how much power did the 340 really make? Was it 275 horsepower in pre-’72 mode with 10.5:1 compression and 2.02-inch intake valves and only 290 with the 340 Six Pack installed in the Challenger T/A and AAR ’Cuda

The factory claims of 275 horsepower at 5,500 rpm and 340 lb-ft (3,200 rpm),

The guys at Hot Rod Magazine / Mopar Muscle built a nearly stock 340 and got:

 320 horsepower at 5,500 rpm and 368 lb-ft at 3,500 rpm. +45 and +28

So it’s clear Mopar understated the facts by 45 horsepower and 28 lb-ft.

Then they upgraded to headers and got 352.1 horsepower and 395.9 lb-ft (at 3,200 rpm)—
77.1 horsepower and 55.9 lb-ft higher than published peak claims.
.....................................................................................................................................................

that's just the regular 340, but with the 6 pack 340, and factory iron exhaust manifolds:

a Six Packr’s 1970 advertised claim was 290 horsepower at 5,000 rpm and 345 lb-ft at 3,200 rpm

the same new build returned 356 horsepower at 5,500 rpm and 382 lb-ft at 4,000 rpm.
Again, Chrysler was bettered by 66 horsepower and 37 lb-ft.

Finally, upgrading to headers resulted in another 20.1 horsepower and 26.9 lb-ft with readings of 376.1 horsepower at 5,500 rpm and 408.9 lb-ft at 4,000 rpm.

so, instead of the 4 barrel and headers, go with the 6 pack and headers, and you get another 24Hp, and 13 ft lbs.

.........................................................................................................................................................

Seriously, when some simple header and ignition upgrades, maybe even a dyno tune, nets you 100 hp, why they hell wouldn't you?

Anyway, the 340 was underreported by the factory, by 75 Hp, just like the Hemi, which was also under reported by 75 Hp.

The 426 hemi was called 425Hp, at 5000 rpm, but it actually was 500 Hp at 6000 rpm

The competition was
SS350 Nova (295 horsepower),
 W-31 Olds 350 (325 horsepower),
 Pontiac 350 HO (325 horsepower)
and 351 Windsor four-barrel Mustang (290 horsepower)

and the 383 Road Runner was rated at 335 Hp

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/bad-mopars-340-beat-ford-chevy-shocking-new-data/

the only dual overhead cam 426 hemi that survived the past 5 decades of storage

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/return-dohc-426-hemi

Biggest gas engine I've ever heard of for a speedboat?

A six cylinder Riotte 4 stroke gas engine producing 110 hp out of a massive 3016 cu in!

It weighed 3200 lb, and was installed in a 60 foot speedboat in 1902

That's almost twice as big as the 1730 cu in Beast of Turin, and it's more than twice the size of the Maybach aero engine from a Gotha bomber, that was only 1,409 cu. in.


http://progress-is-fine.blogspot.com/2016/08/the-yacht-standard-1902.html
https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2011/01/people-wonder-what-largest-displacement.html

firing up a variety of old airplane engines

Packard in line 12, only one was made

Packard made one running copy in 1929, and Warren Packard personally tested it for six months ... until he died in a plane crash. After his death, the luxurious convertible was dismantled, and the unique engine was destroyed.

https://motor.ru/selector/fokusyscilindrami.htm
https://macsmotorcitygarage.com/packards-1929-straight-12-experiment/?fbclid=IwAR0d4I2cc30s1_6i7ZR1yhk8xty5y0acT1o_Thv02BhJoQplVoGlkAIOXkg

Compliments and sincere admiration for Cosworth, on their 60th anniversary in the engine business! (thanks Steve)

89 year old Mike Costin

Cosworth was set up on 28 September 1958 by Mike Costin and Keith Duckworth, who had worked together at Lotus.

They wanted to "make a living messing around with racing engines".

In 2015, it opened a new £20m factory in the town, manufacturing engines for five major car companies.

 It also has bases in Detroit and Indianapolis.

the 1967 DFV was used for 25 years, making it the most successful engine in F1

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-45680364

the history of the Rajo head, and Ellis Gray's involvement, thanks to Steve, his son!

(Steve writes:)
I was raised around my Dad, Ellis Gray’s world of restoration and modification of Ford’s illustrious Model Ts during the 50s thru 70s. The first car to receive the complete restoration works was a 1918 T Touring, the “Bath Tub” as it was known, back in the early 60s.

After that warm up of automotive effort, the racing T world was entered into by the construction of a car for him to run at the ongoing Long Beach Model T Hill Climb. It recently came to my attention that some of the old equipment played with back when has resurfaced, and these pictures will hopefully shed some light on some possible lost history:

(Pic 1-3) Taken around 1967-68, a variety of different carburetors (SU, Weber, Etc.), intake manifolds and ignition distributors were used over the years. Since the Rajo head is set up for dual ignition, there were some unique ideas used!

All of the aluminum cam and timing chain housings, covers, gear boxes, pressure and scavenging oil pumps, and pan cover were all designed, drawn out and machined from Aluminum billet.

Internally, the 4 bolt con rods were machined from billet, the crank was/is a modified model B (or C?) “Beaver Tail” with the rear main heated, pressed shorter in a special built press and remachined and reground to fit the T block. I think there’s something like 5/8” difference in length. The block was plumbed for oil pressure to the mains and the crank rifle drilled for oil pressure. Pistons, I believe were Jahns racing and the cam was ground by Harmon and Collins.

(Pics 4 and 5) Taken in around late 1968 early 1969 by Bruce McCalley of SoCal Model T Club fame. This was probably just prior to the cars first run at the Long Beach Model T Hill climb in May ‘69. Open headers were run during the first year which Ellis Gray, the designer/builder, regrettably took home the “Hard Luck” trophy for the day due to the Rajo head suffering a failure of a large piece of combustion chamber being blown out into the heads’ water jacket in number 3 hole.

 Ellis was running a whopping 13:1 compression ratio that year (yes, he was running AVGAS!), combined with the head having been machined several times prior, thinned the cast iron to a weakened state. Eventually, the head was welded and remachined, and the pistons cut down to drop the compression to a more manageable 11:1

The car itself was a generally fairly stock steel body 1922 Roadster but included a dropped front axle and modified rear frame spring mount and perches to lower the car overall.

 Depending on the race year, Buffalo wire wheels and custom fabricated wire wheels were used depending on the changing rules of the Hill Climb. The Ford gas tank under the seat was replaced by a fabricated dual tank, one side for gas, the other side for oil storage as the engine was also a dry sump configuration.

The standard T transmission had been isolated from the engine oil by a modern rear main seal (required by the dry sump design), and a steel flywheel was machined for the higher revs. The car ran a Ruckstell rear end with “Rocky Mountain” brakes.

It was around late 1965 when the engine work was started and culminated with the restoration of the roadster in time for the 1969 Hill Climb. Ellis’ last competition was in 1975.

Photo taken 1973-4. Now sporting a “Turtle deck” to complete the body plus SU carbs and yet another distributor change.

at the starting line of the Hill Climb on the maiden voyage in ’69.

Thank you Steve!

1965 - 68 327 L79’s lifter valley oil separator canister

Built before the 1969 arrival of sealed PCV systems, the 1966 L79’s lifter valley oil separator canister feeds the road draft tube via a passageway machined into the block. If it’s clogged or missing, an oily mess results. This system allowed Corvette’s gorgeous finned rocker arm covers to remain free from ugly oil-fill caps and PCV valve orifices for so many years.

the 327 in 1966 came in a couple levels of Hp

the 250hp base 327,
the 350 hp at 5,800 rpm L79
the 365 hp at 6,200 rpm L76

But with 360 lb-ft of torque at 3,800 rpm, the L79 actually had 10 lb-ft more torque than the L76.

The L79 had a “juice” cam, shared the Corvette’s L76 forged 11.1:1 pistons, 585-cfm 4150 series Holley four-barrel, aluminum dual-plane intake manifold, enlarged 6-quart oil pan, high-flow air cleaner unit, and new-for-1963 big-port “camel hump” cylinder heads with 2.02/1.60  valves


Another L79 first was the ability to accommodate factory C60 air conditioning. By contrast, GM barred C60 A/C equipment on all Sting Rays built with solid-lifter engines. This undoubtedly torpedoed a lot of would-be sales. But thanks to a milder hydraulic cam and free-breathing heads and induction, L79 buyers could indulge in the wonders of Frigidaire—and did.

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/watch-build-dyno-test-1966-chevrolet-l79-327-v-8

how drastically improved was the 427 SOHC over the 406 R code? about 200 Hp

Ford rated the 1965 SOHC Ford with a pair of Holley 780-cfm carbs at 656 hp, the single-carb version was rated at “only” 615.

Ford probably the went through the r and d costs to make the sohc because for 1962, the brand-new Thunderbird 406 High Performance V-8 made 385 horsepower at 5800 rpm through a single four-barrel carb (“B-code”) or 405 with three two-barrels (“G-code”)

It was in heavier cars than the competition

for comparison:

Pontiac 421 Super Duty Catalinas, were rated at 405 horses in twin four-barrel form.
The 409 had an even 409 horsepower with two four-barrels.
The Max Wedge 413 put out 410 horsepower (the stage 3 was 420 Hp with 13.5:1 compression) with cross-ram induction.

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/building-ultimate-sleeper-plain-jane-1963-ford-300-427-sohc-motor-underhood/

https://www.streetmusclemag.com/features/muscle-cars-you-should-know-62-ford-galaxie-406-lightweight/

Did you know who made the Taurus SHO engine? Not Detroit

Yamaha.

Seems when Detroit needs a better engine, they go somewhere else for it.

The 1990 ZR1 Corvette got an engine made in partnership between Lotus and Mercury Marine engines. GM owned Group Lotus at the time, had them design it, and had MM of Oklahoma build it, and ship the LT5 to Kentucky for installation

GMC twin 6... single block, 4 heads, 56 head bolts, 2 carbs, and 702 cu in. Also, with modern easy bolt ons, 425 hp at 4800rpm, but 630 ft lbs at 1800rpm. Made between 1960 and 1965

http://thunderv12.com/

The Rolls Royce Eagle V-12 liquid cooled aero engine was built between 1915 to 1928, with 360 hp @ 1800 rpm, with a fuel consumption of 24 gallons per hour

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/topic/173218-ww1-military-motors-1916-set-x-50-cards/?do=findComment&comment=2317722

What's the difference between a 428, a 428 Cobra Jet and a 428 SCJ? Or the 429, 429 cj

The CJ block differs from the plain 428 due to the additional webs cast into the main bearing saddles. 

The SCJ block is the same as a CJ, and to that they added 427 "LeMans" connecting rods, better intake manifold, and an oil cooler, plus crank, rods, pistons, wrist pins, flywheel/flexplate

The 428SCJ was externally balanced with a counter weight behind a different harmonic balancer and an electronically balanced crank shaft  on the 428CJ


https://www.428cobrajet.org/cj-vs-scj
http://www.clubcobra.com/forums/fe-talk/10782-another-dumb-question-428cj-vs-428scj-whats-difference.html


If you believed the ads, you had to wonder how Ford sold any Cobra Jet and Super Cobra Jet engines at all. Compared to a plain ol' Thunder Jet 429, a Super Cobra Jet would cost about $500 more and net you 15 advertised horsepower.

Fifteen.

You could get that from a set of headers and a better cam, then buy a set of sticky tires with the change.

For a 429 comparison

The standard 429, with two-bolt mains, 2.09/1.65 valves, 10.5:1 compression and a 600 CFM Autolite on top, was rated at 360hp @ 4,600, and a gut-busting 480-lbs.ft. of torque at 2,800 RPM.

Let us assume this is a real number, and use it as a baseline.

If you'd b ought a Torino, for an extra $356, you could step into a Cobra Jet.
You got a 700 CFM Rochester carb, slightly smaller combustion chambers and 2.24/1.72 valves in the heads, a compression bump to 11.3:1, and stronger main-bearing webbing.

Ford advertised it with a mere 10hp gain and a net loss of torque--370hp @ 5,400 RPM, and 450-lbs.ft. (30-lbs.ft. less!) at 3,400 RPM.


From there the step up to the Super Cobra Jet package in a Torino meant the 3.91 ($155) or 4.30 ($206) axle ratio.
The CJ's two-bolt mains give way to four-bolt mains, the pistons are forged aluminum instead of cast, a 780 CFM Holley carb sits atop a bespoke intake manifold, there's an oil cooler hanging off the front of the radiator support, and a nasty solid-lifter cam requiring manual adjustment.

That's a lot of upgrading just to satisfy an axle ratio. There were also some external tells: a single incoming fuel line versus the standard CJ's twin lines, a slightly different air cleaner. The result? A rated five horsepower at 200 more revs. Five. The torque numbers remained the same.

Funnier still, a cold-air intake was optional on both engines, and (if the paperwork is to be believed) proffered no power gain. None. If a solid-lifter cam and extra air from multiple sources isn't enough to get more than five horses out of an engine, Ford's engineers should all have been fired on the spot. If the standard CJ was a 400hp machine, we'd peg the SCJ at around 425 to 430.

a 460 crank in an SCJ will get you 11.8:1 compression and 500 flywheel horsepower with few other changes

https://www.hemmings.com/magazine/hmn/2009/04/Ford-429CJ-and-429SCJ-V-8/1796187.html

Ole Evinrude invented the outboard because rowing across the lake to court Bess took too long, and the ice cream melted. So he mounted a shaft and prop to a motor. Ever since, people have collected outboards. Here's 1200 for sale, 3/4s of a million dollars, as a set, the widow won't break them up

They are for sale but are being sold as one lot, the widow is asking $750,000 for the collection and will not sell individual motors

The collection seems to have every sort of outboard ever made, including some of the very earliest and rarest — such as one that Admiral Byrd had made of brass to deal with the harsh, salt-water conditions at the North Pole, it was bought from the Byrd family.

https://journal.classiccars.com/2014/09/29/eye-candy-mark-trimbles-outboard-motor-collection/

In 1913, Ole Evinrude had 400 employees building engines for rowboats, but in 1914 Bess became critically ill and Ole sold his company to care for his bride. He also started designing a new motor, one that would be stronger and lighter and have twin cylinders.

Bess’s health got better and Ole had his new engine, but he didn’t know quite what to do with it. After all, he’d not only sold his company, but the rights to the Evinrude name.

“We’ll start our own company,” Bess said, and came up with the new name — ELTO: E for Evinrude, L for Light, T for Twin and O for Outboard.

By 1924 Elto had grown larger than the former Evinrude and Ole bought back both his old company and the rights to his own name.

http://www.heartland-classics.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Mahogany-and-Chrome-Issue-1-2016-for-web.pdf

https://www.facebook.com/groups/49655829434/permalink/10155973564414435/

that's not a torque plate, that's just a big gasket! HA! The Kaase winning 1958 MEL, a ludicrously innovative 769hp 473cu in pfm crafted engine, that Smokey himself would likely marvel at, for cheating around the rules as written

A quick glance at the engine reveals thick adapter plates on the intake and exhaust that allow the engine to use speed parts made for the much better breathing Ford 385 engine family, but all of the airflow afforded by the intake and headers have to squeeze through the head ports, so what gives? Look a little more closely and you may notice what looks like a deck plate. Class rules forbid those as well, and it turns out they aren’t deck plates at all, they’re head gaskets!

Removing the cylinder head reveals the true magic, as the combustion chambers appear to be sunken below what was formerly the deck surface. Indeed they would be if it weren’t for the head gaskets. Jon referred to these as “valve seats” and true to the rules they aren’t welded or epoxied in place.



http://www.hotrod.com/articles/photo-gallery-video-jon-kaases-amazing-mel-engine/

the only oval piston dual con rod engine made, the Honda race bike NR 500 engine, 1979-83 (Thanks Steve!)

Race rules limited Honda to no more than four cylinders. But Honda engineers had calculated for the displacement the ideal engine would have eight cylinders and 32 valves.

When the FIM announced in 1968 that the 500 cc engine class was limited to four cylinders, that gave a significant advantage to teams utilizing two-stroke engines. Sochiro Honda made it clear that he was committed to the cleaner burning four-stroke engines.

Thinking outside the box, engineers designed a four cylinder engine with oval Pistons that allowed a total of 16 intake and 16 exhaust valves. It had two con-rods and eight valves per cylinder. It was a four stroke and was designed to overcome the monopoly by two-strokes in motorcycle racing.

This allowed the engine to reach 19,500 rpm, twice the speed of two strokes, and produce power comparable to 500GP two strokes

They quickly ran into issues. With two connecting rods connected to each other via the piston, at engine speeds over 10,000 rpm they would distort, causing wrist pin failure.

For a four-stroke engine to be as powerful as a two-stroke unit with the same piston count, it basically has to double its normal rpm. To achieve that, the team had to dramatically improve the intake efficiency and design a valve system with higher resistance to friction and heat buildup at high revolutions.

The biggest challenge were the oval piston rings.  They became not only a multiple iteration design exercise, but one of manufacturing capability. To attain their target, they needed tolerances higher than the equipment of the time could produce.

Hence, in April 1978, after a nearly 12 year hiatus, Honda announced publicly it would return to Grand Prix motorcycle racing, specifically utilizing a four-stroke

Honda was experimenting with cutting-edge technologies beyond the realm of conventional thinking. Not just the engine design, but also the body.

In addition to the highly exotic engine, the NR 500 also utilized a monocoque aluminum body, and inverted forks - a standard practice on most sport bikes today. Honda also used 16 inch wheels versus the more common 18 inch in order to reduce aero drag.

The complex four-stroke head added nearly 45 pounds to their bike versus the competition. That negatively impacted the bike's center of gravity and balance. The team got aggressive with materials. Iron was replaced with titanium. Aluminum was replaced with magnesium.

In this next video, there will be very little to appreciate, it's simply slow camera movement along the bike body, and the recorded engine sounds from a race track.



http://www.motorcyclespecs.co.za/model/Classic%20Racers/honda_nr_500_gp_racer_1979.htm

it's always exciting to see someone re-engineer an engine, and reverse flow it.

You don't see that very often!
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1293609274077425&set=gm.1681237818564425&type=3&permPage=1

Henry Ford's patented air cooled X-8, 1920, compact and relatively high power-to-weight ratio

 https://www.facebook.com/anibal134/posts/10211077187785802

still in the crate after all these years, 427 ZL 1 that hasn't been used yet

In an unbelievable discovery, an NOS (New Old Stock) version of the bare engine block was discovered while answering a Craigslist ad for Chevelle parts. It was found inside the original plywood crate, exactly how it was purchased from Chevrolet and stored in a small garage closet in rural middle Tennessee in the early 1970s. Even the plywood crate was still in mint condition and still bearing the original Chevrolet Heavy-Duty Parts 3952318 ink stamp.

http://www.hotrod.com/articles/chevrolet-427-zl-1-engine-block-found-new-crate-stored-40-years/

first time I've seen a cut away outboard

https://www.facebook.com/groups/MVCACBS/permalink/411288622393292/