Up for sale is my super rare antique motorcycle engine. I have owned this engine for around 10 years. I know very little about it, other than it is quite rare, because I have never been able to find photos of another engine that is the same as this one. It closely resembles the engine from the old Indian 'Camelback' motorcycles, but it is not a perfect match. While this one has a similar cubic inch displacement as a Camelback, and a threaded hole in the cylinder for a frame post, those engines have 3 head studs, whereas this one has 4. Those also appear to all have painted crankcases, whereas this one is bare aluminum. Perhaps it is a prototype, or something made special for racing? Who can know. It doesn't help that there are NO markings on it of any kind, and no signs that there ever were any. I included a photo of a restored Camelback engine for reference. All I know is that this engine was definitely used for something. It had carbon buildup when I first took it apart, most of which I removed. It also had the head brazed back together at some point, because a piece was busted off. It also seems like this engine was used after being removed from the original motorcycle that it was on, because there was an antique spark plug threaded into the top hole in the cylinder. I assume this was simply done to close up the hole, so the engine could run after being removed from the motorcycle. I think it would be fair to assume that a farmer or someone used this engine to run a water pump or other machine, after the engine was removed from the bike. But again, who can know. I'm sure this engine lead an interesting life. If only it could talk!
As far as condition goes, there are a lot of parts still there. The entire rotating assembly is still there, and in good overall shape. The main crank bushings are even fairly tight. The only thing missing is the rings off of the piston. There was one still on there, but when I went to free it up so I could clean the carbon out of the ring grooves, it immediately broke into two pieces. At the same time (which was several years ago,) I also lightly honed the cylinder. Most of it is in good shape, but there are relatively deep grooves on one side. They are rather uniform, so perhaps they were intentionally put there for oiling? I am not sure. There are also matching grooves on the other side, but they are very light. Maybe they were also deep originally, but the piston wore harder against that side of the cylinder? As far as the exterior of the engine goes, it has noticeable wear and damage. That is certainly to be expected for an engine that is well over 100 years old (likely pre-1910) and has passed through who knows how many hands. Almost all of the nickel plating is gone off of the cylinder head and the cylinder. The entire ignition system is missing, as well as the carb. It is also missing the exhaust pipe, the top inlet cap, the atmospheric intake valve, and the spring, keeper, etc., for the exhaust valve. A few fasteners are missing here and there, and most of the ones that remain are pretty worn out. Some of the threads for the various parts are also worn/rusted away. And as I mentioned before, the head was damaged at some point, and repaired. The output shaft on the crank is also damaged. It looks like the end was either cut off or twisted off, and the remaining threads are also damaged.
I'm sure that with enough hard work and determination (and money,) this could be made to run again. It was always my dream to do just that, but I never had the money or time to put into it, so it is time to pass it on to someone else. This is a fairly simple engine, so it would be really cool if someone could scan and measure all of the parts, and reproduce it. If you have any questions, please ask them before buying/making offers. I am by no means a motorcycle expert, but I will do my best to answer your questions. I do not accept returns, and I will only ship to the lower 48 states. NO international shipping! Thank you for looking at my item, and have a great day :)