FN four cylinder advert

[Barry Brown]

ANYONE GOT AN FN FOR SALE OR TRADE ANY YEAR? LATER THAN THIS ONE WITH A CLUTCH WOULD BE PREFERABLE. HAVE SOME NICE TRADING STOCK

[PRG]

Howdy Barry,

...well isn't that a coincidence, just arrived here today on my desktop - freshly crafted in Germany.

[Barry Brown]

hmmmm, lovely workmanship, let's have more of the story!

[sveger]

FN four on e-bay

Barry,
you could start with an engine.
E-bay;
Item number: 260211863412

Good luck in your search.

Sverre

[PRG]

Howdy MrBarry,

This tasty little crumpet is for my good friend Calvin Burnett's FN...yes that one, way laid from put'n a whoop'n on Dale this year in the Race of the Century at Barber by turning every spoke out of the rear rim in the hot pits before he could wheel this lusty monster out onto the track.

Under the heading of there's nothing new under the mechanical sun, if you're familiar with slide valve Bosch MFI systems from the 70's that's basically what we're looking at here, with an additional twist. For the benefit of those not familiar with these superbly crafted machines, a long winded explanation forthwith.

Whereas later FN's used a conventional carb in basically a self-contained fuel metering role attached to the intake manifold, in the earliest applications the carb and manifold work as one. With no throttle butterfly in the carb, air metering is done by a revolving an internal barrel in the manifold exposing an air port at each intake runner much like you would raise a slide in a Bing or Amal. Correspondingly, you adjust AFR - of a fashion - by adjusting an air port at the far end of the manifold. The bane of later slide systems, wear probably compromised this fragile setup even more, not to mention the propensity for twisting the intake runner out of the manifold header when trying to turn a siezed gland nut out of the head. Nonetheless, a chap now makes this faithfull reproduction of these in Germany.

As if riding a clutchless machine with no brakes was not enough fun, Calvin's replacing his later setup for this one...which'll likely call for even a bigger whiff of the smelling salts before hit'n the road.

[Barry Brown]

WOW! Now I want one even MORE! I had the opportunity to eyeball the ex Doc Patt FN the other day. I believe Eric Dunk came second on it in that race at Barber's. The front rim looks decidedly unsafe, any idea of a replacement source?