I know the Isky roadster has Maxi heads - a sort of semi overhead conversion where the intake valves stay in the block. Anyone ever see this motor with the signature covers removed? I remember seeing some wierd semi overhead setup with what looked like airplane type hardware from a radial engine - the rockers, valves, and pushrods were each in their own seperate little towers. It was called a jiggler maybe? Quite a few companies made an OHV or OHC conversion for bangers, right? Who were they and did any of them produce a conversion for the flatmotor? What about all of those Ardun type conversions that are supposedly down in Argentina? Wasn't there a HAMBer there who checked it out? What happened? I wonder how many rusty old delivery trucks are out there with a rare conversion waiting patiently under the hood. I'm going to find one.
Spied an Alexander ohv conversion at Tardels when I visited about 18 months ago. Mebbe we could persuede AV8 to grab a decent pic of that pup. Got an idea the South America connection for the ohv-ised flatties was Simca in Brazil, rather than Argentina, could be wrong tho. Mart.
Hey Grim Dude" I brought a set of Cyclone OHV Conversion heads years ago from a dirt tracker that was around in the early sixties here in Aussie, they are a kind ardun Copy but the rocker gear is all rough bronze casting, suits 24 stud flatty I will take a shot of it over the week end Later Gruntis
The Floyd Clymer "How to Hop Up Ford and Mercury V8 Engines" talks about these as well as the Ardun: Stephens (looks like Ardun) Lee "Tornado" (looks like Y block heads) Speedomotive (no pic) I've also seen pics of heads by CT Automotive. Check out Speedy Bills (Speedway) website for possibly others. And Roadsters.com has a pic of one of his buddy's, don't remember the brand. And the jiggler's were made by Smith, in both 85 and 60 horse versions. alchemy
A friend of my dad's told me about an Ansen overhead conversion he saw in a fishing boat once. I've never seen or read anything to prove it though.
Had a friend in Santa Monica years ago who had a Riley V8. The heads fit a 21-stud block, but reduced the number of studs still further to 17, as I recall. Although Riley's 2-port and 4-port heads for bangers were quite successful, I understand that the V8s were not. Sorry, never got a picture.
One of the most impressive was the Joe Davis DOHC conversion: http://www.roadsters.com/flathead/#Davis One of the manufacturers of conversions for four cylinders also made a few V8 conversions primarily for racing boats in the 1930s. It may have been Riley. One was on the cover of Street Rodder magazine in the 1980s in a yellow 30-31 Highboy. Here is one from the Smith Collection Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska: Click on 24 Stud Flathead The Smith-Jiggler heads are also fascinating. http://smithcollection.com/indextest.html In Pat Ganahls article on the history of Hot Rod magazine that was in Rodders Journal, he talked about an ad for a conversion from Denver, but there was no evidence any were produced. The Simca Vedette had a V8-60 design acquired from Ford and was produced in several countries, the last being Brazil. The last few years of production there had a hemi head version, apparently locally designed rather than an Ardun.
I believe the Riley was actually a complete 221 engine using Ford crank assembly in a totally new casting!
Grim, I saw Eds motor with the covers off, but I wasn't very old so I can't help out with that one. A little help on Ardun heads, there's a guy up in Minisota that has several sets (like 4) don't know if they are the originals or the repops that they were making a couple of years back. If you know any of the local Road Ratz you can probably chase them down. He may be willing to off a set to an old schooler. Look for a PM bro.
I am going up to Vern's tomorrow and I will take a picture of the engine in question if it is still up there. David
The engine on the left in this picture is evidently one of the Brazilian Simca OHV V8-60 motors. This picture and some other related ones were posted on a Ford bulletin board last year; I believe the engine is in the USA but I don't remember where.
Wonder how hard it would be to get one back to the states?... I don't have a 60hp motor and my flathead is going to stay a FLAThead anyway so it's kind of a moot point. I still like all of the engineering that goes into a conversion to make it work though.
if I was at home, I could get you a web page where they sell Riley head setups... stupid work! BTW, that's how we got the name for our next son (Riley) I got to pick! Jay
Here is a cover shot of the CT Automotive heads on the motor they built for the "City of Burbank" 'liner. The fellows working on the motor are Don Clark and Jim Khougaz.
[ QUOTE ] Got an idea the South America connection for the ohv-ised flatties was Simca in Brazil, rather than Argentina, could be wrong tho. Mart. [/ QUOTE ] It is indeed Brazil. They dont exactly litter the scrap yards there, but they are find-able. Ive got a Simca motor (ford flatty with OHV conversion) sitting at a friend's house in Sao Paulo... trying to find a way to get it up here...
AV8 - that thing looks crazy...what a mess of monkey motion to get the valves up there. Wonder what's normally done to keep combustion gasses from traveling back down the intake and exhaust ports? I guess the head seals all of that off...so a relieved block would be no good I suppose.
Mart -- Sorry, mate, but the the motor with the Alexander heads was sold to a vintage racecar collector in Arizone who is restoring an old champ car that originally had an Alexander conversion. Vern reckons it's gone to a good home.
Wow. Beautiful pictures! Hey Denver guys, did you know that the Stephens Frenxel head pictured was manufactured in the Mile High City? That and the Stephens Frenzel super charger too. Here is a spec sheet on the head from the Spooky Karol-Chik Library(c )
This is good reading guys.Since I'm a young guy new to the game I had never heard of these conversions before.
The Jalopy Journal
