Mini Moto Engines

Industrial engines. They are still used by severalon this engine are interchangeable with the Polini.
manufacturers (most notably Blata on their entryWhat's the difference between the 'series I' and
level bike) and typically produce between 2.5 and 3.5'series II' crankcase?. Fuel is drawn from the carb into
horse power (hp). All are air-cooled. Tuning andthe crankcase via a one-way valve known as the
performance parts are very limited.'reed valve'. The intake port (where the reed valve
The Chinese 47/49cc. These engines are used in theand carb join the engine) on the series I engine will
Chinese made mk2, and mk3 minimotos. They are aironly accommodate a reed valve assembly with one
cooled and produce between 2.5 and 3.5 horsereed 'petal' whereas the series II will take a reed
power (hp). This engine is different from the industrialvalve 'cage' that accommodates two reed petals. A
engine that is used in the Blata, as it is specificallytwo-petal reed valve will allow more fuel mixture to
created for mini moto use.flow into the engine and, therefore, produces more
Polini 4.2 engine. This is the basic Polini engine and, aspower.
its name suggests, it produces 4.2 hp in standardPolini Super engine. The super also uses the series
form. It is air-cooled and uses the 'series I' crankcasetwo crankcase but with a 5-port cylinder. It is only
with the 3-port cylinder. There is plenty of scope andavailable in water cooled now but used to come as
parts for tuning but few people bother becauseair cooled as well. To compete with Polini, Mallossi
most racing classes for the 4.2 won't allow anymanufacture an alternative 5-port cylinder. There are
modifications.no restrictions on tuning supers and with engine
Polini 6.2 engine. The top end of this engine is the'porting', bigger carbs and other performance parts
same as the 4.2 (3-port) but is available with eitherthey can be turned into awesome machines (for their
water or air-cooling. The bottom end uses the 'seriessize) easily producing 12hp.
II' crankcase. This helps to make it more powerful.What is meant by 3 and 5 port?. This refers to the
Race regulations don't allow modification to theamount of 'transfer' ports built into the cylinder. The
engine internals but do allow performance parts, thetransfer ports draw the fuel mixture up from the
most significant being the exhaust. There are a widecrankcase and 'dump' it above the piston prior to
range of alternative exhausts that year after yearignition. A five-port cylinder has potential to produce
manage to extract more power from the engine.more power.
Consequently the 6.2 'tag' no longer means anything,40cc or 50cc. The 3 port engines are only available in
these little rockets (more often referred to as40cc. The 5 port cylinder comes in both 40 and 50cc.
'production' nowadays) claim power outputs of up toZPF offer a tuned 5-port polini cylinder with their own
9hp.'special' cylinder head. The extra cc gives 25% more
The Chinese made water cooled engine. This enginedisplacement and, therefore, has the potential for
is very similar to the Polini 6.2 however it is a series 1more power. 50's are more common in the USA but
crankcase engine. The engine is water cooled and isthey're catching on fast in the UK. The UK now
used in the Origami B1 replica. The engine producesallows them to race in championships.
around 7.5/8.5 horse power (hp) Many of the parts