Pictured is a `36- `37 Lycoming V8 used in Cord automobiles. It made 117hp N/A and 170 hp supercharged. I like the valve config and the combustion chambers as well. This is similar to the Pierce Arrow V12 setup used in fire trucks into the 1970's. Thoughts?
**** the picture is small so here's a link to the pdf file.... http://www.automaven.com/Technical/Engine/EngineX1.pdf
that's pretty cool but it still falls short of the cadillac v8 of that year. how many cubes was that one though?
I'm quite sure they would flow very well. If memory serves there were a few hot rods with this powerplant. Remember these came in expensive cars so you're looking at a no holds barred engine which was pretty impressive for it's time i'd say.
well in cube per hp it's almost dead even to the caddy. both are just under 2.5" per hp. that 170 with forced induction is pretty cool too, i'd like to find some more info on that since i've toyed with the idea of force feeding the caddy. also, interesting to note that they supercharged an engine with the bolt on counterweights, that's one of the hurdles i'm facing on the caddy too
Is the Pierce Arrow V-12 like the Cord V-8? I have a '48 Seagrave Pumper with one of those V-12's. It is 468 CI and has dual one barrel carbs (one for each cylinder) and TWO Dual Coil Distributors. That's two plugs per cylinder and 4 coils. This thing runs great; Idles at 350 RPM, and on a bet at a car show a couple of years ago, we won a case of beer by betting against a bunch of guys who said we couldn't start it with the crank. When we got the truck, only one of the ignition systems was working; it took me a while to figure it out, but I finally figured out what was wrong, and fixed it. The points were bad, so I took them to the local NAPA store and matched them up to what they had. Good piece of information here; they were the same as '46 to '48 Chevy. I had only seen dual points on a flathead, and they were used there to increase the dwell. I tried to get them going with that in mind, but finally figured out that each distributor functioned as two separate 6 cylinder distributors, and everything worked great after that. In retrospect, with that much spark and that low an idle speed, that case of beer was ours before they even made the bet.
"Is the Pierce Arrow V-12 like the Cord V-8?" Yes I believe it is very similar. Never had one apart, just seen one with the heads off. There is a Seagrave firetruck in a boneyard with one of these engines near here. I want it, but it is not in the cards for me just yet.
Yeah, I couldn't believe what I was seeing when I tore my first FlatCad engine apart. I'd never seen bolt-on counterweights before. Imagine the havoc if those bolts let go...........
Is it correct to say that on the Seagrave this much ignition is deliberate redundancy to insure the PTO and pump will not fail during long hours pumping due to spark fouling and the like? Then the 375 RPM idle would allow for slower engine and pump speed spread over many hours to save on wear and increase total service hours before overhaul. Or am I all ****ed up here? Interesting to try to adapt it for a performance engine. What does the Seagrave (motor) weigh?
The 812 Cord with the blown motor was actually a pretty peppy performer for it's time. I don't know if I've ever seen one in a hot rod. What's interesting about the centrifugal blower is it sits between the cylinder banks and the drive goes through the block and runs off a gear on the cam. A very compact setup. The problem with these cars what the the 4 speed transmission mounted in front of the engine was shifted via a preselector vacuum mechanism mounted on the column. Made it very hard to slam through the gears.
I got to drive my grandfather's 812 before he sold it a few years back and it was indeed a very peppy car. And just about the ***iest factory design ever...
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