Adam wrote:
I've just been reading up on how different length rods (for the same stroke) affect the way an engine behaves - 'tis very interesting
Yeah, reading that stuff can give you rod fever!
Longer rods increase the piston dwell at TDC which is good.....but also make motor more sensitive to gas flow and exhaust scavenging. I suspect this is one reason (not just the stroke length) that the XB9 and 12 combustion feels different.
Not sure if this has any relevence to rod length, but one theory is that two valve engines benefit more from stroking than overboring as opposed to 4 valvers with their higher valve circumference. For this reason, I always felt my TR1/XV1000 needed a longer stroke, because all the aircooled XV motors were limited by the same 750 heads and valve sizes (to satisfy US EMAP evaluation). This was well demonstrated by the higher efficiency of the sleeved down 699cc > 700 cc tariff buster in the 1980's and later XV1100 (1063cc) motor, which ran sweeter than the old 981cc......for those who have ridden them both.
