102 Cubic Inch Harley-Davidson
102 CUBIC INCH HARLEY-DAVIDSON
MOR-XPENSE MAY SOUND like a joke.
but to go as fast as this Harley-Davidson, it takes money to run and every mile-an-hour takes just that much more money. To date its best quarter mile has been 140.62 mph with an elapsed time of 9.99 seconds; and the feeling is that it has not even approached its best.
Starting with the frame, a shortened and reworked-by-Duggns 1947 Harley rigid with an early Vincent spring dampened girder fork, hand-made three-piece cylinders were fabricated minus finning to save weight. Since the trip to the end of the drag strip is a short one, cooling isn’t a problem as the engine simply doesn’t have time enough to get hot before it’s all over with. Dual ignition is used, i.e.; dual points, dual coils and dual con-
densers. Weight is the enemy in a dragster, as it is on any competition machine, and among the savings on Mor-Xpense are 31/2 pounds in a special fuel tank, AVz pounds on early H-D heads that were definned, and ample amounts of alloy sprinkled about. Results: only 294 pounds total weight!
Many detail improvements were made, such as moving the spark plug location to opposite side of the head in order to fall in line with the intake port (you can watch the plug fire when the engine is running), one carburetor moved to the opposite side of engine and each carburetor angled to facilitate a straight line into the intake valve, which can also be seen when looking down the cavernous opening.
Southwest Harley-Davidson in Torrance,
California, is home for the brute. Bore is 3‘/2 inches, stroke is 514 inches; these incredible (for a motorcycle) dimensions add up to 102 cubic inches (l,700cc)! Horsepower is estimated to be 1 30 @ 5,500 rpm. Compression ratio is 10.8 to 1. Carburetors are 1.650 inch bore Italian Dellortos with remote float bowls. Primary drive is via dual chain, final drive is transmitted with a *4-inch single row chain. The multi-disc transmission employs only second and third gears, ratios are 2:92 to 3:17, and 1.50 to 1. Wheelbase is 57Vz inches, ground clearance is 43/B".
The name “Mor-Xpense” becomes clearer when the investment to date is tabulated; over $3,500! •
