mystery engine (to me )

[34 cac]

What is this engine, the serial number is AD12615 Thanks Gary

[sirhrmechanic]

Cool little motor... I don't have an answer for you... but some observations.

Looks very British... But that is a totally subjective observation on my part. Could easily be 1960's or '70s Japanese or even Italian. Then again, the Indians still make things like that off old tooling, too. So such speculations rank about as well as trying to tell where someone is from by looking at them across a room... or trying to figure out where airliners went... it's all just hot air, but fun to speculate. But those were my first impressions largely terms of the way castings, etc. are done.

Allen head machine screws may help date it. Are they metric or UNF/UNC?

Can you tell what the carb is? Any makers name or mark on it? It looks familiar, but only on things like the lid which remind me of my 1970's Hondas. Similarly, any makers name or info on the magneto?

Is it definitely a MC engine? Could it have run a generator, pump, milking machine, etc? Again, lots of those sorts of things have been built for third-world 'off the grid' applications. Can you tell us where you got it, how, from where? Was it a random "Cotton dumpster find" or did it come out of a place with bikes or vehicles of a certain vintage or nationality?

It is a really beautiful bit of industrial engineering. The castings are just gorgeous! I love the design and symmetry, so whatever it fit, someone put a lot of time and trouble into making it... beautiful.

Thanks for posting. Sorry I am not more help, but maybe someone here will have a definitive answer.

Cheers,

Sirhr

[tfburke3]

What is this engine, the serial number is AD12615 Thanks Gary

Appears to be a 1949/50? Indian Arrow,single 220cc.The designs that put helped put Indian out of business.
TOm

[sirhrmechanic]

Without a doubt... Good call Tom.

There are those who will argue that the 'new' bikes put Indian out of business. The whole post-war Indian story will probably be debated forever. But the fact remains, they were not very successful in terms of sales and they had teething problem. On one hand, Indian was ahead of the curve for aluminum engines, lightweight bikes, etc. On the other hand, that wasn't what Indian riders wanted. Then again, what the Indian riders wanted (a prewar Sports Scout) may not have been a winning strategy, either. Indian beat everyone to the market with that aluminum-engined, lightweight style of motor and bike. Even Triumph and Norton were still catching up postwar... and would take a couple more years for Norton, Triumph and Vincent to *really* take off in the U.S. So Indian's leadership had the right idea... at the wrong time. And as often happens to bleeding-edge business innovators, it's the second mouse who gets the cheese.

Cheers,

Sirhr

[fillibuster]

Without a doubt... Good call Tom.

There are those who will argue that the 'new' bikes put Indian out of business. The whole post-war Indian story will probably be debated forever. But the fact remains, they were not very successful in terms of sales and they had teething problem. On one hand, Indian was ahead of the curve for aluminum engines, lightweight bikes, etc. On the other hand, that wasn't what Indian riders wanted. Then again, what the Indian riders wanted (a prewar Sports Scout) may not have been a winning strategy, either. Indian beat everyone to the market with that aluminum-engined, lightweight style of motor and bike. Even Triumph and Norton were still catching up postwar... and would take a couple more years for Norton, Triumph and Vincent to *really* take off in the U.S. So Indian's leadership had the right idea... at the wrong time. And as often happens to bleeding-edge business innovators, it's the second mouse who gets the cheese.

Cheers,

Sirhr

Indian, post-DuPont, was suffering from the losses of the war. What Ralph Rogers wanted to do was hit a home run (desperately needed, post-war) with the light-weight British-style bikes. The make-over could have worked had they simply copied the load-bearing characteristics of Triumph, Norton, etc, but intend they initially built bikes that wore out their critical bearings and gears. By 1950 they were building those parts heavier, and there were many later Indian Warriors that withstood the abuse. Problem was, we're heavier over here on this side of the pond, and our roads are maybe straighter, and it doesn't take long for the payload to get the best of a machine with a light-weight rating. Indian could just as well have taken a few years off, or cut off a hand, instead of waging its cheap attempt at copy.

[34 cac]

Indian, post-DuPont, was suffering from the losses of the war. What Ralph Rogers wanted to do was hit a home run (desperately needed, post-war) with the light-weight British-style bikes. The make-over could have worked had they simply copied the load-bearing characteristics of Triumph, Norton, etc, but intend they initially built bikes that wore out their critical bearings and gears. By 1950 they were building those parts heavier, and there were many later Indian Warriors that withstood the abuse. Problem was, we're heavier over here on this side of the pond, and our roads are maybe straighter, and it doesn't take long for the payload to get the best of a machine with a light-weight rating. Indian could just as well have taken a few years off, or cut off a hand, instead of waging its cheap attempt at copy.

THANKS all, it is a 49 indian engine. Gary