[ QUOTE ] Take a look at what the fellows at Zero Engineering (Japanese company) are doing. BTW, what's your poison Ryan? I've had good luck w/ Vicodin and a little 'shine. Cool dreams and ideas for sure. [/ QUOTE ] Man, I had noticed some of those bikes on your site. They really have their own unique twist. They are almost like anime bikes the way certain things are exaggerated. Some of them have bigger front tires than US bikes have on the BACK. And that's sayin' somethin' the way the RUBs are trying to get 50 series car tires on the back these days. lol All in all though, I think the zero bikes pretty cool. For Ryan: I have a book, no scans unfortunately, that details Ferrari engines of old and I LOVE to examine every detail. My super secret eventual project is a copy of a late 50s 250 GT. It can be done, and I'm gonna do it. Believe it or not, in the early sixties, my parents were offered a '58 Testarossa (for $5,000) that had been raced and needed some TLC. They p***ed because they were thinking of having me and didn't want to spend the money and weren't sure they wanted a two seater anymore. Not only were there less than 40 made and it is possibly my favorite car in the world, but I think the last time I checked they were going for about 2.5 million. I should never had been born. lol
I'm gonna take a stab at ID-ing: First is Bugatti. (Not positive) Second, Offy, blown and intercooled Third, Ferrari Fourth, E.R.A., Type D (English Racing Automobiles) Fifth and sixth are also Ferraris. Cosmo I see I was too quick...though the fourth IS an E.R.A. The Alfa 8C2300 (see pic above and below) is a remarkable engine, partly for it's amazing design, and partly for it's performance. And they CAN be bought new. Really. Jim Stokes Workshop, Waterlooville, Hampshire, England. Cost - £93,000. To start.
[ QUOTE ] i don't understand modern engineering either. why do they hide all the goods? [/ QUOTE ] It's usually not the engineers that hide the engines- it's the styling people. They take one look at that "clutter" of mechanical stuff under their nice smooth hoods, and demand engine covers. We used to hate it when the "Underhood Appearance Committee" called a meeting, because it usually meant that we were going to have to design an engine cover. Now, let's face it- plastic intake manifolds aren't much to look at, but they aren't much worse than a different piece of plastic covering them up. Another motivator is noise- lots of those covers are backed with sound deadening material so the soccer moms don't have to hear the beautiful noise coming from the fronts of their cars.
[ QUOTE ] More Ferrari anyone? [/ QUOTE ] Yessir, that engine is my baby. Maybe if I don't ask for anything for x-mas for the next 20 years, Santa will bring me one. It's funny how Jag made a v-12 as well but they never came close to sounding as good as Enzo's.
Coles comments on MFS #1 about covers for covers (RE American bike Builders) really struck home with me. I have talked to him about this and now look at each part I design with a certian simplistic/mechanical funtional goal. I touched on this with my Textures/color post a couple weeks back. As for engines in general, even a well dressed Vintage mill with finned aluminum is starting to bore me. Normal V8s are starting to bore me visually as well. There is something about a race mill or an exotic, maybee it is like a supermodel, you know you cant have it!
The Indian museum in Rapid City used to have an air cooled V8 from the first airplane in the area. It was a total jaw dropper with all kinds of polished br*** and all exposed valve train. Even though I was just a kid I appreciated the way it celebrated it's function so openly. Seems like it was a Hispo but that was close to 40 years ago when I saw it. I also like this.
Our hot rod heritage has driven many to chrome everything that will unbolt. I love contrasts in colors and textures. Every aluminum casting doesn't HAVE to be polished. Remember when exhaust manifolds were porcelinized? Gl*** smooth BLACK manifolds. Gold irridate fasteners instead of polished stainless. Detail, details, details!
[ QUOTE ] These straight-8 supercharged Alfa Romeo engines are works of art in my opinion ... [/ QUOTE ] I agree completely. That finned manifold is gorgeous. Here's my Ferrari engine, a 4-liter 2-cam V-12:
These 2+2 Ferraris have been relatively cheap for a while, but you get essentially the same engine that's shared by the million-dollar-club cars. Check out the twin distributors and twin oil filters. It really is laid out like Packard's Twin Six. --Matt
Cosworth vega motors where cool. Seems like TRACOR Engineering small block chevies in the early Trans Am cars had that cool industrial look, purpose built.
A really, really strange American choice: Crosley OHC four--engine design shows you exactly how innards are designed, and with a few Braje engine bits they are items of real beauty. Plus, you can keep one on your kitchen table where you can admire it... Engine texture is rarely explored in rods...polish and chrome overflow boundaries, Cadmium, black oxide, cast aluminum textures are removed...somewhere out there is a picture of the Fords posing with a perfect '36 flathead display engine--all is original, but perfectly cleaned, and the interplay of cad nuts, painted castings, and textured aluminum is absolutely stunning.
I don't mean to take this too far off track but does anyone remember an article from a car magazine that went into great detail about the design of a Ferarri V12 piston? There was a picture accompanying the writing and it went into great detail about how high the engine would rev and the speed and starting/stopping forces placed on the piston. Great care was taken to make the piston as light as possible - t******* away everything that didn't do it's job. It was tiny. The skirt was nearly gone. Next to an American V8 piece the Ferarri part looked anemic at first. Then you took a closer look at it and read why it was designed that way and it started to look different. It actually looked stronger after you read about it. Crazy stuff normal people don't think about like adding material to strengthen the part actually makes it weaker - with the added weight the piston would literally rip itself apart. It was really good writing as I remember it. This was three - maybe four? - years ago when I was just getting into hot rods and buying up lots of magazines so it could have been in HOT ROD, Car Craft, or any number of other mags. Anyone remember that piece?
I got to spin wrenches on a Brit car this last weekend. Just suspensioon work on an MGB but it was nice to work on Brit stuff again - removable spring pans, man I dig removable spring pans.
The weight=weakness thread is very interesting--something few people know is that connecting rod stress (and rods are where engines blow) is highest by a large margin at the top of the exhaust stroke!! This force, which dwarfs the power load on the "bang" stroke, is what causes the lower end to pinch in and tear the engine apart. Obviously this stress would also be applying to the piston at the same time... So, light weight joins the floating bearing as the secret of scrawny flathead rods surviving in dragsters... Our American approach of getting performance with brute torque below 6,000 RPM save us from having to think about lots of things.
I have a rare set of Ferarri clone v/covers for a SBC Black crinkle paint with satin center ribs. If I win the lottery I'll buy some Weber's and take a bunch of **** about being a poser! but the plan was to duplicate the look of the engines shown above.
While I can't deny liking the stylized underhood adornments of 1950s cars, I agree there's something beautiful about the mechanical-ness of a race car or properly done hot rod motor. Even a domestic one...
If your like me, you are getting off on these art forms that run. If you have the time take a trip to the vintage sports car races and you can see these and more in person. I like Lime Rock in Conn. but Watkins Glem in NY is good as well and I'm sure some of the west coast meets are even better. As much as we like to look at the pictures I can tell you the sound some of these motors make at speed is inspiring. Ryan, thanks for the mental break.
Ryan, you and I must be taking the same meds! Just yesterday I drove out to my friend Mark Weld's place to have hime do some pinstriping for me. The first task was to do some stripes on a tool box I am going to give my daughter for Christmas. The second task will be for Mark to do some artwork and striping on the backs of several leather coats that I am going to be giving to friends that are truly friends. The designs are of an Offy 255 (taken from a drawing done originally by Leo Goosen and and a Mller Marine 151, also drawn by Leo. Just the art and beauty of these two engines has inspired me to do this. I am also having the Miller-designed, Barney Oldfield driven Golden Submarine painted on the back of one of the coats. Not so much from a thing-of-beauty standpoint, but just because it was so damned advanced for it's time, which was 1919. I am also thinking of having the greatest and most beautiful engine of all put on one of the coats that I have left over. And that is, of course, the Duesenberg SJ. Everything about it spot on. Just perfect. Thanks again Ryan for bringing this subject up.
There was an era where everyone took pride in their work. Beauty was in following function. Mechanics were mechanics, not techs. They understood how things worked and were able to adapt or modify things to fit. Looking right was as important as working right. I remember an old guy I used to take generators and ignitions to. He had a row of screwdrivers on the wall above his bench that were all filed and shaped to exactly fit the various screws in the generators he commonly worked with. Probably had 30 or 40 colors of black paint to re-paint your generator in the proper color of black. You knew when you got back your stuff from his bench it would be right. Old guys in coveralls with gnarled hands. Shop rag in the back pocket. a screwdriver modified to actually fit screws without chewing them up and an old oil can sitting nearby. Guys equally at home working on a WW-I airplane engine, a Ferrari or a 39 Ford. Masters of both form and function. Guys who gave you back your parts looking and working better than they came from the factory with screw heads aligned and cases painted in the proper color. That's what I miss.
The Jalopy Journal
