The 18 RG engine from Toyota is a particularly interesting one because of its valve gear. It’s a double overhead camshaft four-cylinder engine that was developed on from the 2000GT sports car from Toyota. There are not many of these engines around as not many were built. They were offered as a part of European Celica Liftbacks in 1978 in January, but even then they were only produced for about 3 years.

A four-stroke motorcycle engine was a first for the Yamaha XS650 as a result of the 2000GT. It was mentioned in Classic Bike magazine in the 1997 May issue how engineers developed the engine concept from the automotive bike engine. They took the basic ore and stroke dimensions and shortened it ever so slightly (1mm to be precise!). They even used the same pistons but adapted their use to include air-cooling. Other than that, the geometry of the valve was identical, except that a single overhead camshaft was specified for the motorcycle engine as opposed to the 2000GT double overheard camshaft that was unique to the automotive engine. 300,000 units were produced over a period of 11 years from 1969 to 1980.

There are loads of sources on the Internet you can use to find out useful information, even if the items in question are decades old. The Internet has been in existence for long enough for enthusiasts of all areas to post information up on websites, so no matter how obscure or specific your search may be, you’ll be bound to find some information on it.

{ 0 comments }