
Why Kawasaki stopped using port pillars
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The early H1 cylinders had pillars on the INTAKE port. They were called dual ports.
The H1/H2-ICBM® emphasizes the value of having pillars on the INTAKE and exhaust ports, but the pillars on the INTAKE port were not invented by iB or anything. The genuine cylinder ports also had pillars at first. (Both the IN and EX ports on the H1R and H1R have pillars.)
It's a natural question, but then you'd ask, "Why did Kawasaki stop using pillars on the ports?" Was there a problem with performance or quality if there was a pillar?
The reason for this is that it was impossible to make these pillars with the casting technology at the time.
iB had previously outsourced the casting of the Honda Monkey cylinders. In fact, the person in charge at that foundry had been transferred from Teikoku Piston Ring, which had cast the cylinders for the H1/H2. He then told us about the difficulties of casting the H1/H2, which was already an old story at the time. "The yield was so low!" He said.
In other words, the molten cast iron "melt" flows into that thin pillar, and this is what doesn't work. Even we, novices in casting, can see that it would be harder for the melt to flow into the obviously long and slender pillar compared to other parts.
No matter how much they change the nozzle or the pressure, it just doesn't work. On the other hand, if the later model had a shape like a throat cock, there would be no thin parts and the melt would flow easily.
Although they managed to start casting, the yield rate just didn't increase, and they finally gave up on the pillar halfway through, which is probably the truth.
And instead, they installed that "throat cock" to reduce the amount of splashing in as much as possible. But in the end, they couldn't prevent the piston skirt from splashing in like they did with the pillar. If you think about it this way, it makes sense why they couldn't install pillars in subsequent models either. They wanted to, but they couldn't.
iB(inoue Boring) decided to use its own technology to create pillars in the cylinders of the H1/H2. ICBM® cuts out the aluminum sleeve from the solid cylinder and creates the port. At that time, all that is needed is to cut the port into the shape with the pillar, so there are no problems like those that foundries had to deal with. And as I wrote last time, it is covered with a super-hard plating. I think it can be said that this is the ultimate example of the "modernization" that iB has been aiming for. By applying modern technology to old engines, we can create engines that run smoothly and are durable even without tuning them up, even with the standard specifications. That is the "modernization" that iB has been aiming for, which is not tuning up, restoring, or repairing.
Plated cylinders are truly excellent cylinders. Nowadays, many new car models are equipped with plated cylinders, so the merits of plating are not emphasized so much, but compared to cylinders with cast iron sleeves, aluminum plated cylinders are truly the ideal cylinder.
The H1/H2-ICBM® is a pinnacle of ICBM® technology that iB began developing 12 years ago and has finally been completed.
I would like all H1/H2 owners to seriously consider adopting it. I believe it is a product worth that much. Thank you.