Mystery museum motor

1). From Neil's photo of a crashed R-R Merlin engine, it is evident that the museum is in the Isle of Man.
2). The functions of Exhaust and Inlet ports have been switched.
    i). For the engine to run in the same direction, the inlet and exhaust cam sequence would have to be reversed, either with a new camshaft, or by reversing the direction of rotation of the camshaft relative to the crankshaft. In either case, rephasing of the camshaft to the crankshaft would be necessary. 
    ii). For the engine to run in the opposite direction, the cam sequence would be correct, needing only to be rephased relative to the crankshaft.
    iii). Because of the differences in the inlet and exhaust cam profiles, the engine wouldn't work very well unless new cams were fitted!

Footnote: I'm surprised that no-one remarked on my previous incorrect statements! 

Hi Joe
It was a fun find and fun to read about the wren.
I’ll try to nip in today and see what I can find out. The shuttleworth collection have a flying example. Amazing.   Perhaps the ABC community should all go there on their open day(?)
br
neil

 

The museum is indeed on the  Isle of Man.
- It is the Manx Aviation and Military museum situated next to the airport at Castletown.

Perhaps  Neil  could confirm this , but I really think there may have been some misinterpretation.
I suspect   ‘ as it was closing ‘ was meant in  the sense ‘of Closing- up  for the day’ ,locking up time’ going- home  time’
Not that it is ‘Closing down’

It is a superb museum which is run with enthusiasm, skill and imagination and well worth a visit.

Ahh, after that last message we'll have to print some ABC tissues for Joe.

Anyway, I have the following article about the Wren aeroplane. The pictures aren't great but it doesn't look like they've turned the cylinders around.
Could this engine be from another aeroplane which used the ABC motorcycle engine? There's none other on my record but there was a short lived trend in the early '20s for creating small aeroplanes with motorcycle engines

 

A fantastic find Neil.

Below are some photos of the Shuttleworth Wren engine which I took back in 2018. As can be seen from the photo the engine was not complete at the time of my visit, but when fitted, the carb and inlet manifold are installed under the engine in same way as in Neil's photos. I believe the Wren's engine was in poor health in 2018 and at the time the Wren had to be helped into the air by ground staff with a bungie. However, this is no longer the case as the Wren can now take off under it own power and can been seen in a number of videos on youtube.

Phil

Further to my #1619 submission, my face is a little pink, since the observation by a friend of mine that all that's required to reverse the port functions...is to cross the pushrods!
This is so easy to do that it's not obvious from the photos that it's been done!
Normally, the front cam works the exhaust ports: but not in the aircraft-adapted engines!
(Uhhh...has anyone ever mis-assembled a motorcycle engine in this way? It would be a bugger to start!)