I've been involved in strictly air-cooled engines since I was a kid over fifty years ago, but I limited my endeavors to motorcycles until six years ago when a third back injury finally put me out of the sport. Of course, I've had a number of ACVWs and still have three in good condition, including a spendy 1776 built by (*self censored*). Jake makes engines of another world by comparison to this 1776, which is still good by 'consumer' standards.
But in all those
motorcyle building years I always wanted a unique, expert built ACVW T1 engine,
if it could be done, and I doubted it could be. While I could spend years
learning to build one, at this point I wondered if there were enough years
left. So that little dream was on hold, maybe forever.
Then I learned of Jake Raby. I read all his posts for a year, looked at his site, read customers' comments and finally made the call. It still took me a year to commit, and Jake was just perfectly helpful, guiding me away from some stupid ideas I had and into a 2165cc T1 engine. Then I wanted Nickies, and he made it happen. (I think mine was the first T1 with Nickies.)
The engine is just plain _amazing_. Jake built it to be a streetable 165HP, and it is. I'd recommend this engine to anyone who tools around town. But I don't, and it is still very, very good. Read on.
Too many things strike me as impressive to list them all, but the first thing that struck me before I even started iw was the meticulous assembly, then there is the 'invisible', the combination/configuration and trade secrets I can only sense in the sound (I run dual ceramic plated QPs and while these are quiet, the rest of the engine _growls_ in a very mean voice) and the seat of my pants tells me this is a serious damned engine, and the smoothness says it is balanced to the nth degree.
Of course, the Nickies - this engine runs surprisingly cool. No, not just surprisingly - AMAZINGLY cool. I work hard and I play hard. I beat the hell out of this engine every day I can in the local twisties, living between 4,000R PM and 6,500 RPM in 2nd and 3rd gear all the time. It does not overheat! Nor does it leak. It was out-of-the-box perfect and still is.
If anyone else
is considering a T1 with _high_ horsepower I cannot imagine a better person to
build it than Jake Raby. And the Nickies - IMHO an absolute neccessity. I'll
never, never go back to iron.
Jake, thank you so very much for making this engine for me.
Very Best,
John Stafford
Winona, Minnesota
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