The Kneeslider

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Exclusive First Look at Yamaha Based 14 Cylinder Radial Engine Project

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14 Yamaha XV1700 Warrior cylinders arrayed in two 7 cylinder rows.
Russell Sutton’s new engine with 14 Yamaha XV1700 Warrior cylinders arrayed in two 7 cylinder rows.

Mention radial engines around The Kneeslider and the first name that comes to mind is Russell Sutton. As many of you already know, he’s the engine builder from down under who built an amazing 9 cylinder radial engine using the cylinders from a Honda XR600. As we noted several years ago, as he was wrapping up that project, he had already started on his next build, an even more amazing 14 cylinder radial, using the cylinders from a Yamaha Warrior XV1700.

The new 14 cylinder radial engine begins to take shape with the 9 cylinder radial in the background
The new 14 cylinder radial engine begins to take shape with his previous 9 cylinder radial in the background

We hadn’t heard from Russell for quite some time, which is understandable, because he’s been hard at work. Take a look at these photos. That’s a 14 cylinder radial made up of two rows of 7 cylinders each, and yes, those cylinders are from a Yamaha Warrior motorcycle. I get a big grin on my face just looking at that.

Machining the 14 cylinder crankcase
Machining the 14 cylinder crankcase

Russell says:

The engine is massive and looks better than I expected. The crankcase could have been 400mm OD but I opted for a 500mm OD so that I had room to overlap the huge cylinders to make the engine a lot more compact just like twin row aero engines and shorten the crankcase length. I think that has paid off as the crankcase does still seem to look proportional.

The master rods will be right on 300mm long for greater torque and there is acres of room in the crankcase for balancing. Front cylinders off the XV twin are used on the front row and XV fans may notice something a little different there, and the rear cylinders on the back row.

The engine displaces 11.7 Liters and it needs to be turbocharged to get any power out of it because of the low 8.3:1 compression and low RPM. I have purchased a three blade whirlwind airboat prop, that will absorb up to 700HP or 50 Hp per cylinder.

Once again, amazing doesn’t quite seem to express what a project like this really is. Those Yamaha cylinders look perfect in this application, it should be a beauty to behold and sound great at the same time. He still has a lot of work ahead of him, but we’ll keep checking in to keep everyone up to date. Really nice work!

Posted on Filed Under: Engines Tagged With: ,

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Comments

  1. This planet desperately needs people like Russell Sutton, and I am dead-serious. Building something as bizarre as a 14-cylinder radial, just because he CAN build it, is insane in a wonderful way. As the author mentions, big grins all around.

  4. Meanwhile I have a set of I-4 carbs sitting on my workbench since 2014 waiting to have the floats set. Maybe one day I’ll get to them.

    • Don’t feel bad, I have some brake pads for my Guzzi camping out on my workbench and pretty soon they’re going to build more permanent shelter, their tent is in tatters. 🙂

  6. So…this is obviously awesome. In a mental way. But excuse my ignorance when I ask: what is going to power with it? A bike? A warplane? A boat?
    I’m just wondering…if anybody knows: please enlighten me! It’s a fascinating contraption!

  8. If I ever manage to build a ratrod, I need this guy to build the engine I want for it.