Another 8-valve attempt.

fiatfan said:

Came to think of this when I read about the Merlin 8-valve. I saved this pic a couple of years ago, it´s a Swedish build.... It consists of a widened Norton crankcase which also has been reinforced on the drive side. And on top of that supposedly a bit of a Fiat DOHC engine ..... Sorry but I have no details other than the Fiat is an 8-valve engine and the cams are driven by a chain in the middle of the crank. I don´t know if it has been published here before and I can´t vouch that it´s a Fiat.

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yam & bmw (right side belt drive} also have 8 valve twins dohc 360deg cranks, kaw has a 4 valver

kaw & honda also have 400-450cc 360 crank ohc twins

Just read a article on Triumph TSS 4valve., poor castings (porous) was their demise. Made 59 hp Only like 191 imported in USA

I believe the porous casting story on the TSS has been greatly exaggerated over time. The head bolts on the TSS allow leaks from the head to barrel interface. I believe these leaks caused people to strip the top end, upon doing so they found nothing visibly ‘wrong’ but did see porosity, they therefore assumed the porosity was the source of the leak, when it usually was not.

Plus the head gasket design was poor and caused leaks. The liners in the barrels could crack and slip. Valve seats dropped. Heads cracked. Hard chromed rocker shafts had the chrome peel. Head / barrel through studs stripped the threads in the cases. And probably some stuff I’ve forgotten about.

So the poor old TSS did have far more than its fair share of issues. All of which I believe were due to lack of development funds and a hurry to get the bike to market.

Its a shame, cos the TSS is a fabulous bike when sorted. It’s the smoothest solid mounted Brit parallel twin ever and the fastest. The T140 chassis was always a good handler and adding Marazochi shocks and twin discs with racing calipers made it a bike you could rider MUCH faster than a T140. And the engine produced more torque and much more power than the T140 and revved like stink.

A little bit more development and the TSS would have gone down in history as the ultimate Triumph twin and quite possibly the saviour of Meriden.

But it didn’t, so it wasn’t.

fiatfan said:

Found this pic in a number of the Classic Bike Magazine from 1985, a Commando with a 1000cc Nourish motor. Is there any Norton bits in that at all? The crank case doesn´t look like Norton in any way.

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One thing FOR SURE - it was built by Leo Goff, so unless thrashed three times beyond what would be considered 'abuse', it's BULLETPROOF.