From: edh@wheeler.wrc.unr.edu
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Re: Spagthorpe Werewolf, Mudvalve Problems
Keywords: Pootane synthesis
Date: 26 Aug 92 22:42:08 GMT
Reply-To: edh@wheeler.wrc.unr.edu ()
Organization: Desert Research Institute, University of Nevada

David A. Braun (The Nashville Flash) inquires:

>Beyond that... does anyone have access to the factory literature or know 
>where copies can be had?  Are there any NOS mudvalve kits or (God forbid) 
>complete mudvalve assemblies "out there?"

Just by coincidence, I was in the local Ducati shop Monday getting
a spare clutch cable for the 900SS.  We were pawing through piles
of parts when we came upon a couple of boxes with that distinctive
"JS" logo on them, right next to the orange and white Lucas stuff
(these guys support(ed) all the Italian and British marques).  Well, to
make a long story short, yes they have a mudvalve (!), but no they
won't sell it for any price.  Neither Ed or Joe have ever had one
apart, so they couldn't help with the repair of yours.  You can
contact them at (702) 323-8846.  I have found that lots of begging
and waving green under their noses sometimes changes their minds.

>Can anyone suggest a source for pootane gas?

As you well know, the UN put the clamps on using pootane in motor
vehicles.  I can still get nanogram quantities from Matheson to use
as an internal standard in one of our Alpha counters.  The cost would
be astronomical for enough to run the Spagthorpe.

The good news is that it is not too difficult to make.  I went to
the books and came up with the following:

Pootane or pooch, PoOCHCH2CH3, is technically more a metal substituted 
ketone rather than an alkane. Common useage is -ane because of it's use 
in gaseous form as a fuel, as are methane, propane, and butane.

***Note***  the phrase "Screwing the pooch" is rumored to have
started with Spagthorpe owners who inadvertently overpressurized
their tanks.  The resulting reaction was quite spectacular.

The reaction to form pootane is to reduce Polonium oxide with
Sodium borohydride in the presence of propane.  Polonium can be
recovered in sufficient quantities from Radium sources that are at
least 30 years old.  Good sources would be old watches or the
dashboards of '47-'53 Studebakers.

Here are the basic reactions:

          250C
Po + O2 --------> PoO2


  H H H              NaBH4        H H H
H-C-C-C-H  + PoO2  ---------->  H-C-C-C=Po=O + H2O
  H H H                           H H

It's really too bad that Spagthorpe didn't get the Po recovery
system in the exaust up to propsed efficiency before the World
Courts pulled the plug on pootane.  All that uproar over a few
stray Helium nuclei.  Sheesh... A little Nukie never hurt anybody.

I hope this helps you get a rare and wonderful motorcycle back on
the road.  I grew up in a small Nevada town, so never had the
opportunity to see a Spagthorpe.  I had heard stories, and there
were a lot of wannabe Spagthorpe owners around, but the most
exotic thing around those parts was a CZ.  Seeing a Werewolf on the
road would be a real treat.

 Ed Hackett   edh@wheeler.wrc.unr.edu     The Desert Research Institute 
 DoD #0200  WMTC  BMWRA  DIOC             Reno, Nevada   (702) 673-7380   
 KotLS  KtoLE  KotD #0003            I'm not really a chemist, I'm just one of
 DUCATI 900SS  BMW K100RS            them motorsicle sonsabitches.   __=o&o>__