Sawing and welding

Allen is doing yet more sawing and welding on the motor of his Kawasaki ‘Super-Six’!

- Allen Millyard

For me the nicest thing about makinga new engine is working out how tomake it in a way that it looks as factory produced and original looking as possible.

Sometimes I spend hours just looking at crankcase castings, cylinder barrels and cylinder heads trying to imagine the thought processes of the original designer all those years ago at the factory.

I find it helps me focus and see the way forward, and ultimately where to cut and adapt parts, making them fit together and look right.

I had already finished the crankcases and barrels, and the next job was to modify the cylinder heads to fit. I had a rough idea how I was going to cut the two heads and how to weld them back together, but the final details were still a bit fuzzy. I never let that bother me too much, though.

The first thing I did was to cut the first cylinder head in half with my hacksaw, cutting through the centre of the camchain tunnel; not to any particular size, just in half. I always use 18 TPI Bahco Sandflex hacksaw blades for sawing aluminium as they cut really well, last a long time and don’t break.

It’s important to have a good-quality hacksaw blade with sharp teeth to help you cut straight, remembering to let the blade cut and find its way rather than forcing it through the metal.