So I called the 79 year old guy who built this motor in high school. He built many sprint cars since. He was telling me about the Offys and stuff in his shop. Then he mentioned he Pontiac straght eight they cut in half. Removed the crankcase. Made a weldment crankcase and billet crank. Cut a Buick eight head in half to make a four cylinder head. And like that. Suddenly my Plymouth, Dodge, and Chevy bangers sound common to me. I'm going to visit with him next week.
Here are some poor pix of the head. looks like 1 3/4 exhaust and 1/ 7/8 intake. Nicely ported. Crank is drilled and some external oil pump (Large) is driven off the cam. The guy who built it said it had a Sintila mag with manual advance/retard but I do not see that in the boxes. The cast Jahns pistons appear to be NOS and the poured babbet rods are freshly machined 40 years ago waiting for instalation. More later.
Rich don't know what the pump is off but they have cleverly adapted it to the distributor body. I really look forward to seeing what you do with this engine.
Geez- one of these days I'll stop looking/sounding like an idiot... Thanks for doing my reading for me Stevie
Measuring the actual valves they are all 1.812. I am measuring 1.630 at the exhaust flange and 1.580 or so in the exhaust bowl. My best measurement of the intake bowl is 1.675. 1.575 at the intake flange. Smooth finish on all port walls.
Hopefully these are the pictures of the oil pump (Stuck) appears to run in the distributer location with the mag moved elsewhere. The old guy said it had a cleaver deal for the advance and i can see that it has some kind of trick front cover with extra gears running off the cam gear to drive more stuff. Real race car deal.
It looks as your engine has a custom front plate The front cover is a modified '25 timing gear cover. On the '25 the generator was gear driven off the cam gear. Distributor and oil pump is run off the back of the generator.
Well!. Thanks for posting that. I would have spent some time trying to make it work the other way around. I'll dig deeper in the box of stuff tomarrow. After I do something about my Studebaker having the flatest tire I have ever seen. Noticed it as I was leaving to go to the store.
Rich, sorry for confusion. The pump as you say is driven off the cam in the stock '28 distributor position using the '28 Distributor body. Sorry I went off track describing the stock '25 setup. I should have just siad He has used the '25 style front plate to adapt the Mag which was quite common back in the day.
Yeah. I have to dig around in these boxes more. There is no generator involved in Midget racing. So there must be something that takes the place of the gen. Also I believe from what I think I have identified so far. That the mag was mounted on the fowared side of the timing cover. But maybe not. Later when it's light outside and my Studebaker has 4 tires with air in them I'll put it on a stand and see what I can deduce
Not all the Jenny's had the OX5 , only the JN4D..... but there were numerous other planes with them. After WW1 the engines were available for $20 according to some sources. I have a contact who owns several ,has restored many , and has spare parts, ( I don't know if that includes conrods) he stated elsewhere that the early Wills St Claire V8 is the same as a Jenny motor...... I am wondering if he means the OX5 or something else.
Very much so and would be perfect for a street engine that is a '24 style setup the oil pump is driven at the front similar to this It most likely be setup similar to this.
If your friend has any spare conrods I am keen to acquire 4. All Wills Sainte Claire V8 are SOHC aren't they? I have posted this scan before
It just occured to me that i started reading this thread because it was interesting. Now I have one. I don't remember wanting one. It just happened. I am going to have to be more careful when reading the HAMB.
Jimmy, Any more pics or info on this engine you posted? And would anyone have the timing cover off a '25 or earlier block?
I have no idea about the Wills St Claire motors, maybe the bottom end is Curtiss???? it was just a comment that he made , that stuck in my mind.... I need to stop following this thread I have enough trouble keeping up with the projects I already have...much like Rich I was almost sidetracked into buying some of these Chevy 4 bits....there was a whole truck for sale here a week ago went for $500NZ. 20s !! And there have been several other parts like sets of wire wheels and axles etc that I have previously ignored, but seem to show up now that I have been "educated". Now this genny has popped up, you say it's a 24...is it any use to you ? I think he wants under $100 . If you want the generator and distributor it will be relatively easy to send to Aussie!! As far as the Curtiss rods go I will ask Rick to expand on what his position is with regards the OX5s.... I know he owns some high end machinery ...bikes, cars and planes...and restores and manufactures a lot of stuff for other people.... If he can help ,I will ( with his permission) PM you and Mac with his contact details.
Rich, don't let these guys contaminate your brain. Stay focused! Or send me your partly finished project and head this direction.
I have faith in you Rich- pay no attention to Doug (VW, Camaro, etc ) -he likes 6's and 8's better anyway!
Hey Rich, Congratulations on the purchase of your new challenge. You're right, the Chevy parts are baby parts compared to some of the other bangers. Also, earlier references to ,"low cost", materials used in casting may be true. It may not necessarily be weak material, but I believe that the orientation during casting must have contributed to weak parts on the block. I never had trouble welding a boss to the crankcase for front main bearing support, but trying to add bosses for extra head studs was pretty much a failure. Contamination in the deck and water jacket walls, probably carbon, caused blow-back while welding and cracking during cooling no matter how well I tried to control the heating and cooling rates. The engine does have some interesting things about it. I don't know how common it is with other bangers, but the longitudinal cylinder centerline is offset 3/8 inch toward the left side of the car from the crankshaft centerline. I haven't got my notebook handy, but I'm pretty sure of that 3/8 figure, (didn't think I'd ever forget that dimension among other things). Anyway that produces some interesting things like more piston dwell at TDC and a more vertical rod at the beginning of the power stroke. I don't know if they had either of those reasons in mind or just needed to make room for the cam. Anyway have fun with your new project. I'm having fun following this thread. Keep it going guys. Curt
I tried digging through the boxes of mostly junk that came with the Chevy. Here is the crank and its welded on counterweights. The rear and center main caps have been drilled for oil. The foward cap I guess is not from this engine as it has not been drilled. There is a bunch of copper lines some of which must have been for oil. No effort has been made to fit oil seals on the crank. Cam gear that came with it is fiber. Lots of lifters, none of which fit Chevy lifter bores. There is no sign of thw genorator/ distributer drive which would be the oil pump drive for this. Or any Mag drive. A little dissapointing. Also a compairasion of the Chevy rod and Jahns cast piston and a contempory Brothers banger rod and piston.
It is highly modified 3-port. Same thing happen with me I was a Ford man (still am) but after reading Bob Rufi's interview in Hot Rod History book 2 in 1998 I have been intrigued by the Chev 4s & their success and have been researching them since. The tin plate timing cover is useless without the front plate so you'll need that too But why do you want it if you have a '26 or later block? Haha I have had to restrain from buying a number of complete Chevs. I missed out on an Olds 43a chassis with complete 3 port motor it sold for $270 Also a complete '25 uted tourer (phaeton) for $700 I could of made it a roadster with my spare quarter panels I do think that the crankcase is shared between the Wills St Claire and OX-5 I am interested I will PM you If you could it will be appreciated. Hey Curt, great to see you posting on this thread, great info thank you.
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