Jim Feuling
March 31st, 2005 by Paul Crowe - "The Kneeslider"
With all of this talk of the Hayabusa V8, I neglected to mention the Feuling W3. Jim Feuling, who passed away in 2002, was a prolific inventor and engineer. I first noticed him back around 1990 or so when he developed 4 valve heads for the Harley Davidson Evo engine. I thought of him again the other day when I saw the rerun of a Biker Build Off episode where Cory Ness built his chopper using a Feuling W3 engine. It’s impressive to say the least and is one indicator of the kind of work Jim Feuling did. Jim was pretty amazing. He built an Oldsmobile 4 cylinder engine that developed over 1,270 hp from 121 cubic inches! Not bad, I’d say. The East Coast Timing Association has a reprint of his memorial from the now closed Feuling website. A few of Jim’s developments are:
the engine for the American Honda high-mileage streamliner, capable of 500 MPG @ 55 mph, and developed the engine for the 2-place Q-2 aircraft, rated the world’s most efficient. His internationally-recognized products include the 4-Valve cylinder head conversion for Harley-Davidson® Evolution motorcycles, his patented aluminum CENTERFIRE® cylinder heads for Chevrolet 454 and Ford 460 truck engines, the all new ‘Fast-Burn’ MAXFLOW® cylinder head kits, SuperPump and HP+ lifters for the Harley-Davidson Twin Cam engines and the awesome W3 Motorcycle
Read the whole thing. There’s also a review of his prototype W3 from Motorcycle Cruiser magazine.
When you see what he did over the years, you can only wonder what he would have done had he lived a little longer and had access to the ever improving computer software and machine tools.
His company was up for sale last year. I’m not sure what happened to it, it seems some parts were sold separately instead of as a complete operation. I wonder if anyone is making the W3 these days. I’ll have to look into it. If anyone has details of the fate of his company, let us know.
Posted in Alternative thinking, Engines, Motorcycle Builders
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9 Responses to “Jim Feuling”
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April 24th, 2005 at 12:15 pm
If you know where someone can purchase a Feuling W-3 engine please reply witgh that info. If not, please add my name and address to any list of interested parties that you may be keeping.
Thank you
June 30th, 2005 at 2:44 pm
Spoke with allon mc bee this summer, came up for a visit to the woods- still making oil pumps, hopes to resume building w3’s someday but the outfit is wrapped up in court related ******** the last I heard, congrats to Allon for the nice job on the jeep hurricaine concept truck.
August 3rd, 2005 at 5:03 pm
Please keep me posted on what is happening with the W3. Thanks.
October 30th, 2005 at 10:56 am
I am also interested in getting onformation of when/where I can get a Fueling W3.
February 15th, 2006 at 11:24 am
I would like to purchase a W3 kit, or motorcycle, or rights to the plans so that I may have my own components machined.
Please respond to: tedthompson122@earthlink.net
March 9th, 2006 at 2:34 pm
Our firm is handling the James Feuling Estate. Anyone intersted in purchasing assets of his estate are welcome to direct inquiries to us at 1230 Columbia Street, ste. 680, San Diego CA 92101
March 9th, 2006 at 9:51 pm
History Channel….if you need material for the “man and machine” history chapters, there are a lot of people that would be intrigued to see documentaries on Jim Feuling.
I’ll check bookstores as well.
June 22nd, 2007 at 2:54 pm
Not as “fancy,” but take a look:
http://www.mgcn.nl/dameijer/html/3cilinder.htm
September 5th, 2008 at 11:59 am
Jim Feuling was involved heavily in projects ‘other than internal combustion’.
He was a part of the CARAT (civilian applications of Reverse-engineered alien technology) group at Groom Lake/Dreamland/Area 51.
he obtained tessla research not confiscated by uncle sam and was actively pursuing a practical application of the Townsend-Brown field generator.
he had a working prototype when he was ‘involunatarily retired’ with a scalar-wave-induced ‘heart attack’.
Scoff if you will but that’s the real scoop