Puzzle #46 - Solved! AJB-Norton-Kieft

[Otto Puzzell]

Know what it is?

Please, respond below and tell us what you know about this unique and storied little engine.


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Thanks!

[Jagman]

Early Porsche Carrera 4?

[Otto Puzzell]

Not a Porsche, but it is air-cooled.

[Ultra]

it is air-cooled.

Shirley, Mr. Nielsen, you must be joking.

[Otto Puzzell]

I'm not joking. And please stop calling me Mr. Neilson.

[Stephen M]

it is air-cooled.

(I'd feel better about being such a smart-ass if I knew what it was  )

[Arthur Dent]

wild guess but jupiter javelin race engine?

[porridgehead]

Archie Butterworth's AJB flat four, based upon a Steyr V8, but with swinging inlet valves, as used in the Elva MkIII Sabrina?

Just a wild guess.

[Otto Puzzell]

That's as close as I expect anyone will get - kudos! 

In 1953 Cyril Kieft ran this modified AJB air-cooled flat four, designed by Archie Butterworth. He took delivery of one of the early examples, which had Steyr cylinder barrels and heads, and had these swapped for Norton equivalents. At the time, Cyril spoke of mounting a challenge to Porsche, but the engine proved hard to cool. The AJB-Norton-Kieft engine passed through various hands and, in the 1970s, Ian Richardson used it in his successful sprint motorcycle, Moonraker. Richardson used the engine for years with no problems and his many wins make you wonder what might have been.

More on the Moonraker bike here.

[Ultra]

Nice bike. 

[porridgehead]

Interesting. Didn't know it made it into a bike. According to the elva site http://www.elva.com/inmemory.html it was put into a MKIII , nicknamed Sabrina for the two clearance humps for the intake trumpets, and raced by Archie Scott Brown. Learn something new every day. Looks like a helluva bike.

That particular engine is part of the Donnington Collection