And for your pre-thanksgiving history lesson, here is a little light watch! Frontenac (owned by the Chevrolet brothers) made powerful heads for the Ford Model T, A, and B engines. Let me know what you guys think!
Very good History and best I have seen but there are a few minor errors. Chevrolet Brothers first raced Buicks for Durant (pre GM Years) in c1910. They did not join Durant to make Chevrolet cars until Nov 1911 and had left after an argument with him in Oct 1913. Durant immediately patented the Chevrolet brand name after they left. By then they had built the 6cyl Chevrolet for the 1912 market and the 4 cyl Little that was supposed to have a Chevrolet Badge but Durant put "Little" on them because Little was a major share holder in his company. This all happened pre GM era. Chevrolet bros had nothing to do with Durant nor GM after that. (except for jobs as GM Forman/Salesman in the late c30's c40's). Chevrolet Bros started on the Frontenac design race car in 1915 but they were not ready to race till 1916. Louis nominated a light Cornelian 4 cyl car in the 1915 Indy. You didn't mention the 1921 Indy Winning entry of the 8 cyl Frontenac. Then there were the Scheel Frontenacs of 1922-23 for Indy entry. They failed the meet requirements to race. They had rotary valve engines. The SR Fronty head was designed by Cornelius Van-Ranst before he left the Chevrolet Brothers for the 1923 Indy Entry. The entries for Indy for 1924 were two SR Frontys and one DO Fronty. Fred Harder drove the DO and Alfred Moss and Bill Hunt both drove the SR's. This was the first DO Fronty. The single over head cam SR Fronty did not come out until 1927. Great pickup on the Single Cam engine. Your the only other person who has read the catalogue and picked up on the upper tower part numbers the same for OR and OSR engines which we know is incorrect because they are 1/2 inch differt heights for the R & Sr head heights. 1928 saw the introduction of the Fronty head for Chev 4 cars. You show the catalogue but did not mention it. Came in 2 versions. 1929 they ran an exchange system for worked Chev 6 heads for the speed market. Then there is the AF16 Stagger Valve Fronty developed in 1929 on an A Ford block. First ran at Indy in 1930 driven by Chester Miller. There was a single Cam SR Fronty at Indy after this date. Not sure if it was Gene Haustein or not. Somewhere in 1929 approx., Louis and Arthur parted ways to both build aircraft engines. Arthur kept the Fronty business going under the name of Chevolair Motors Inc. Same 1929 catalogue used with old name blanked out and a Chevolair Motors Inc stamp on the cover. In aprox 1933, Arthur sold the Fronty business to Century Tires whom previously had been a dealer for them. All this info from Mark who has all this do***entation if you require it. That's his SR head and R Engine in your Film. All for a good cause. Le me know if you want pictures etc. Phil
Neat engine! Model T engine with Fronty T or S model head (difference is compression ratio) and 3 in 1 front drive plate. Can’t help but wonder what other goodies are hiding in there…?
Kevin is spot on in his reply. Doubt it is an R Head with that exhaust manifold but it is possible. A different compression ratio also and possibly a slightly bigger inlet port on an R head.
Thanks, I am trying to convince them it needs to be displayed with the hotrod display here right now.
Kevin T S R heads are the same casting but machined for different compression ratios. All are single inlet. I have heard that the R inlet is slightly bigger but never had it measured. T heads were supposed to have cheaper valves originally and S and R better quality but i suspect that changed to al the same valves later in production. SR is duel inlet and a 4 bolt stud pattern for the centre exhaust pipe only for quick removal and replacement. It also has twin plugs. The SR head in the film is my friends head. He has all the Model T heads in cars, T,S,R,SR,OR,OSR, DO. Another unknown fact is that there were two different rockers on these T to SR heads Some have an oiler cup built into the push rod side. Friend said he has only seen them on R heads but most likely on R and SR heads. There are also 2 different casters for T S R heads. the early ones seem to be prone to cracking. Later ones have the "MF" foundry mark on them. He thought the same "MF" marking is also on the Roof 2 port heads. Here is an appetizer Phil .
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