Am I missing something? How was coolant flow handled? I can't make out any water attachment points or pump. Andy
I know nothing really of the early days of hot rodding, so very much appreciate these pics. Crank driven blower reminds me of some the “pre-war” engines using the same concept. Looking at the intake, I only see 6 runners and if so, wonder why they/he didn’t just fab up runners for each cylinder? That aside, surely it’s very innovative for the time.
Looks like fittings into the water jacket on either side of the lower engine block. Is the fuel injection system 2 stage? I see lines to the 2 intake ports at the supercharger and individual lines to each port on the intake manifold.
As the engine was refined it looks like Tom and Stu Hilborn zeroed in on using two fuel pumps. Did the rear pump serve the intake ports and the smaller blower driven one just the two-port? Or maybe not, but the rear cam driven pump remained. The cooling system used a large tank of water in the trunk and a Jabsco(?) pump driven at crank speed off the blower, or had Tom and maybe Potvin devised overdrive gearing for the blower also? The first iteration showed the flywheel degreed but reading the timing would be problematic with the engine setback in the coupe. For easier access to adjustments the mag was driven off the blower drive instead and again, a nice timing tab was added. There’s so much to drink in here and so much that was creative and ahead of its time.
Has been my very opinion since all these closeup shots became available. No doubt, the aforementioned braintrust drove this project from the jump!
I'd like to know more about how guys like Cobb and Edelbrock were able to get their hands on preproduction engines - did they approach someone at Chevrolet, did the engineers reach out to them? Later on there were strong connections between the various manufacturers (GM, Ford, Mopar) and aftermarket people, but this must have been early days for that sort of thing.
It would seem like Chevrolet would have had these engines in production, or at least pilot production by late 1954 for installation in the '55 models. Was the 265 available from day one of vehicle production or was it released mid-year?
Vic had serious connections... so it's no jump to conclude that he just worked directly with GM. It doesn't seem as though Tom Cobbs was as connected, but again one of his best pals was Stu Hilborn. And Stu was consulted (but not hired) on GM's Ramjet... So that's what makes me****ume Tom got his motor through Stu. OR, he just bought one as soon as they were out. Tom had a decent amount of money it seems...
The Duntov Letter: Edit: I was quoting someone with this letter, but they deleted their post for some reason... Anyway, still a great letter.
"One man's thinking aloud on the subject" I think Zora was practicing for his future " egg shell" walking with upper management.
That letter from Zora is pretty interesting. I knew he was pursuing this sort of thing but didn't know there was a letter written that early.
The rod and custom dream truck also had a 54’ engine. Though I’m not remembering which of the many hands that were involved with the truck put the motor in. I feel like there are a couple more “54 cars” but that’s the only one I’m recalling at the moment. Wouldn’t surprise me if gm sent early engines to more visible hot rodders and racers as a bit of promotion. You’d see last months flathead car tear down the strip like a rocket with one of those new Chevys and there’s gonna be an existing buzz when the new models roll out.
The Jalopy Journal
