NSU's Ultramax Camshaft System ....

Crazy Horse · Nov 4, 2022

The link below explains German company NSU's 'Ultramax' design for driving their overhead cams. This example is for their 2-cylinder car engine version, one drive unit is in beige while the other is blue. Same thing accomplished as timing chains, timing belts, pushrods, geared shafts, etc. which do the same thing. My brother had a '56 NSU Max motorcycle, a single-cylinder 250cc bike back in the early 60's. It used the same system but just the one cylinder. At the end of the link is a separate link which takes you to a workshop manual which gets into the disassembly a bit. I'll stick with flatheads .... this would be way beyond my expertise.
NSU Ultramax cam drive system .....

JMOR · Nov 4, 2022

Very interesting, but $$ is likely cause for its end. Belt and pulleys cost less than all those parts.

MarkB_MI · Nov 5, 2022

Interesting setup. We assume that the internal combustion engines we have today are the only possible configurations, but there are plenty of promising designs that fell by the wayside. Another example is the sleeve-valve engine,

Janicholson · Nov 5, 2022

It uses the same principle as locomotive drive rods. the axles are solid, and the crank throws are 90 degrees from each other forcing continuous rotation. without the possibility of lockup. No milling of the head or block could be allowed or the length would be wrong. Jim

Tramway Guy · Nov 5, 2022

My oldest brother had an NSU Prinz (about a 1966 model) which according to the article, would have had this system!

I dont remember it had anything special other than it was very light and fast! He drove it hard and it crapped out in a couple of years. He then bought a Buick Skylark.

NSU's Ultramax Camshaft System ....

Crazy Horse

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JMOR

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MarkB_MI

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Janicholson

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Tramway Guy

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