t o whom you MUST close. If you Eannot find 1'/,-inch tubing,
direct YOUR advertising as do the many
key advertisers appearing in this issue and in suitable bends, in your area, and want to
in each issue throughout the year. build one of these chambers for your own
N o doubt about it-there's a vast market Yamaha, then by all means use 13/4-inch
of buyers searching the classified advertis- tubing rather than 2-inch. Still you must
i n g pages of Cycle and it's important that remember that 17/8-inches is the right di-
your ad be exposed t o this prime buying
audience. Prove t o yourself that the lead- ameter. I'll add here that I find this sensi-
ing motorcycle magazine MUST ALSO be tivity to diameter on the part of the Yam-
the leader i n sales responses t o the many
classified ads presently enhancing its aha DT-1 engine quite remarkable; it is
pages-it makes a great deal of sense- something that will bear closer investiga-
give i t a try. tion in the future. I have in mind a series of
1 See classified sectlon for rate information tests to determine the relationship between

I
o r write t o lead-in pipe diameter and length (they are,
HAL CYMES, Classified Advertising Mgr.
ZIFF-DAVIS PUBLISHING COMPANY I am convinced, interrelated) but that will
One Park Avenue, New York, N. Y. 1 0 0 1 6 have to wait until other, more pressing
matters are handled.
Constructing an expansion chamber
with a clamp to permit quick changes in
outlet pipes was next on the schedule, and
the tests with same went very quickly and
conclusively. My formula predicted that
the correct outlet pipe diameter would be
Let us know 6 to 8 weeks in advance so that yo1 between .58 and .62 lead-in diameters, and
won't miss a single issue of CYCLE.
Attach old label where mdicated and print neM that proved to be the case. Multiplying the
address in space provided. Also include your mail lead-in pipe's 1.77-inch inside diameter by
ing label whenever you write concerning your sub the above factors gave an outlet diameter
scription. It helps us serve you promptly. of between 1.025 and 1.098 inches. Tubing
Write to: P.O. Box 1092, Flushing, N.Y. 11352, giv
ing the following information. with I '/,-inch O.D. and a wall-thickness of
0Change address only. ,049-inch has an inside diameter of 1.027-
0Extend subscription. Enter new subscription inches, which falls within the prescribed
( 1 1 0 3 years $15 ( 2 ) C l 2 years $11 ( 3 1 0 1 year $i
range, so that's what was used. The next-
0Payment enclosed (1 extra issue per yr. as i larger standard tubing size, 1%-inch, with
BONUS) I7 Bill me later
an inside diameter of 1.152, was too large
in theory-and proved to be so in practice.
I should mention here that the popular no-
tion about being able to get better low-end
performance from an expansion chamber
by substituting an oversize outlet pipe is
entirely wrong. The right diameter is right,
period. Anything larger simply depresses
power output through the entire engine
speed range.
Smaller outlet pipes were also tried, with
the result predicted in my previous article
on expansion chamber design: reducing the
outlet to .902-inch, only an eighth below
the correct size, produced a small drop in
power-but a very large increase in engine
temperature. This effect is something to
keep in mind when you're experimenting
with expansion chambers, for there is a
I
Add'l postage: $1 p e r year outside U S , its poss. & Can
very thin line between maximum power
and a melted piston.
Having constructed a chamber with a ...........................
. HELMETS clamp-mounting for its outlet pipe, we SLOWEST PRICES ON CYCLE TROPHIESf
were able to conduct a proper test of my
theory that an expansion chamber's outlet
Confederate pipe should be located well forward of its
Maple Leaf conventional position. A few years ago, I
Fleur-De-Lis tried a set of chambers on a roadracing
Stars & Stripes Bridgestone with outlet pipes moved for-
ward, inside the baffle cones. The thought
was to place the forward end of the outlet
Meets all pipe ahead of the baffle, and thus deny the
U.S. standard sonic wave an ?asy escape out the back of
safety the baffle cone-which should provide a
regulations stronger reflection and (hopefully) in the
end boost power output. Lacking a dyna-
mometer, I was not able to determine if
List=$ there was, in fact, any increase in power
$1.35 postage $17.95 attributable to this change. I did, however,
note that there was very much less noise
SNAP-ON with the "inside stingers" and while this
meant little at the time (who wants a muf-
BUBBLE SHIELD fled roadracing motorcycle?) the effect has
since become rather important.
Anyway, I now had the means for test-
ing the theory and that's what we did- -

I I
WHERE AIRMAIL IF REQUESTED
taking power readings with the outlet pipe Send year, model, engine 8 frame
extending out the back of the chamber, no. with all orders. Write for free
shoved all the way forward, and at points list of all Honda Repair Manuals
In Clear, Amber, between. And there was indeed a slight in- and Parts Catalogs.
Smoke or Blue crease in power to be had with the outlet THRIFTY LAD HONDA. Deot. 8
pipe in full-forward position. A very, very 241 1 Lincoln BI.. Santa ~ o n i c a
$.35 postage $ 3.95 slight increase, and most of that at lower
revs. You'd have to say that there was no
worthwhile improvement over the conven-
CHAIN-A-PART tional outlet pipe location in terms of pow-
er-but the change does drop sound pres-
chams.
sure from about 115 dB(A) to 100 dB(A),
without any other form of muffling, and
nuts and bolts
MODEL A-3540
For Mini-bikes
that alone is sufficient reason for relocating
the outlet. Just don't go for any half-mea-
don't loosen anymore !
(Stamped steel sures in this regard: we found, in moving Loctite offers a range of products to keep
.25 parts together . . . everything from weld
8
$3.25 the outlet pipe back and forth, that unless strength to thread lockers you can remove
the forward end of the pipe is either moved with a wrench (LOCK N' SEAL-2114).
up ahead of the baffle cone, it should be Ask your local speed shop, cycle shop,
left back a t i t s tip. Power d r o p s q u i t e hardware store, or auto parts jobber.
markedly as the outlet pipe is pushed up Send stamped, self-addressed envelope,
MODEL A 4 5 9 MODEL 83540 into the baffle cone, reaches a minimum at -
request full color Loctite auide #472
For #40& #50 For #35 8 #40 better ways to
$7.25
roller chains roller chams. $7.25 about the halfway point, and then slowly k e e p parts together
rises to regain maximum value as t h e
$ .75 postage pipe's forward end is finally brought ahead LOCTITE CORPORATION NEWINGTON, CONN. 06111
of the baffle.
CYCLE COVERS A final note on ex~ansioLchambers:in
this kind of work, the dynamometer is -
kind of time machine. You can compress
year of cutting, welding and field-testing MOTORCYCLE INSURANCE
Insure with the Largest
into a week, with a dynamometer. My first
Oldest and most Reliable
expansion chamber for the DT-1 was, as All forms of insurance for Motorcycle
previously noted, a horsepower winner- and Scooter Owners, and Riders At Low
Rates.
better in this regard than any of the others, Bodily Injury and Aoperty
including the Yamaha chambers-but I Damage Liability
Fire. Theft & Collision
don't like to think how long it would have Write for applications and information on
taken to arrive at a design for the second, our budget premium plan. No obligation.
far-better chamber, without a dynamome- Immediate coverage on acceptable appli-
Cycles up to 200 cc. $4.50 ter to tell me where I was and where I had cants. Local adjusters handle your losses.
All ages accepted except those under the
Cycles over 200 cc. $4.50 to go. I like that dynamometer so much, I age of 16 in Colorado and Minnesota, and
don't even mind that it proved me wrong under 21 in Washington. D.C. (No insur-
$1.OO postage about there being a lot of power to be had ance written for residents of Delaware
in simply relocating an outlet pipe. Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire,
New York, Nevada, North Carolina, South
D.K. SPEED PRODUCTS With all the dithering around amidst a Carolina or Virginia.)
P.O. BOX 3956 pile of expansion chambers concluded, we MOTORCYCLE UNDERWRITERS
CHARLOTTE, N.C. 28203 moved on to an experiment with porting, 39 So. La S d l e St. Suite 1116-B
CIRCLE NO. 45 O N READER SERVICE PAGE port timing, and carburetion. This phase Chicaao. Illinois 60603
-
11 6 CYCLE
was begun with a lot of hours spent scuff-
ing around inside the Yamaha cylinder's
ports with a high-speed grinder. N o at-
tempt was made to alter the port's shapes,
as we felt that Yamaha knew more about 0 isThethenewmost1972 Webco catalog

that than any of us, but we did smooth all l the motorcvcle accessories
comprehensive in

the surfaces (removing casting flaws, etc.).


The only modification of any consequence
was in the exhaust port's width. Past expe-
rience (our own, and that of others) has
shown that the safe limit for exhaust port
width is 62-percent of bore diameter. The
stock port was 1.57-inches in width; we
marked off a new window shape in ma- W E B C O INC.
chinist's blue, and widened t h e port to l P.O. BOX 429 VENICE. CALIFORNIA 90291
1.71-inches. Our intention was t o retain 0
the same exhaust timing, with t h e port
o
..m
...*..
opening 94-degrees after top center, but
t h e port roof got raised slightly in the
clean-up process and the very generous
chamfer we ground around the exhaust
port, to m a k e life easier for t h e piston
rings, effectively raised the port a bit more.
In the end, we found that we had gained
4-degrees, with the exhaust opening an
even 90-degrees after top center.
We also gained some horsepower. There
was a very slight loss in low-end power,
and a gain of about half-a-horse at the
6500 rpm power peak, but at 7000 rpm the
porting job was worth three horsepower.
That gain is, we think, almost entirely due
to the added exhaust port width.
The next step was to try altering the in-
take timing, which gives a total of 160-de-
grees of port-open duration in the stock
DT-1E. The logical thing was to try Yam-
aha's MX intake timing, which is what we
did. You can get this timing by using an
MX piston, which has a rear skirt ,160- I
BARGAIN HUNTERS I
inch shorter than the stock piston-or you I DISCOUNT GOODIES I
I I
can shorten the stock piston's skirt by the Tanks, Forks Tubes, Bars, M u f f l e r s ,
Sissy Bars, etc., CHEAP!
required amount. In either case (and we FREE CATALOG
tried both) maximum output rises by about TOMBSTONE CYCLE
1%-bhp, and the improvement is above 1 8 2 0 Kildonan Drive. Winni~ee15. Manitoba. Canada I
one horsepower all the way from 6000 rpm
to the 7500 rpm redline. There is a slight
loss in power below 4500 rpm, but we con- Locks helmets
sider that loss to be acceptable in light of
the gains at high engine speeds. Oddly
to cycles-SAFEL
enough, there was neither gain nor loss to
be found by running with one or two rings.
We tried the MX piston, and the shortened
stock piston with one and two rings, and
$3.95
Post oaid
simply could not detect any difference. Un-
doubtedly there would be a difference at Strong, chrome-plated lock ends
higher revs, but there certainly was none helmet theft. Clamps to handle-
bars of all popular cycler except
below 7500 rpm. H a r l e y "74" and "Sportster."
l n ~ t a l l sin minutes wllh tamper- :
s . Mall c h e c k or
For our last magical trick, we unbolted p r o d sorder
money c r e wto- 1

the DT-1E's stock 26mm carburetor, and


substituted a 30mm M X carburetor-
which we were just certain was going to
give us a big surge in power, if only at GARVON PRODUCT
maximum revs. What we got was a big sur- Dept. A, 1528 P.A.E.,
Mansfield, 0.44905.
prise: there was slightly more power at
6000 rpm, and a marked loss at all other I Send me Garvon Locks at $3.95 Each I
speeds. And no matter how we fiddled the I Enclosed is payment of .$ I
jetting, the loss was still there In reviewing I
NAME
all the pertinent data, it does seem most
NAME I
likely that t h e 30mm carburetor would
I ADDRESS I
ADDRESS 1 CITY- I
work as we expected if the intake port was I
CITY STATE ZIP reshaped to match the one in the M X cyl- L
I STATE ZIP
--,-,
,,
-,
,. J
118 CYCLE
inder-which entails raising the top of the
port by 6-millimeters, or .236-inch. Of
course, doing that will require that you use

TURN IT either the MX piston, or remove the sec-


ond ring from the stock piston, as the ends
of the second ring will otherwise pop out
into the port and snag-with highly unfor-
tunate consequences. We cannot advise
you on the overall effect of enlarging the
intake port, because we didn't try it. The
result should be an improvement in top-
end power-but then that's what we ex-
pected with bolting on the 30mm carburet-
Whether you're a beginner or an expert, dirt riding
or, and we were wrong about that.
is where it's at! So "think dirt", and think how much
With all these experiments out of the more fun having the right equipment can make.
way, we returned the DT-1 to stock speci- The new Diamond Catalog offers the latest in quality
fication, with the standard cylinder, head accessories and high performance components for
and pipe, and made another power run. the off-road rider. You'll also appreciate our prompt
The results were almost precisely the same service.
as when we made our first check, which
assured us that nothing had changed dur-
ing the course of this project. And then we
free Order your Catalog for just u o o
and we'll send you a colorful "think dirt!" bumper
put together a combination of the modifi- sticker free.. .but act now, this offer is limited.
cations we had found to be really worth-
while: my expansion chamber, the ported
------------------
cylinder, a shortened piston and the Web- DIAMOND MANUFACTURING, Dept. CY
co cylinder head. 735 E. 12th Street. Los Angeles. Calif. 90021
How did this combination work? I t $1.00 ENCLOSED Send me the new Diamond
worked to the tune of 22.9 bhp, at 6500 Catalog plus my free "think dirt!" bumper sticker.
rpm. That's an increase of 44.5-percent,
obtained without exceeding the manufac- Name
turer's redline for this engine, and in fact, Address
by raising the true horsepower peaking City
speed only 500 rpm. Moreover, there is State Zip
more power with the modified engine over
the entire useable power range. The differ- PAYMENT MUST BE ENCLOSED WITH ORDER
ence is not just so many dynamometer
numbers, either. We carted the DT-1 off to
the desert for a real-life tryout, and the
way it goes--compared to the stocker- is
nothing short of astonishing.
You can discover all this yourself, for a
very small investment in money and with a from world'sleading manufacturer
Whatever you ride . . . wherever reasonable expenditure in time. We have -
Arsclnb~cd ready to p-t
you ride . . . D-A Speed-Sport provided all the expansion chamber dimen- Wholesale low, lor prices
Motor Oil belongs! D-A, the oil sions, and those for porting the cylinder. Artisticcolor dinations "
specialist, blends Speed-Sport to You can get a Webco head from Webco, or Rrrh "PDQ" rcrvicc
protect performance engines un- any dealer who handles their products, and
Distinctive desiyr
der the toughest competition. That they are going to manufacture the expan-
sion chambers for those whoaon't want to Satisfaction granltmi
means your engine will have maxi-
mum protection under all condi- make them from scratch. Vritefor free catalog
tions. D-A Speed-Sport Motor Oil You won't have to spend any money for ltophyland Inc.
P.a m
x WE,HULEIH,nr.tmr
.. . available from selected dealers extra carburetor jets or racing spark plugs. P.I C, FJQ w.63 ST.

. . . everywhere. We used the NGK B9ES plug throughout


our tests (brief experiments with colder
plugs indicated that they had advantages
with the stock cylinder head, but were un-
kosman specialties '. .

necessary with the Webco head) and the


stock # 160 mainjet gave us the best horse- MANUFACTURERS OF:
power-as did the stock ignition timing. ALLOY RACING WHEELS
Make no changes in those areas, unless you QUICK CHANGE SPROCKETS
DISC BRAKES
are anticipating some very hard running in OIL TANKS
warm weather, in which case a switch to OIL FILTERS
an NGK B10 plug (or its equivalent) may DISTRIBUTORS OF:
be indicated. The only other change we TITAN HY-VO PRIMARY DRIVES
could recommend, in conjunction with the REDLINE RACING FRAMES
general modifications, would be to enlarge ROUTT BIG BORE CYLINDERS
the DT-1's aircleaner. We discovered that ARD MAGNETOS
RACING DIVISION with the fully-modified engine, the stock SEND $1.00 FOR CATALOG
aircleaner element is restricting air flow KOSMAN M-C SPECIALTIES
D-A LUBRICANT COMPANY, INC. mough to drop the power output down by 3 4 0 FELL STREET
1331 West 29th Street Indianapolis, Indiana 46208 SAN FRANCISCO. CA. 9 4 1 0 2
CIRCLE NO. 47 ON R E A D E R SERVICE PAGE about .25-bhp.
120 CYCLE
We had intended to try a batch of add-
In mufflers, and test them for effectiveness
30th in terms of power reductiodgain and

EVEn BETTER
noise reduction. All were, as it happens,
very f a r from being effective enough to
sring the exhaust noise from a convention-
al expansion chamber down to meet the
AMA's 92 dB(A) limit. A couple of them
were close, when used in conjunction with
the inside outlet pipe, but we elected not to
proceed with a series of sound-level tests
simply because they would h a v e been
meaningless. Why? Bezause all of these si-
lencers used fiberglass packings as a sound
Way out there, miles and miles
attenuator, and experience h a s demon-
from anywhere, your motor strated to everyone's satisfaction that fiber-
singing in your ears, you really glass is either shredded by vibration and
find out what touring is all
blown o u t on the ground-or becomes
about. It's just you and your
loaded with carbon and oil. In either case,
machine, each counting on
the fiberglass muffler quickly loses its ef-
the other.
fectiveness. We see no point in spending a
That's when you learn to
appreciate your Bates Fairing. lot of hours testing devices that must inevi-
tably have a very short useful life.
The way it protects -A One thing we can tell you is that a si-
you from lencer of adequate size has no effect on
rocks and other power output worth mentioning. Some of
hazards. the the silencers we tried on the dynamometer
would trim a very small amount of power
from the high speed range and add it on
and comfortable ...able down low; others had the opposite effect.
to stay in the saddle for In n o case was there an important differ-
hours and still arrive ence-with the possible exception of the
refreshed.
Your Bates Fairing is also
1 Hooker expansion chamber, which did
'' show a very slight overall gain when a
beautiful. The Fiberglass is laid-
straight tube was substituted for its fiber-
up by hand, carefully reinforced
glass-surrounded muffler sleeve. This, we
at stress points for just the right
think, indicates that the Hooker chamber
com bination of strength and flexibility.
could use a smaller muffler sleeve to pro-
Colorsare hermetically sealed in with a high-gloss surface finish.
vide a bit more pressure-bleed resistance.
The Plexiglas shield is a full 3/16" thick.. .tinted if you like. The headlight
ring and front strip hiding the shield mount bolts are triple-chrome plated. The entire question of mufling motor-
And Bates Fairings are custom designed and fitted to each cycle- not a cycle engines clearly deserves a lot more -
"universal catch-all:' Mounting them is a job you can do alone, using simple investigation, and we are now moving in
hand tools. that direction. Next year, the limit for off
Cycle Mechanics said in a recent road test, "The styling is excellent. The r o a d vehicles in California will be 88
sweeping curves and flawless finish complement the appearance of the bike dB(A). We're going to work on the prob-
. . .The Bates Fairing is a good dollar value and, in our opinion, it has more lem in hope that it's not already too late;
tasteful style:' We couldn't say it better or agree more. we seem to be the only ones who are taking
Find out for yourself by ordering your Bates Fairing now - they're available the matter seriously at the moment. If all
for most street and touring machines. goes well, we'll have some numbers for you
in the near future. 0

G~vemake, model and year of cycle


Fairing 0Primer-$64.50 Black-$69.50 C Wh~te-$6950 3 Metal Flake-$79.50 16
If Metal Flake, specify color. C Red C Blue E S~lver ii Gold D Green Purple
Slrpng-Speclfy color or colors $5 00 extra t
Specty Sh~eldColor C Clear C Solar Green Z L~ghtBlue
Helghl of rlder when slandmg
Send 50% depos~twith order To Total $

hCgESSORY HOUSE BOX 1770 LONG BEACH CALIFORNIA 90801

Street

Clty
- Slate ZIP --
-
- Complete Bates Calalog ava~lablefor $1 00 Enclosed free wlth order G

CYCLE

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