Technical 283/286 Sporting TWIN TURBOS very rare engine!!!!!

Mr. Yager stated that there were two 283 engines with numbers

17495-12-A
17495-13-A

I have the 17495-12-A, But Mr. Yager has not got back to be to confirm and so I could see pictures.

 

Thanks I will see what the best option well be.. Do you have a direct contact or should I just call the 800 number?

 

I agree that it's a one of a kind piece that belongs in a museum for all to appreciate. I wouldn't touch a thing on it. Treat it like the rare piece that it is. Thanks for giving us a look at automotive history

 

0- numbers are chevy engineering numbers, also you find a number on the head that is a basic head number, the dash is the work order design and the letter is the number of the head, so -12 was the 12th design in this group, and a was the first head built, b would be the next until z then as and so on. The number sure do make it out of chevy engineering , the look is out of r&d, I would guess cerv 1 the way it looks and the dates

 

The way Mr. Yager puts it, you have 1 of 2 engines that was used by the Corvette group as a test engine, NOT a CERV-1 engine as it had a -13 number.

 

Yes I think you are correct.. I just need to see pics or some type of paper work on this engine.... But what makes this engine special is that it was the only twin turbo special 286 not 283 or maybe a 283 bore into a 286 with sporting twin turbos..... This is some info i got see below:


CERV 1 stands for “Chevrolet Research Vehicle number one”. CERV 1 was the darling of the engineering master Zora Arkus-Duntov and was a test bed for the independent suspension geometry that was introduced in the production 1963 Corvettes. It was also an engineering test bed for powertrain, receiving seven engines for testing over its lifetime. The first engine was a stock block cast iron 283, the second a 283 special Aluminum block, the third a 327 iron block, the fourth a special 286 aluminum block sporting twin turbos, the fifth went back to a 327 turbocharged, the sixth was an Iron 327 and Hobby Horse injection. The seventh, which it has today, is a 377 cu in all aluminum GS engine, of which only 6 were ever made.

 

I got more info at: http://content.mamotorworks.com/mygarage/cerv1.htm

CERV 1 stands for “Chevrolet Research Vehicle number one”. CERV 1 was the darling of the engineering master Zora Arkus-Duntov and was a test bed for the independent suspension geometry that was introduced in the production 1963 Corvettes. It was also an engineering test bed for powertrain, receiving seven engines for testing over its lifetime. The first engine was a stock block cast iron 283, the second a 283 special Aluminum block, the third a 327 iron block, the fourth a special 286 aluminum block sporting twin turbos, the fifth went back to a 327 turbocharged, the sixth was an Iron 327 and Hobby Horse injection. The seventh, which it has today, is a 377 cu in all aluminum GS engine, of which only 6 were ever made.

DO I HAVE A 286 aluminum block sporting twin turbos, was this the fourth special engine?????????? I really hope so.............

 

Very cool reading and photos. Here is the CERV 1 as seen at Mid America Motorworks in Illinois a couple summers ago.


Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

More history for the H.A.M.B. to dig out.I love this site.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

damn thats a beautiful engine, please keep us posted .

 

Considering the 1959 cast-date
alluminum block and heads and
all the other extremely well
fabricated pieces, I really think
so! I'm wondering about those
AiResearch "TO-504-C" tagged turbos.
I did a google search on them and
couldn't find anything. I was hoping
to see if they had some other OEM
application (215 Olds Turbo-Jetfire
V8 , maybe???) Does anybody here
have an old AiReserch catalog,
service manual or cross-reference
book that could trace those numbers
and see if anything comes up on
them??

Mart3406
===================

 

Just a thought; could you go straight to the source and ask someone at GM? They have to have a department with documentation of what they've done.

 

Cool, thanks for the pics...

 

I tried contacting GM but it seems like they are lost when they see this engine, plus all the old engineers have past away....
either that or they just don't want me to know what I have....

 

Thanks for helping, I also tried doing a search and nothing came up, same dead end.

 

Looks like AiResearch starting supplying turbo superchargers for the commercial Diesel market in the 1950's. It's possible the units on the SBC shown here are one off models ...

 

Isnt AiResearch still in buiness? Maybe they have some company records. At the very least, I'd bet they might be interested in seeing the turbos on this engine.

I hear all the cries of "museum piece" but I think (if money was not an issue) I'd be putting this in a late 50's style hot rod or custom, after a thorough tear-apart and rebuild. Let people see it on the road and at shows, not in a museum.

 

I get what you're saying but there's a million SBCs out there to do anything you want to including replicating this one. The said aluminum block twin turbo engine will only be in this form once and is a total time capsule with an incredible pedigree Factor in potential accidents or a future owner who loves billet flamed valve covers..............

 

It is out of a Vette.....look at the valve covers!!!

Cool piece....thanks for sharing

 

Not only that, but according to the wicki article, the pistons ran on aluminum bores vs steel, which, I would think, would be an engine that would have a rather short life expextancy.
Especially in a street application...

 

If you want to try getting some info internally from GM try contacting Jim Mattison at Pontiac Historic Services (http://www.phs-online.com/). Yes, I know that this is not a Pontiac, But Jim owns PHS and was in Chevy central office about this time. He is well connected and a wealth of information on rare Chevy parts and COPO Camaros.

I used to work with Jim at SLP engineering and Pontiac Central office prior to that. I haven't talked to him in several years, but am guessing he would glad to help ID this engine from the GM side.

 

I have a direct contact for Bill. His health isn't the greatest right now, and Joyce, his wife is in real bad shape. I will PM you as soon as I get an OK to provide the info.

 

FWIW, John MacKichan is the curator there and, as I understand it, is the one in charge of purchasing. You might drop him an email at jm@museumofamericanspeed.com . If that doesn't get you through to him PM me. I have his business card laying on my desk at the shop and can get you his cell number tomorrow.

 

I believe those are T05 (tag says T0504) turbos - same as used on the Starfire.

Check out http://www.honeywell.com/sites/servlet/com.merx.npoint.servlets.DocumentServlet?docid=D98986287-1499-B508-46D3-467F1F55C77B

 

That's what I was thinking too,
but couldn't confirm it. If so, I think
that leads yet more credence to this
being one of the GM experimental
engines developed as part of the
CERV project. Post-1957 and the
AMA racing ban, GM wasn't
officially racing anymore and
any actual race type engineering
projects had to be carried on, out
of sight, without the knowledge of
the bean counters or the support
of GM top brass. under the guise
of doing other, more mundane
"production-oriented" research .
Since the 215 Olds turbo set-up
used on the production '62-'63 Olds
'Turbo Jetfire' would have been
in the development, prototype
and testing stages during the
same circa late '59-early-1960
time period and would have
provided engineers with easy
access to the same "experimental"
turbos used on the Olds project
and provided them with some
additional 'cover; for their
race-oriented CERV work as
well, Indecently too, with a rated
power output of 215 hp at 4800
RPM (and the boost waste-gate
limited to only 5 PS! ) with the
single turbo 215 Olds application ,
two of these tiny TO5 turbos would
have been sized just about right
to support about 500 hp on the
slightly larger 283/288 cubic-inch
Chevy engine, at a similar, very
safe and dead reliable rpm and
low or moderate boost level.

 

Thank you I will try to contact him later in the week.

Thanks for the info.

 

Thanks for the info, I had an interesting chat with Mr. MacKichan today, it was very interesting and YES they are interested in having this engine in there museum. We are having another conference when he gets back from his vacation.

But so you know I still didn't get any confirmation that this was in fact one of the CERV-1 engines..........

I also have Gale banks interested in the engine but I haven't heard back here is a copy from Gale banks. By the way Gale Banks used to work for Air Research and then started his company Gale banks.

Hello,

Gale is very interested in that engine but it’s hard to tell much from the pictures. He believes he can figure it out if you had more photos that are less blurry.

Regards,

Technical Support Group
Email Response Team
Gale Banks Engineering
546 Duggan Avenue
Azusa, CA 91702
Phone (626) 969-9600
Toll Free (800) 438-7693

 

Why wont any of these companies tell me what i truly have!!!!!!!!

 

Because you've got it and they want it for cheap

 

Ditto on that! By the sum and mix of
exottic, date-coded experimental and
OEM CM parts and the profeshional
quality of the fabrication involved, I
guarantee that what you've got isn't
some body's amateur or back-yard
"hot-rod' or race engine build. CERV
engine or not, (and I think from the
information so far that it probably
is one of the original CERV engines)
- that whatever it is, it's got "late-
50;s-early-60's GM 'skunk-works'
project" written all over it. Hang on
to it until you can verify and confirm
everything about this engine before
you consider selling it anyone, no
matter how reputable they appear,
or you will definitely regret it later.

Mart3406