Hi all,

Last weekend, I was at a car show, and... all I can say is that the title explains it all! I've already got the engine down to the cases, but it keeps on bringing up surprises, so I figured it might be of interest to some of you, and perhaps of some benefit to me!

I saw that it had a Todd head, the clutch cover had had holes drilled to save weight, and that there was a flange fitting for a carb, but that was about it. I also noted the parts missing (primary drive/clutch, original ignition assembly, carb).

Once I got home, I pulled the head off to discover no piston; given how loose the head nuts - and may I boast about the size of my nuts a second - it seems that the seller had noticed this, hence the relatively low asking price. It became obvious that the ports had some work done to them (I'm yet to measure them - I'm not sure how best to do it) and also that the bore was in generally ok condition. A light hone, and it came up really rather well.

Given that the engine had been left more or less disassembled, it didn't take too long to get all the way down to bare cases - about the only weird thing being that there was no job key on the flywheel, not that that made it any easier to get off!

With the cases apart, you can really see where the time was spent! There are 3 individual packers to reduce the volume below the cylinder: one on each side of the crank, and a horseshoe between the discs.

As with measuring the ports, I need to measure the teeth in the gearbox to see what sort of ratios it's running. But certainly, I haven't seen anything disastrously wrong with it; one of the main shafts of the gearbox has gotten warm, and the big end is very badly warm, but that's it. The only other remaining 'modification' to the engine is that it has clearly been painted black at some point; I have seen that this is something that Todd recommended.

So, now for the questions. I have no idea about any of the history of this engine; the engine number is BD2 2435. I don't know whether this would mean anything to anyone. Next, I need to make up for the missing parts: I've no idea what sort of primary drive ratio it would have had, nor the clutch (I doubt a standard six spring would be up to it); next, I'll need to modify the stator plate to be able to get the timing I'll need for the higher compression, and ideally the altered ignition cam to suit; and last but not least, what the piston may be - if I will need to do any modifications at all.

So yeah, that's how it is. I want to have this as a fast (ok, very fast!) road engine; I'm only 17, so I'm restricted to a 125cc bike. As such, it needs some degree of reliability, but I'd sacrifice that for lower! If anyone can give any advice, I'd love to hear it, and I'll post more as I progress with the rebuild.

Last but not least, here is the frame to take the transplant!