I found an interesting article online on the history of early Ford racing four-bangers,. A**** other things there lots of info on the early OHV and OHC conversion heads. Enjoy! Mart3406 ---------------------------------- www.hotforhotfours.com/history_101.htm HISTORY 101 FORD FOUR-BANGER by Jim Brierley May, 2000 This history was originally written for H4H4s mag. I decided to use this paper by Jim Brierley, a gentleman, and well respected for his vast knowledge of the four cylinder variety to kick off this page about the men who raced. To generate a dialogue and inspire all who will follow As all the worlds Ford 4-banger nuts know, the first automotive engines were not of the 4 cylinder variety, but the car world never really advanced much after the 4-cyl became common. This is true in spite of what your multi-cylindered friends might think. It is also true that there is nothing new under the sun, at least when it has to do with the automotive engine. Did you know that the Wright Brothers first engine had fuel injection? This article is primarily about Ford Models T, A & B engines built mostly from 1908 through 1934. There are exceptions of course, as Ford built Model B engines at least to 1942 but these are rare. The Model B was built by and used in Russian jeeps during the Korean war and was used in German Fords until 1950 or so and then used in Claas harvesters that were sent to Australia. The German and Claas engines had a few refinements that were nice, like full pressure oiling and a cast aluminum pan that extended to the rear of the rear main cap, but in particular this story is about performance T, A & B's. Throughout these years the amateur engine builders, racers and/or hot rodders had a compe***ive spirit that made them want to be just a little faster than the other guy, just as today. The problem then was that there were no dynos, air-flow benches or computer programs to tell them how much they were improving, or hurting, performance. This resulted in a very interesting variety of ideas and products, everything from higher-compression flatheads, F-heads (an F-head is one where the intake valves are in the head and the exhausts are in the block) to multivalve, dual overhead cam conversions, were built and raced. Were they fast? Were they compe***ive with "professional" engine builders? You bet they were! In 1923 three "FrontyFords" qualified for the Indy 500, all three finished, with one of them in fifth place. This at a time when Miller and Deusenberg dominated the Indy scene. The Fords were particularly successful on the shorter tracks such as the County-fair horse tracks where races were held on a regular basis, with circuits all across the country. Why the success on short tracks? Because the engines were of comparatively light weight and the internals were light, resulting in quick acceleration. They were also relatively cheap and made of very good materials which resulted in good reliability, at least until they started putting out lots of horsepower, and they did that! An example of early day engineering that we can laugh at today, and now it seems obvious that it would never work, was the Akron F-head, where the intake valves were operated by a tube filled with ball bearings, built for the Model T. This same man progressed in the performance field with high compression flatheads, to a single overhead cam (OHC) head, to dual OHC conversions and later built his own block, connecting rods and 5-main bearing crankshaft. This later endeavor was necessary because the power output exceeded the Ford lower-end capabilities. This mans name was Hal Hosterman, father of the famous HAL engines. One of his 2 cammers was California Racing ***oc. (CRA) champ in 1953, quite late considering they were competing against large flathead V8's and Offies. This was on a Model B block with new Model C crankshafts being installed after every race over 100 miles. 2-cam conversions were made by several builders such as Rajo, Frontenac (Fronty) Gallivan, and probably others, for the Model T. Frontenac made 8-valve, 16-valve and what is known as a stagger-valve conversion. The stagger valve had intake and exhaust ports on both sides of the head. This was done for added cooling of the valves as metallurgy wasn't anywhere near today's standards. For the Model A & B, Hal was the most prolific builder of 2 cammers but they were also made by Miller-Schofield, Cragar, McDowell, Greene Engineering, and Dreyer, plus a few one-off conversions. Miller also made a "2-cam" conversion that was an F-head with 4 large intake valves in the head, and all 8 valves in the block were used as exhaust. The problem with this was the block couldn't stand all the heat being put through it and tended to crack rather frequently. These were advertised as commercial heads but only about 5 were built and it is doubtful if any of them saw commercial use. Next down the list of exotica came the overhead valve (OHV) rocker-arm conversions. To my knowledge there has never been a complete and accurate count of the number of head manufacturers, but a gentleman in Big Bear City has catalogued about 45 of them and I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't twice that many if all the one-offs were counted. Rajo, Frontenac, Roof and Morton & Brett were the most common makers of Model T heads, they each made more than one version, some with single ports, some with dual ports, one (M&B) made a 3-port with an "internal rams-horn manifold" and even some with 16 valves. Almost all OHV heads made for Fords had 4 exhaust ports so they were referred to by the number of intake ports, 2-ports and 4-ports. Some 2-ports had the ports on the right side and could utilize stock manifolds or any of the aftermarket manifolds built for the Ford block. All 4-ports, and some 2-ports, had ports located on the left, resulting in what is known as "cross-flow" design. The 4-ports were designed for racing only and had no provision to heat the manifold, some didn't even have provision for a distributor as most of the racers used side-driven magnetos. Manifold heat provides better fuel vaporization which results in better fuel mileage and "driveability". Without heat you get a denser, heavier mixture in the cylinder and more power. The very first OHV heads for the Model A were derived from T conversions. If you look at the bottom of a Morton & Brett you can see where the patterns were modified to fit the Model A. George Riley in LA. made 2-ports as early as 1928 (the first model-year for the A), he made at least 7 different styles of 2-port over the next few years. In 1933 he came out with his Riley-Racing 4-port, a real winner on the short tracks. All of the Riley conversions used 2 stock Ford intake valves, guides and springs per cylinder and were of the "F" head configuration, using the stock exhaust location in the block. Some of his 2-ports were even used by police departments to give them more of an equal footing against the bigger and more powerful cars of the day. People like Ed Winfield, George Riley and Cyclone (Cook Machine in LA.), made both flatheads and OHV conversions. The Cook, Rutherford and Morales OHV heads weren't introduced until the very late 30's and early 40's so the hot 4's were still Winfield OHV rocker arm head. Five were built. Special Winfield side-draft winning their share of carburetors built for these heads. Owned by Kenney Howard of Vista, CA races at that time. Art Sparks (Forged True pistons), McDowell and probably others made heads available in your choice of rocker arm or overhead cam versions. There were even OHV conversions made in other countries, the Jenkins started life racing in Australia but the patterns are now owned by Dan landola in Templeton, CA and are currently in production. 2000, not now) While all of the above conversions were exotic and by far the most interesting, the flatheads dominated the market in both volume of sales and number of manufacturers. Winfield was the most prolific on the West coast, with his yellow-head ( 6:1 compression) and redhead (7:1), he also made a crows-foot chamber and a Super Winfield, mostly in cast iron but Supers were made in both iron and aluminum. In the late '70s Ed Winfield was asked which is better, iron or aluminum? His answer was "if you want to boil water, aluminum is best, but if you want power, iron is best". Close behind Winfield was Thomas. These two heads are both currently being reproduced and available today. Also available in the '30s, '40s and some even into the '50's were Acme, Cyclone, Ruxtel, Riley and Weiand flatheads. Several heads were built on the Ricardo design and some were licensed by names such as Chrysler and Waukeshaw. Most combustion chambers were similar to the Winfield which is like the later flathead Ford V8, but several makers had ideas of their own and designed flame-paths, cartridge fire and all sorts of strange ideas into their heads. Most of the aftermarket heads, both flathead and OHV, used more modern spark plugs with smaller 18mm threads. Today these plugs are getting somewhat hard to find and some heat ranges must be special ordered. Morton and Brett. Center port is intake; other four are exhaust. In this photo there are two intake ports on the left, apparently installed after manufacture. This mystifies the editor. . . Ed Some of the younger readers may be chuckling about 6:1 compression and 18mm spark plugs! Keep in mind that we are talking ancient history here. The Model A had 4.22:1 compression which was a lot more than the T had. The A's had spark plugs based on a 7/8"-18 thread and the T was 1 1/8"-12, that's almost big enough to grind the valves through! The T didn't even have a distributor as we know them today, they used a timer device that activated a coil box with 4 coils inside, and a 90 pound flywheel with magnets placed around the outer perimeter to form a magneto, maybe the fore-runner of today's ignition system? The Model T didn't even have any oil directed to the connecting rods, the rods swung through a tray that held oil but there were no scoops or even holes in the rods for oil to enter. Each time the rod swung through the tray it managed to pick up just enough oil to survive. Of course the T also had a 2-piece pan that allowed the driver quick access to the rods, as they needed to be adjusted on a regular basis. The very first thing the hot-rodders did to their "gow-jobs" was to improve the oiling system. Of course with 1 1/4" bearing diameters and hardly any RPM, there wasn't a need for a lot of oil on a "T. So, you say! This is all very interesting but what was the point of all this and where was all this equipment used? Dirt tracks all across the country had races, many of these were on County Fair tracks. Many Eastern tracks were shut down in the winter but ran 2 or more times a week in the summer. The left coast had dirt tracks, paved tracks up to a mile in length, board 1978 Talmadge" (son of Buster Keaton) Two cam Miller "F" head. Six tube header utilizes all tracks, hill ports in the block for exhaust; intakes are in the head. Hillclimbs, road courses and of course the dry lakes. You name it and the Fords were there! Before organized drag racing came along there were regular, if illegal, "acceleration contests", and you didn't want to get beat by your buddy! Obviously the OHV heads were head and shoulders ahead of the flatheads, right? Hold on Kemo Sa be! The flatheads more than held their own, especially in the earlier years. In 1926 Ed Winfield's flathead Model T was the scourge of the tracks, blowing away the most exotic racing engines of the day on the board and dirt tracks. At the Ascot 5/8's mile track in LA. his flathead was a full second quicker than Arthur Chevrolet's 2-cam Fronty. (Frontenac heads were designed by the Chevrolet Bros.) Ed Winfield was smarter than most, and his flathead had a special crank with #1&2 rod throws up when #3&4 were down, it was called the 2-up, 2-down engine, this eliminated the siamesed port breathing problem and made it effectively a 4-port. It also had a roller cam that he ground himself and extra head bolts to help hold the head gasket from blowing out. It probably helped that 6:1 compression was the most allowed for engines at that time, that would let the flathead breathe well, higher compressions restricted their air flow somewhat. Winfield's flathead wasn't the only one doing well. At the dry lakes before the war the average flathead was faster than the average OHV. The Overheads held the absolute records but the flatheads more than held their own in the overall picture. We know that racing has evolved into multi-tube frames, torsion bars and all sorts of weight-jacking devises, but in the early years the race cars were basically stripped down stock cars that evolved into racing roadsters. Early sprint cars still were based on stock components. Frames, front and rear ends etc. were all from stockers. Although most early sprinters used mostly Ford parts, many other cars parts were soon mixed and matched, Chrysler and Franklin front tubular axles became popular, Franklin steering gears were used because they were strong, smooth, easily mounted and had no limit to the amount of rotation they could go through, kind of like the rack & pinion of today only the rack was circular. Ford rear ends were popular because of their light weight, toughness, availability and low cost. Soon several people were making quick-change center sections for the Ford rear so the racer could change ratio to match track length and conditions quickly and easily. Many early racers went on to become equipment manufacturers, you may have heard of names like Hilborn, Halibrand, Edelbrock, Evans, Granatelli, Navarro, Sharp, Eddie Meyer, Almquist, Howards cams, Chet Herbert, Iskenderian and Weiand to name just a few. Also most Indy racers started on the short tracks and some even on the dry lakes straight-aways. You have to start somewhere as no car owner is going to let some green kid jump into his expensive racer. Many of them started behind hot Model B's. The Model B in 1932 was so superior to the Model T and even the A that it was a dream come true for the Ford racers. The B has 2" main bearings and 1 7/8" rods with pressure oil to the mains, a first for Ford. In late '32 a new crankshaft was brought out, commonly but mistakenly called a "C" crank. This was the first Ford crank to have counterweights as an integral part of the shaft. With oil pressure already to the mains, it was an easy step to a full pressure oiling system, just drill the crank, plug or meter a few holes, open the oil pump up a little and your lower-end could now handle some respectable compression, power and RPM. Ford's flathead V8 didn't start to dominate the scene until after the war (WWII) because the flathead V8 was no match for an overhead 4-banger with similar cubic inches. It was only after the V8's could be made much bigger than their older brothers that they started to take over. Model B's could easily be bored out to 220 cu. inches and many were bored and stroked to 239 inches, the same size as Mercury came out with in 1939. In 1949, Mercury V8's came with a longer 4" stroke crank shaft which could be ground offcenter another 1/8", and with a 3/16" (yes, 3/16") overbore, a hefty 296 cu. inches was the result. In the early drag-racing days there were still a couple of 4bangers that commanded a lot of respect. Vie Smaldino and Ed (Donovan Engineering) ran Fargo Model B's at around 130 MPH and the low 10's, high 9 second range. I've seen Chrysler dragsters come to old San Gabriel dragstrip, see Smaldino there and just pull right back out and go to another strip. It would be embarr***ing to have your 331+ cu. inch hemi be beaten by a 213 cu. inch 4-banger. These two men came to race for top eliminator, not just against other 4-bangers. Donovan currently makes an all aluminum, 5-main bearing, 4-port block affectionately called the "Model D". Vic Smaldino's fuel burning "Fargo". Bakersfield, CA December 4, 1961 Photo by Ron Benham Donovan How do the 4-bangers do today? Roy Creel has gone 216.077 (two way average) at Bonneville in his unblown fuel streamliner and 203.057 in the same car on gasoline! This is with a maximum cl*** size of 220 cu. inches. On EI Mirage dry lake Roy has the fuel lakester record at 202.474 and the gas lakester record at 179. Harold Johansen has fuel roadster records at the lakes at 159 and 164 in his Model A roadster. These records are in the same ball park as today's flathead V8's and in some cases faster than them, and the V8's can, and do, run up to 325 cu. inches! Are the 4-bangers dying out? It doesn't look like it! In 1999 there were about 40 hot 4-bangers racing at the Antique Nationals, mostly OHV's, and at each dry lakes meet you will see 3 or 4 bangers, running at respectful speeds too! There were 44 cars, T's, A's & B's, running at the Temecula, CA hill climb in Oct.'99 and almost that many running the Auburn, CA hill climb in April, 2000.Today's 4-banger is part tradition and part modern. You'll find 4 and 5 speed transmissions and even automatics behind them, disc brakes and modern carbs are not uncommon but you'll also see Winfield carburetors, Stromberg 97's and early Ford 3-speed top-loaders. Look around at the big rod events and you'll see an occasional hot 4, they're not hard to spot because they always have a big crowd of admirers around them. Why do people still like them so much? Because they are different than the average belly-****on engine found in most rods today, they have a unique, pleasant sound and are still about the quickest transportation across the intersection. There are more of them on the road now than there were 20 years ago. In addition to the flatheads mentioned earlier, there are currently 5 OHV heads being produced and several engine builders either do exclusively A's & B's or specialize in them. The down side of this is that now a Model B ,block goes for $200 and up, when you can find them! For about the same money you can buy a C crank, whereas I used to buy running Model B engines for as little as $5, delivery not included! But then, we could also buy a gallon of regular (leaded) for 24.9 cents. Cheers to Henry's 4-bangers, the men that exploited them in the early days, and us guys that enjoy them today!!! ======================================
Thats very cool. Had no clue about the thing those guys were doing to motors back than. Even OHC!!! This 19 year old will no longer laugh at the old ford 4s.
Thanks Mart, I'm still writing for H4H4's. A mild engine (banger) article was published in issue #3-10, one on hotter bangers is coming up. Join us, www.hotforhotfours.com
As a engine builder, I say THANK YOU, wonderful story, man did I dig that!!!!!!!!!!!! You sir am my new hero. BRAVO
Hero? Ha! Just having fun! On my bucket list is to go 200 on the salt in a banger. Fastest so far is 153, that is mathmatically 3/4 of the way there but it is the easiest part too!
Yes, the 4Bangers were King on the Dry Lakes back in the 1930's, it took a long time for the Flathead V8's to out run them.
Here is the Morton and Brett head on my '32. I have found two others on display but so far none that are actually running. I guess mine will be the only one on the road.
Chris I think someone had a M&B overhead on a 28-29 Roadster somewhere in the LA area 50 years ago, there is a photo of it somewhere in all my junk. These photos are from the 1929 catalog. That green head in your photo is on a T block. Bob
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