The Kneeslider

Doers Builders and Positive People

Aniket Vardhan’s Royal Enfield Musket 998 V-Twin Initial Assembly

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Aniket Vardhan's Musket 998 V-Twin
Aniket Vardhan’s Musket 998 V-Twin – from wooden patterns to metal castings to this

Some folks follow with breathless anticipation the latest engine developments from multi million dollar factory efforts, but in my mind, nothing compares to individual projects like this, the 998cc Royal Enfield Musket V-Twin, conceived, engineered and built by Aniket Vardhan.

Aniket Vardhan's Musket 998 V-Twin
Aniket Vardhan’s Musket 998 V-Twin

We’ve been able to watch this effort from it’s earliest stages, the buildup of the first 700cc Musket and then we’ve followed the design of the newer, larger version based on the 500cc Bullet.

Aniket Vardhan's Musket 998 V-Twin
Aniket Vardhan’s Musket 998 V-Twin

Aniket first created the wooden patterns, then cast the engine cases in metal and here we see the first assembly of those rough castings, now polished, into what will be the 998cc Musket.

Aniket Vardhan's Musket 998 V-Twin
Aniket Vardhan’s Musket 998 V-Twin

Aniket says he’s been averaging 80 hours per week for several months with the goal of getting the engine running before cold weather really sets in. Seeing these pieces together for the first time, knowing where the process started, has to be a tremendous mental boost.

Aniket Vardhan's Musket 998 V-Twin
Aniket Vardhan’s Musket 998 V-Twin

The Musket is a great example of the time involved in any complex and worthwhile undertaking. A project will appear and become quite popular, but after a time it gradually fades from view as the hard work continues unseen and people focus their attention elsewhere. Then all of a sudden come photos like these, reminding us of why it caught our attention in the first place.

For everyone who would like to have a project like this to his or her credit, keep following along as the Musket comes together and you’ll get an idea of what it takes to be able to say, “I built that.”

Link: Musket V-Twin

Aniket Vardhan's Musket 998 V-Twin
Aniket Vardhan’s Musket 998 V-Twin

Comments

  1. This is marvelous. I think the external oil lines in copper add a great touch, simply from the visual side of things. Go Aniket!

  3. a visual masterpiece! i’ve been following this impressive madman on facebook and the wait has been worth it.

    now, to hear this run in the frame he’s preparing.

  4. 80 hours a week x several months = a true masterpiece. I agree that the external copper lines add just the right touch — it’s English as it can be. This shows what talent and time can do; Aniket has done what the rest of us wish we could do — take a project engine from concept to patterns to castings to finished running machinery. Not only that, but it’s a treat for the eyes — looks great from any angle. That’s not easy to do — plenty of project engines function well but don’t have the eye appeal of the Musket.

    From a practical standpoint, one liter is just the right size for a V-twin with the Musket’s intended use. I’m sure Aniket will wrap it in an appropriately fine vintage-looking frame with all the modern upgrades. Can’t wait to see and hear the video!

    When this one is finished, is there an ACE version in the works?

        • Correction: Indian > English.

          I’d take this over the bonnie any day, but shall wait for the one with ‘American’ muscle a la ACE Cannonball.

          Apples ? Oranges ? I know I know…….

          • regardless of aniket’s background, and royal enfield’s current owner, i think mr. vardhan might agree this project is totally in keeping with the british spirit. it’s the allure of the the engine on which it’s based and, if they were smart, the v twin royal enfield should be producing.

            • I’m sure R-E is keeping an eye on this. It’s a natural, and if they can do it within existing production lines and a minimum of extra tooling, they might consider it. I’ll bet there are plenty of vintage English fans out there who would want a powerful, road-going V-twin to augment their putter-around-town singles. I’m hoping Aniket gets a friendly phone call soon.

              • I doubt that Royal Enfield will be the slightest bit interested. It is a beautiful thing yes but it’s all been done before by the Carberry V Twin which is no less an engine. We have 14 of the big V Twins running round in Australia with one having just ridden round Australia with no problem at all. Enfield has its eyes firmly on other things…..unfortunately. They have I believe a JV with Polaris so perhaps we will see some big lump of a motor looking suspiciously like an S&S motor sitting in an Enfield frame before long. Mike

              • I agree with Mike Floyd about the RE factory not taking interest in this.
                This platform will be much better-served in the hands of innovative individual developers who know what to do with it.

  5. Great congratulations to Aniket!

    I am very excited to be getting my hands on one of these crankcases for some experimental high-power building at ACE.
    We have been working hard on some very special high-power products which will go very well on this package.
    I’m very excited!

    Aniket’s work is an inspiration to us all!

  7. To add: Should not the exhaust ring go the other way. I know it’s pretty non fuctional but it looks better the other way. YMMV. Again: When are you taking orders ?

    • Hi there Z_Money, so you noticed the exhaust cooling rings 🙂 Yup, in the stock setup they would go ‘pointy-out’ . Here’s why they’re backwards- in this motor, the method of securing the exhaust pipes in the head is different- the stock classic Bullets have the pipe just “pushed in”, no actual fasteners securing it to the head and the welded bracket bolting it to the frame is several inches ‘down’ which allows the pipe to move around and loosen and also not aid in heat dissipation. Here (as also in the old 700), the cooling ring is clamped/locked onto the pipe and two studs anchor it to the head via 2 dowel rods in concealed holes drilled on either side of the exhaust outlet in the casting, allowing the exhaust pipe to actually have a very secure and tight fit into the port outlet. An exhaust gasket made of a ring of thin copper tubing (which crushes to perfectly deform itself for the connection) further aids in the connection between hot head and pipe, aiding cooling. So, the finned cooling rings didn’t allow enough surface for the stud bolts to lock onto them on their narrow side, hence they were flipped over to the wide side.
      Thanks!
      Aniket

      • i don’t know what your aspirations are exactly but i dearly hope you can either put this engine into production or produce kits. something this spectacular deserves replication.

        alternately, perhaps royal enfield will be wise enough to buy your design and make you exceedingly rich.

      • Aniket,
        Any chance the new UCE top ends with fuel injection could be used with this kit. Tune it once and be done.
        Thanks.

  9. Hullo everyone!
    Have to tell you that I sent the pics to Paul around 1:30 am last night!!! And he already posted his writeup 😀
    Made my day and soothed the tired eyeballs and aching body 🙂
    Looking forward to getting it running and sharing it with you all, along with pics of the machining and assembly process
    Thank you *very much* to Paul and all of you for your support right from the beginning, more than 3 years ago.
    Aniket

    • Mad props to you, this is fantastic. Its actually my favourite story on the whole internet at present.

    • Matt,
      You can have both!

      We at ACE are very good pals with Aniket, and 2 Fireball kits will go right on this Musket. We have been in contact with him the entire time, and are very familiar with this project, and we have been avid supporters of his efforts.

      And if you want more than the Fireball kits can give, and have a desire for some extra-hot sauce, we have some experimental top-ends in the works which will really flip you out!
      And we are already in line to get one of these crankcakses for our ACE development project for this V-Twin. We aren’t letting any grass grown under our feet on this one!

      And of course, just a regular pair of Bullet top ends would be very nice as a cruiser. You can go any way you wish!

  12. Aniket, when do we get an “X-4”? :-)… The Homebuilt Airplane guys @ Oshkosh would love to see it, I wonder what it would sound like. or even an Inverted V4 direct drive swinging a Prop….

  14. My parents just got a Royal Enfield with a sidecar, and I’m trying to convince them that this is a needed enhancement. So far, I’ve not been successful.

  17. It has a very interesting combination of appearance as “bad-boy” muscular, as stately as an aristocrat, and flowingly artistic, all together,
    It’s something that only an air-cooled engine with vintage appeal could have.

    This is an engine that could compete in the all-important world of consumer desire.
    That’s what sells bikes, and is critical as a centerpiece of a successful motorcycle.
    There are very few engines out there that could compete with this for sheer attraction.
    In the right frame and styling, this is a contender.

  18. How odd. Just this weekend I went on a bit of a trawl for updates since Aniket’s last update about the patterns. I had a feeling Aniket had given up. Clearly I was completely wrong as that engine is looking superb. Can’t wait to hear roar into life!

  19. To Tom and Aniket.
    This would be a great engine to enter in the proposed AMA road racing class. Another beautiful air cooled twin, excellent job, really cant wait to hear it run.

  20. Curt,
    I was thinking the same thing.
    I’d actually love to see this in your BTR package as a sport build. I have some engine mods upcoming which may put this twin in the 100hp neighborhood.
    And it’s a non-unit engine, so it could hook up with the separate tranny with the right primary case arrangement.

    And I’d love to see some other folks here that are talented frame and styling people to see what they can come up with for different styling packages to put this engine into!
    I think that would be fun.
    There is plenty of talent on this website.
    This is an engine. It needs frame and styling ideas.

  21. Tom,
    I’m up for it, how can we make it happen. I’m trying to gather as much interest as I can from the industry to present this proposed class, so anything we can do to build enthusiasm would be key.

    • Curt,
      We can talk about it as this progresses. First, we need to get some cases from Aniket, and they are not available yet.
      But, I love your bike kit, and I think there could be possibilities.

      I am doing the head modifications in advance, and they are coming out stunningly.
      Maybe by spring.

      • Tom
        Would you know if Rickman makes only their line of frames. It sure would be nice to wrap a Cannonball in a Rickman frame.

        • Z_Money,
          I have been thinking of contacting Rickman to make a line of frames for the Fireball for a long time. Basically a new limited batch of Rickman Enfields, using the Fireball engine.
          It could also be done with a new frame for this V-twin by Rickman.
          I think it would be great!
          Right now, I don’t have the money to do it, but if a customer decided he’d like that, I think that I could pull the package together.

          It would be very cool!
          Great idea!

  23. As stunning as it is, which is very, I find myself wondering what other improvements beyond the pipe attachment have been made to make it long lived and low maintenance. I will go ask Mr. Google.

    • OK I see its mostly stock internals other than the v-twin part. Cool. I want one, really (I know, talk is cheap). Mr. Vardan has put very much into this effort. Very creditable.

  24. Fantastic project and incredable dedication to design and build such an engine.The engine looks good from both sides and the copper oil lines look good,but I think because they are so long,they will probably fracture due to engine vibration.Once again ,great job! I can’t wait to see a production motorcycle powered y this engine.

  25. Absolutely stunning Aniket. I really need to get a pre bike in addition to my UCE. I’m liking the copper oil lines but concerned about the oilflow through the 90degree splitter. Maybe a Y pipe would afford equal oil flow to both front and back heads.

  26. IIRC the the intent was that the 998 crank cases be made to allow finish machining to be built as a 700, a 998 or a fire breathing Double Fireball 1070.

  29. Aniket, first your motor is just beautiful and your effort is amazing. I am not sure if this question has been asked, but is it possible for the front cylinder oil line to over heat, it looks to be very close to the exhaust pipe?

    • Hi Bob,
      I’m just going to jump in to answer this question, because a couple of questions have come up about the oil lines. I hope Aniket doesn’t mind.

      The oil lines in this photo are simply one method, and it needed to have them on there in some way for the photo being done very late at night. There are other ways to route the oil lines which can be a bit more away from the exhaust, or provide better division of the oil at the tee-joint.
      Ultimately, each builder of these engines will have to decide on which routing of the oil lines serves his needs best. There are a few requirements for getting the oil up to the heads, but beyond that it is just how you prefer to route them.

      Hope that helps!

  30. Aniket, What is your final goal with this project? kits? small production run? selling the concept? please tell!

  32. Hi guys!
    In response to a couple of questions:
    Johnny Ro: Thanks! About improvements to internals, here’s the core of this whole project: let the individual decide exactly how much they want to put into it and what do they want out of it. What I’ve made is basically just a beefy, over-designed crankcase some extra pounds of aluminum, designed to accept as many *stock Enfield parts as possible*, for the simple reason that riding and maintaining should be affordable and practical inspite of a very vintage persona. Now, that is only the starting point. While a very sweet mellow and enjoyable vintage ride can be built as a completely stock internal 700, thoroughly reliable inside the performance envelope of a classic 50s-60s long stroke twin, there are a host of performance options available, from roller bigends to cams, ported heads, high compression pistons- all from our very own ACE PERFORMANCE guys plus plenty of items from the UK too. The cases can be assembled with as “Bullet-proof” (ha) a bunch of guts as desired and afforded by the rider. I myself will be working on some tasty better bits as soon as some cases find homes in enthusiast’s machines and I can find a bit of time to start developing high quality conrods, roller bigends, custom crank flywheels beefed up and made specially for the v twin’s balance factor as opposed to working the variable stock crank, with various stroke length options, etc. etc. A big project I’m seriously dreaming of is an all new cylinder head with the best possible combustion chamber geometry, flow characteristics, valve angles, optimum port shape etc….which still looks classic Enfield from the outside yet gives nothing away to any contemporary comparable top ends…sigh, so much still left to do, no break in sight 🙁
    Yet another project I’m *really* interested in is developing the 350 option to allow upto a 900cc version using the 350 top ends. My friend John Hutchings in the UK has been doing conversions for years, including installing a 79mm piston in a new liner pressed into the 350 jug (that’s about as big you can go before you get too close to the cylinder studs)…the 350 combustion chamber is more compact, shorter flame travel, smaller intake port size ( the 500 intake port is considered too big by many tuning gurus)…basically, the 350 head sitting on top of a 79mm piston yields a crisp little 450, and therefore…a cracking good 900! Ooooh, this needs to be done pronto! Particularly as 350 topends and parts are more easily available.
    But guess what? I don’t *feel* like taking a break! Can’t wait to see this lump alive and kicking!
    Questions about the copper pipe oil flow and heat from the exhaust pipe: About the heat issue, it’s a photo angle thing…there is a healthy inch or so between the exhaust pipe and the copper oil line, exposed to the airstream all around its circumference!
    Keeping in mind that several modern machines have entirely internal oil feeds via drillings through the cylinder and head- both of which are much hotter….compared to this external exposed pipe,the oil will certainly be a lot cooler, particularly as copper is an excellent conductor.
    About the T shaped splitter vs a Y, I really don’t know if that should make a difference yet. To the best of my knowledge and recollections of physics, the pressure should be equal in all outlets from the main line at the same height. Interestingly, I had 2 different oil routings I considered – the other one followed the “V” format of the cylinders with the two branches meeting in a horizontal T under the points housing- couldn’t choose between them so decided to do that for the next motor 😀
    Ok guys, have to run back to work just finished the day job, now ready fror second shift- prepping the donor bike frame for installing the cases.
    Thanks very much again to all of you, your comments are a great source of energy.
    Best regards,
    Aniket

    • 80 hours a week on this PLUS a day job? I admire your dedication! And your motor is a work of art, a jewel. But I hope you don’t burn yourself out on this!

  33. wow! this is absolutely beautiful- much better looking than the carberry bullet v-2, cant wait to see it in a bike and running and really look forward to seeing what ace does with a tuned version! if i had the readies to buy/build one of these, it would be a double ace set-up, as fast as practical for a daily-use road bike, and stuffed into something looking like a brough superior with long bulbous polished tank- or maybe a replica of a prewar vincent rapide, either way , a pre-war style british sport-tourer.
    it’s great to be able to dream, but it must be better to be able to work a dream like the musket into polished metal reality!
    way to go, aniket!

    cheers,
    rob

  34. Jim Feuling just called me* and asked if you were thinking of a W-3? Fantastic project.

    *he didn’t really, and I suspect you might have enough to be going on with at present…

  35. Brilliant. I have been wondering for the last six months how Aniket was progressing with this project. Well done. Really looking forward to seeing… and hearing the bike when this motor is slotted in. Truly inspiring work Aniket.

  36. To Aniket,
    My hat is off to you, a simply gorgeous motor that looks like it feel at home in several different frames. I’d love to see what Curt Winter and Tom Lyons would wrap around that engine.
    Good luck to you.

  38. Wow!!! Aniket, you push all the right buttons with your projects…tech, art, passion, skills acquisition, vintage, vision, human perseverance, networking, human perseverance. I also must mention that your writing style is very readable. You should pen the “how to make-it-happen as the common man” book for your next project.

    ps. Still workin on my 43 cc v-twin. Trying to resolve a design deficiency that causes lock-up. I think I might have it figured out, too 🙂 Thx for the inspiration.

  39. That is absolutely amazing! Excellent work Aniket!

    Now I’ll just have to sell a kidney and then I can put my name on the waiting list for a kit! 😀

  41. I’d like to see one of these 1070 motors in a nice light rigid frame chopper. I bet you could get under 400# for a very rideable street bike.

    • While I may not be the world’s biggest chopper fan, I agree that this engine would look great in a chopper or any “muscle bike” kind of build.
      It has great lines for those applications.

      Also, it would look stunning in a very “retro” build which had styling from the 20s or 30s. Because it has the obvious styling cues of a time gone-by where the engine makers actually cared about what their engines looked like, and had the visible craftsmanship like this.
      It could be “almost steampunk” in some applications.

      It’s just a great looking engine with a LOT of possibilities!

  42. My reply is mainly to Paul (given his desire to see people getting in and doing things) but I will of course say well done Aniket, I followed the build of the original (in every sense of the word) Musket and it is fantastic to see this coming together.

    Reading this topic and others always gets me thinking, but one of the things that struck me on reading it tonight was the information regarding building moulds to cast parts. I felt like an idiot straight away, because I’d forgotten that my wife’s first job was working in a foundry, making moulds! She wasn’t there for long, because she is beautiful beyond belief and the factory owner was a sleazeball, but she went into a mechanics apprenticeship from that so got to stay with the stuff she enjoyed – she just loves mechanical stuff, when I met her she had a Triumph sportsbike and a 1964 Holden that she’d bought and restored.

    So now that I have remembered her experience, which reminded me that I know my way around a workshop – no trade but I basically grew up in my parents hardware shop – I need to re-read all of Aniket’s topics and get my wife involved, and maybe we can do something a bit interesting…

  43. Great Work! Fantastic sound .Best looking new engine I’ve seen yet. A real masterpiece. It’s what R E needs .Bigger displacement & classic style.