Okay, here's an interesting topic that I haven't seen discussed here. What do you guys know about the Lycoming V8 Flathead engine? They were used in the late 30's Cords. I would love to hear more about this engine. What all were they used in? Were they always a front wheel drive application? Are these sort of rare? Just think they're sort of neat. Just about every saturday we have a guy that swings in with a Cord with the hood sides removed and one of these Lycomings peeks out. Stunning engine!
I saw a couple of them at the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum last summer. It took a minute to realize they are set up backwards in the chassis to accommodate the Cord front wheel drive system. I'd like to hear one run.
They sounds like a big sewing machine! They're very mechanical sounding and the exhaust really puts out a nice sound.
Walt Rose used one in his T roadster http://www.jalopyjournal.com/?p=3221 That is a great illustration. That really was a unique design
Not much on line-but here's a site you might find interesting with cut-away drawings and specs: http://www.automaven.com/Technical/Engine/engine.html
Dash I had in a previous project, did I buy it from you ? Lettering was probably added later or maybe a boat dash ?
This is great timing, Im starting a 37 beverly in about 2 weeks... Gotta go through the motor, along with EVERYTHING... haha I know it was a popular airplane engine, not sure anyother cars it was in.
$10k plus for one in need of a rebuild - more if its supercharged. Rare as hell and you'll be bidding against Cord money to get one because the restorers have to have them. For $150.00 you can read all about them in 'Cord Complete' by Josh Malks....
I saw a vintage wooden boat with a Lycoming engine down in Ida Grove, Iowa. Tiny little town. I went to a school for concrete pavers there at the plant. The fellow that started the GOMACO company, Godberson was his last name, had a small museum with some cars and boats and it was awesome. This is also where Shorelander boat trailers are made.
Cutlassboy68....these are not aircraft engines. They were designed and built for other use...like road vehicles. Lycoming has become one of the world's premier aviation engine manufacturers, but with powerplants specifically intended for aircraft use. I viewed the website you posted with your threads/posts.....nice stuff.
O, I really need to start researching this motor a bit... Going off what the owner of the car told me. He said it was real similar as some common airplane... Thank you. Half of the work i do i dont put on my website.
Lycoming also made inline engines as well. I think they were used in Auburns. E.L. Cord had quite an empire in those days. Auburn, Cord, Dusenberg, Lycoming, Stinson Aircraft just to name those companies/brands that come readily to mind. I don't recall ever seeing a reference to the Lycoming/Cord V8 being used in anything but a Cord. I think it's kind of interesting that both Lycoming and Continental, who also made auto/truck/industrial engines, went on to become the major light aircraft engine suppliers for the U.S. as well as some foreign firms. Franlklin was the other significant aircraft engine maker in the U.S in the 30's and 40's.....sold off to Poland or the Czech Republic some years ago. Ray
Beautiful looking engine, two ways to tell it was never built for an aircraft, its iron and has only one ignition system
One of the more famous `Specials` in New Zealand Racing History was Ralph Watson`s Lycoming Special...maybe someone has a link or pics?....
I remember seeing that car in a magazine, maybe 30 to 40 years ago? I can't remember if it was Hot Rod or Road and Track or another sports car mag that featured it at the time. Never seen another like it....I mean a 4 cylinder opposed aircraft engine in a car. I recall the article said something to the effect "that lots of used aircraft engine parts that didn't meet the strict standards for reuse in an airplane were readily available for very cheap prices and were good enough to run in his car". Homebuilt tubular frame and formed aluminum body panels as I recall. It really impressed me at the time. Have only seen one other mention made of it since, until now. Ray
Lycoming made a large number of engines for boats and aircraft as well as all the engines for ACD. If you have a shop with a rate around $50/hr rebuild your motor and does a good job and rebuilds every thing you are looking at closer to $30K. There is only one or two places to buy new parts or have them rebuilt by someone who knows what they are doing. Here is some info about the motor. It is 289 cubic inches. The combustion chamber is cast into the block like a 409. It has roller rockers that that run directly off of the camshaft. The intakes and the heads are aluminum. It has three main bearings that are poured babbitt with a brass shell. They counter weights on the crank have to be removed to grind or polish the crank. The weights are held on by headless bolts ( the heads broke off when the were torqued at the factory) welded to the counter weight insure they wouldn't back out. The super charged engine ran a different cam and had a different firing order. It also had dual points distributor, a wider timing chain (for the super charger) and different exhaust manifolds. The super charger is a centrifugal design and runs directly off the cam by way of a ring and pinion that turns a planetary roller set to bump up rpms. It runs closer to 4.5 to 5 times engine speed.
Scootermcrad! The Lycoming V8 design layout is curiously similer to the Oakland V8 about 10 years earlier. I recognize your photo from the Auburn-Cord Museum "engine room". I was more facinated by that huge 55 liter experimental Deusenburg aircraft engine in the background. It put out 800hp in the 1930's. There are photos and design drawings of it a few hundred pages back on the"vintage shots from days gone by" thread
Here are a few pics from work. the last one is the babbitt bearing before it is line bored to fit the crank.
American LaFrance fire truck V12 engines from the 1930's on up were Lycoming engines. I was helping a friend work on one a few days ago. They are basically Auburn car engines with 24 spark plugs. American LaFrance also used a straight 8 flathead Lycoming in the 1930's.
My neighbor, Gail Shaw, made a pretty good living working on Cords, he has a 4 door sedan that he drives everywhere, over 75,000 miles, and also a nice roadster and probably 2-3 engines laying around his shop. Interesting engines, note the way the cam operates the valves, very much like the present Formula One engines. Rex
That ACD Museum is one of the best I have ever seen. A great place to look at Great cars. Here's a good link to Lycoming engines: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lycoming_Engines Williamsport's about 20 miles up the river from here.
Wow! This thread took off! Weasel's response was the expected response. HAHA! Interesting about the earlier Oakland V8 mentioned... Keep the info coming!
I actually live not too far from the plant that produced those engines...but that was long before my time...haha
It was featured in Hot Rod in 1948, and recently was also written up in either Hot Rod Deluxe or Rod & Kulture. Man, my short term memory is going in the toilet...
I saw inside a flathead like that at the museum in Auburn. A tradeoff with "regular flatheads is breathing vs compression. Increase the compression and you restrict breathing and visa versa. I don't know how much compression these engines actually had, but the design allows the ability to have a flathead with better breathing, higher compression. and an improved combustion chamber shape.
Great historical information and shared knowledge about this engine and its applications. I believe that I too have seen a very similar if not the same style engine in a restored boat. Thanks for sharing the drawings and photographs.
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