Technical I’m confused , strange engine , need some insight .

Can someone please explain this hemi / flattie 4-8 cylinder to me and why ?


Other than giving someone a stroke trying to figure out why you built it ……… why he built it ?

 

1/2 Ardun, 1/2 Flathead? This is weird. Now I want to know as well!!

 

It’s messed up

intake only to one side

spark plugs in both heads

I don’t see exhaust on the “flathead “ side

what’s the hose / tube running from the front and draping over the trans ?

soooo many questions !!!!!!

my gut tells me it’s some wonky 4 banger contraption , but the spark plugs on both sides hurt my brain

 

He just wanted to race while he saved up the rest of the money to finish the project!

 

I'll be interested to know...

 

No intake or exhaust on the right bank, so I think it's a 4 cylinder built on a V8 block. Why the plugs on the right?... to confuse onlookers.

 

https://bangshift.com/general-news/...-here-running-half-a-chrysler-hemi-literally/
This is the new Steinegger & Eshenbaugh lakester out of Phoenix. The car was finished days before Speed Week.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/226079377467992

 

It's a lakester running half of a Hemi at Bonneville!
https://bangshift.com/general-news/...-here-running-half-a-chrysler-hemi-literally/

 

Half brother of a Dodge.

 

Made to run in a certain class on the salt. One bank is probably empty, plugs fire into an empty cylinder so they could run the v8 distributor. Sort of like the cut down Pontiacs Mickey Thompson ran.

 

Yes, 4 banger from a V8 block. Not that unusual for Bonneville.
Cool stuff like this is the reason every gearhead NEEDS to go there! It's also what keeps me coming back....

 

Within reason ANY V8 using 4 of it’s cylinders will out perform a true 4 cylinder especially on fuel at Bonneville. There are exceptions but Al will probably run 80-90% nitro naturally aspirated. I don't see a class but these are usually under 3L. Some use a plate on the opposite side others a Ford Flathead aftermarket head. You do need to use all 8 spark plugs usually firing into nothing.
There have been LSR vehicles at Bonneville doing this for years. The Larson/Cummins Streamliner is the first I remember.

 

Also, of you want to run in more than one class, using the half the block of one engine for one class, and the whole of another for another class, or even two classes, swapping is easier, as everything just fits.

 

Wild

 

Half a 389

 

That is so the V8 distributor thinks it still has eight cylinders to fire. Run what is readily available rather than try to come up with one off custom unit. Wise move both for ease and economics.

Exactly, Pull that engine out, Stick the V8 in and even use the same ignition setup. Pretty slick and a bit sneaky. Also all the V8 periphial pieces such as scatter shield and flywheel are a lot easier to come by rather than stuff for an odd 4 banger that has no speed equipment support. The only custom pieces on the whole setup are the crank (Maybe) and the plate to cover the other side.

 

How does it work with an 8cyl distributor, firing on 4 dead holes? Seems , even if you were to work out a firing order, there would be some dead spots.

 

Very cool. Reminds me somethat of the Sesco roundy-round engines made Hoettels and Boorse.

Technical question: why do they need to run the dummy plugs firing into nothing? Could they not just cap off the spare high-tension posts on the V8 distributor?

I'm guessing that if the posts are just capped off, that the dizzy functions as normal. It fires a proper plug, then gets ready to fire a dummy plug on the missing bank. The points close and open, and the coil secondary voltage ramps up. That high secondary voltage has no-where to go, so would have a tendency to find it's own path... like arcing inside the dizzy to one of the live bank plugs. I could be wrong though.

I had an O/T MSD setup do exactly that in the avatar. Number 1 plug lead had huge resistance, because stupid me learnt to make up my own plug leads (from an MSD kit) on that one.... it's quality was questionable. My dizzy had nowhere to go, so would blast to earth through the plastic of the rotor button. Took me two cooked rotor buttons (and tilt-tray rides home) to figure it out. Once I replaced number 1 lead the problem went away.

Cheers,
Harv

 

Single bank, inline, numbered 1-4.

Plug wires 1-3-4-2. Custom cam.

Weights on rod journals to simulate missing rods, pistons, pins, and to control oil.

 

It's a Flathead-Hemi backed up by a Stick Shift-Powerglide... Duh...

 

Sooo a semi Hemi
Just might be a Dodge

 

How’s this for a 4 cylinder Pontiac—-small GM blower—-parked inside the gates at Pomona approx 5 -6 years ago.

 

most of the time i saw a v8 converted to a 4 cyl the extra plug wires were dead headed into the block. they do this for air compressors.

 

Wouldn't you also need a custom 180* crank to get the pistons up in 180* intervals. Using a SBC as an example, and imposing a 1-3-4-2 firing order on the left bank cylinders you would have firing gaps of 270*, 180*, 90*, and 180*. Anything else I tried to work out was even worse.

 

I saw it at Bonneville one year too. After looking it over I asked the owner and he told me it was entered in the 4 cylinder class. There are no rods/pistons in the flathead side.

 

I can see the cam, etc. but an 8 cylinder distributor rotates and fires 8 locations, my question was how can it fire 4 positions, and not leave a dead spot here and there while firing at 4 other positions ? Not that I would ever do it, but just trying to see why it works without issues.

 

Maybe. It depends on how smooth you want it to run for 3-5 miles.

Ever ride a Harley?

 

All the cylinders fire in two crankshaft revolutions .
The "dead" plugs are used to discharge the transformer (coil) every time it's energized. Taking the four not used and just connecting them directly to ground will not discharge the coil the same as making the energy jump a gap, the spark energy will be weaker on the other four. All 8 overcoming the resistance of the air gap keeps the spark energy stronger and more even. The 4 dead plugs usually have way more gap than the other 4, 1/4 inch or so vs .018 ish on the 4 "live" plugs.
Keny

 

Do not overthink this. The guys running 1/2 engines know exactly what they are doing. John Bjorkman runs a 2 cylinder KB in a lakester it has only 2 cylinders. The block is cut so it’s the first 2. He has cut off Stage 4 heads with 2 spark plugs in each head. He uses dual 44 amp Mags and has a plate on the firewall that holds the other 12 spark plugs and wires from the Mag caps. It WILL NOT run any other way.

 

Thanks gents, being one who never looked / researched, I just wanted to understand it. I wasn’t questioning it.