Summertime? Key time!

It has recently been concluded: If your kickstart is just broken, then you are blessed with a classic with a start button. And you finally have time to put another engine block in the 'pedal'. A nicer engine. That all fits in perfectly with the attention for self-build activities in the context of my recent interest in kit cars.

Everything fits on everything. Well: almost

With a Honda or Kawasaki from the early XNUMXs, that might be a problem if that engine is another XNUMX years older. At BMW there is a bit more room to do an 'engine swap'. But you iron BMW purists against the hair with that.

But spooning a KMZ (Kievski Mototsikletny Zavod, later known as Dnepr) 750 cc SV in a much later bicycle section of an IMZ (Irbitskiy Mototsikletniy Zavod. Later known as Ural)? You need two extra hands and a quiet half day for that. If it is fun it can get later. Especially when someone angrily asks: "Do you think I don't like beer?" A few satisfied tinkerers and an open garage door guarantee a rich social life.

Tolerances and received washers

Only some ex-Soviet product tolerances play a role in the transplantation, where it is sensible to spare the fine M12 thread of the engine support bolts, as long as the Aldi does not yet put an M12 fine cutting iron in the otherwise excellent tapping set. The block is re-shimmed with a pair of almost exactly fitting solid stainless steel rings from a key worker who is also active on the square. Which also does not have a fine M12 cutting iron, but does not suffer when installing a four-liter Buick six-in-line block in a fragile-looking - modified - Peugeot chassis. We will come back to that!

The approach: convenience and budget

The further necessary action is to make a corner line of the upper engine mount and convert it to six volts because that is easier - and cheaper - than giving the side valve a 12 V alternator. A possibility for which the Ural / Dnepr world offers the problem-free solution. With a reliable Japanese generator, a reducer and another gear. You just knock off an astonishing € 440 for that. An amount that makes hard core Soviet knights very nervous. "That's what I bought my first Ural / Dnepr for!" A new 6V wiring harness only costs € 35.

Key friendliness at its best

When mounting the side valve block, the box and dynamo were mounted. The removal of the OHV was 'more difficult' because the enlarged sump pan had to be disassembled first. And because the cardan was not disassembled at first. When the 750 cc block was installed, the rear wheel slumbered against the wall and the cardan clock bravely marked its place on the garage floor with a few drops of oil. The cardan shaft was immediately stripped of a few desolate pieces of chrome and restored with a black spray can of the Action. The side valve was then - excluding the processing of two cans of lager - in place within five minutes and remained awaiting the enlarged sump pan, which was already cleaned and ready.

Originality as a fun option

The corner line for the top support was taken from the waste bin of the local steel and welding company Morriën Lasvast in exchange for a set of filled cakes. At that company, the window frames of Burtons are also made. A great address. Then the cordless angle grinder (Action) and the drill and tap set (Aldi) came in handy again. And that spray can from the Action.

Because the Ural was once born as a solo machine, there was a mounting point for the jiffy at the left exhaust bend. A solid thing. The angle grinder had to be connected to the charger once more.

But then we were suddenly back in the construction phase. And my ankle is already getting better. Time for lager! After all, it is too hot to drive!