X-Wedge from S & S
We’d received some interest from people about the new S&S X-Wedge, so we tracked down this info on the product. Hope it helps. This was taken from the X-Wedge site. With EPA and CARB restrictions becoming more and more prevalent, S&S Cycle looked to the future and designed a new OE specific engine more in line with environmental expectations. This next generation v-twin is a departure from S&S’ traditional engine design and a step toward the future of air-cooled, pushrod operated v-twins.
In October of 2002, a small group of S&S Product Development team members were given a green light by the S&S senior management team to start on a new engine design to ensure that S&S OE customers would have engines available when the emissions laws tightened up. It needed to be an air-cooled v-twin, with pushrod operated overhead valves and meet the upcoming 2008 ARB and 2010 EPA regulations.
By October of 2003 the first prototype design was under way and a running test version spent time on the S&S dyno in December of 2004. So, in just two years a concept became a design, which turned into a running prototype. In just five more short months, April 2005 saw another prototype installed in a chassis and ridden around Wisconsin. When the prototype had reached production intent, two different dyno tests were performed—one to simulate highway operation at 3200rpm for 800 hours and another that ran a 200-hour duty cycle on a dyno that varied engine speed and load from idle to full-throttle. This rigorous testing was necessary before any further development could be done. Once the S&S Product Development team was satisfied with the engine’s durability, they finalized the functional design.
The engine, code-named Fred around the S&S offices during development, is the all-new S&S X-Wedge (pronounced “cross” or “ex”)—a 56-degree, closed-loop fuel-injected, three-cam, overhead valve v-twin designed to deliver the performance expected of an S&S engine, but still comply with EPA laws. One key engineering feature is the versatility of the design to create a range of engine sizes. The engine design will accept bore sizes from 4 1/8” to 4 ½” and the stroke can go from 4 1/8” to 4 3/8”–equating to a displacement range of 110 to 139 inches! The 56-degree v-twin utilizes three serpentine belt-driven, large base-circle cams; two exhaust cams and a common intake cam achieve almost straight pushrod angles that combine with automotive-style rockers and roller tappets to create an incredibly quiet, EPA noise conscious valve train.
Induction on the X-Wedge is done with the new S&S single-bore throttle body pumping fuel and air into a wedge shaped combustion chamber contained in a head with a five stud bolt pattern and increased fin area for maximum cooling abilities. The head has the fuel injector mounted directly in it for even more efficient combustion. A non-structural rocker cover that will allow various OE builders to design a look specific to their brand covers the aforementioned automotive rockers
