"Block relief" - L.M. Williams book

[Alan]

I think you are missing the point, Bob. Whilst mathematically you are absolutely right, you have to remember that in the 1950s UK there wasn’t a cam grinder on every street corner. What there was was a lot of special builders who were, in all probability, doing an engineering apprenticeship somewhere. With a decent lathe and a toolpost grinder it was perfectly possible to do a base circle regrind in a lunchtime or when the foreman and health and safety man weren’t watching. That’s how I did mine, and ok it had little at low revs but it revved it’s little socks off. That’s the sort of person the Williams book was aimed at. Ok we have got older wiser and have more money, and we might not do things that way any more, but I still maintain it’s the best book around.
Students of American flathead V8s should add VTwins to their reading list. Harley Davidson extracted more power from side valves than almost anyone.