Category Archives: Auto Technology

Engine Line-Up: 1960 Edsel

By | | , , , , , ,
3 Comments

The Edsel.  Name sake for Henry’s son.  Touted as “ugly” and a failure.  I disagree.

I think they were great and I plan on own one at some point. ( I was pretty close earlier this  year – just missed one at an auction.)  There is just something about tooling around in one of those  large and long 4 door land yacht.  Anyway..one day I will, if I just borrow one for a week.

So in the last year of the Edsel what engines were available?

The car came in 4 configuration, body-wise.  A 2 door sedan, a 2 door convertible; a 4 door sedan and 5 door wagon, but only two engine options.

Your two choices were of the V8 and straight six variety.

Ford‘s 292 was the V8 power plant .  It sported overhead valves, an iron block and hydraulic lifters.  The compression was ratio 8.8:1 and with a bore and stroke of 3.75 x 3.60.  It came with a 2 barrel carb – model B9A9510-A.  Interesting the block and heads were painted black and the value covers and air cleaner were red.

There was the option inline (straight) 6 cylinder.  That too had overhead valves and an iron block.  Bore and stroke was 3.62 x 3.60 and compression ratio 8.4:1. It displayed 223 cubic inches with 145 horse power.  It was topped with a 1 barrel carb, model B9A9510F.   It had the same paint scheme as the V8 but was considered a “delete” option in the Rangers series.

223 Straight (Inline) 6 cylinder with the proper paint scheme

Add 2 more cylinder and buy an extra can of paint for additional valve cover and you'll have this 292 with the proper paint.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Contests

By | | , , , , , , , , , ,
1 Comment

I have 14 CD/DVDs to give away.

So I’m going to give the next two individuals that sign up for my feed a copy of the DVD Classic Automobile Films.

If you are reading this, grab my feed and then send an email too:

timsweet@average-guys-car-restoration-mods-racing.com

Include the address you’d like to have the DVD send to.  It’s that easy.

I don’t share any information with anyone, nor do I keep that type of information, even for my own purposes.

Designer of the 250 Testa Rossa, Sergio Scaglietti, dies.

By | | , , , ,
1 Comment

One of House of Ferrari’s Favorite Sons Dies

Designer of the 250 Testa Rossa, Sergio Scaglietti, dies.

by on Nov.23, 2011

Sergio Scaglietti held a hallowed place in the house of Ferrari.

One of Enzo Ferrari’s most trusted contributors, Sergio Scaglietti, has died at the age of 91.

The famed designer and custom car builder died Monday.

Scaglietti opened a repair shop across the street from the Ferrari works in Modena, Italy. Soon, he was repairing Ferraris and later began designing some of the automaker’s most storied models. He is credited with the 1958 Ferrari 250Testa Rossa and his Carrozzeria Scaglietti built some of the most famous custom-bodied Ferraris, including the 250 California and 250 GTO, which were designed by another longtime Ferrari associate, Pininfarina.

The entire house of Ferrari was in mourning following Scaglietti’s death.

In a statement on Ferrari’s Web site, Enzo’s son Piero Ferrari, said Scaglietti had a special place in his heart.

“He was one of my father’s best friends. He was next to me with Marco Piccinini the day my father died and stayed with me the whole night until the funeral. I loved him and he was a very important part of my life.”

Chairman Luca di Montezemolo said Scaglietti left an indelible mark on the automaker.

“Today is a sad day for Ferrari. We lost a friend, a travel companion, a man who had his name forever connected to the Prancing Horse,” di Montezemolo said. “Sergio Scaglietti leaves behind the legacy of an artist who, with his talent, created some of the most beautiful cars of our history. (Those who) had the luck to know him like I did will also remember him as a straightforward and honest man, completely dedicated to his work. We will miss him.”

Ferrari honored Scaglietti by naming its 612 grand touring model in tribute to Scaglietti.

1971 Chevy Engine Line-Up Part II – The 454

By | | , , , , , , ,
4 Comments

One of my regular readers, Bill, posted the following question in response to the piece I wrote on Chevy engines.   Bill asked…

“No 454 V8 in 1971? I guess that motor came later. ..”

That get me to thinking so I did a little more research.  The references I’m use are “Ultimate American V-8 Engine Data Book” by Peter Sessler; “Standard catalog of American Cars” by John Gunnel and “110 years of the American Auto” by  James Flammang and Auto Editors of Consumer Guide.  I try not to get too much from the Internet at large.

Interestingly enough the 454 is briefly mentioned in the Ultimate American V-8 Engine Data Book, but there aren’t many details.  That reference shows that the 454 was available in 1971 as a 4V producing 365 horse power.  It doesn’t show under any model just as a general option for Chevy’s.  I’m assuming it was just a 400 block with a different bore and stroke.

The 454 was developed by 1970.  It’s bore was 4.251 in and had a 4 inch stroke (where as the 400 had 4.251 in bore and a 3.75 stroke).  There were other version in 1970 and 1971, designated as the LS5.  This version of the 454 was used in the 1970 and beyond in Corvette for one instance and was used in Chevelle.

Interesting that it isn’t referred to in the mentioned references for 1971 year.

Hold the presses!!!!!

It appears that in the reference “Standard catalog of American Cars” by John Gunnel that the 454 was left out off the comprehensive listing of engines for 1971.  However, the 454 was use in the SS version of the Monte Carlo – 1,919 were produced.  For the Chevelle 80,000 were sold with the SS badge of those only 19,992 were with the 454.

1917 Chevelle SS 454

 

 

1971 Monte Carlo SS 454

 

And in this reference I found the answer to a question I’ve had for some time.  About 5 years agoing I was at a car show and ended up talking to a guy with a 1971 Nova SS.  It had a 454 as the power plant between the shock towers.  However there were 7,015 Nova SS packages sold, none had the 454 as the option.

Thanks for the spark to follow this up Bill.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Engine Line-UP: Lincoln 1953

By | | , , , , ,
Leave a comment

As you may know Lincoln was its own brand at one time, then picked up by Ford.

 

The 1953 Lincoln came with only one engine.

The V-8 Overhead value was a cast iron block.  It was able to displace 317.5 cid and had a bore and store of 3.8″x3.5″.  The compression ratio was: 8.0:1 and bushed out only 205 hps and that was breathing through a Holley 2140 4 barrel carb.

This a pic of a 1954 317 engine which is exactly the same as the '53

1953 Lincoln

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Engine Line-UP: Chevy Engines 1971

By | | , , , , , , , ,
2 Comments

If you read any of my pieces on Engines, you’ll know that I enjoy learning all I can about the various makers’ details on their features.  I thought that I might start a series that took a year by year approach to what the US automaker build and used in the cars they produced.

So here is the engine line up for the 1971 Chevys.

 

Of course Chevy had the V8’s in 1971, not yet strangled by smog control, as well as 6 cylinders and 4 cylinders.

All of the 6’s were inline (often referred to as straight 6 – for the pistons all being in a straight line configuration) these were 250 cubic inch displacements – (very similar to the Ford 250, with the exception of the Blue upping the compression to 9.1:1 vs Chevy’s 8.5:1).  These were cast iron with hp running about 145 with hydraulic lifter,  and normally topped with a Rochester one barrel carb.  Any car that had a 6 in it had this engine and it was an option with most any Chevy model.

 

1971 Chev Inline Six (this one is in a Chevy Nova)

Next up is the 4 cylinder used exclusively in the Vega (remember those?). They were inline 4’s with Over head Cams, aluminum block (not iron) and managed to displace 140 cubic inches.  The compression ratio was less than they 6 at 8.0:1 with hydraulic lifters and a one barrel carb.

Vega Four Cylinder

There were 3 basic V8 that year the 350, 400 and the 307.

The 350 cid was cast iron with overhead valves and compression ratio of 8.5:1 with an hp of 245 hp when it was topped with a 2 barrel Rochester carb.  These were widely used in the Biscayne, Bel Air, Impala, and Monte Carlo.

The 400 was cast iron as well with matching stats.  However due to the larger bore  (4.125 vs the 4.00 for the 350) and longer stroke (3.75 inches compare to the 350’s 3.48) it was able to push the hp’s up to 255 (umm..seems like a lot of work for 5 hps) when it was topped with the same 2 barrel carb.

The 307 rounds this out  with its cast iron block and over head valves, it to had the compression ratio of 8.5:1 but with a smaller bore and shorter stroke  (3.875 and 3.5 inch)it bu down roughly 200 hp.  The 307 was used in Chevelle, Malibu, Nova and the Camaro.

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Car Production Numbers. They Made How Many? 1911

By | | , , , , , ,
1 Comment

1911 oh… that was a great year!  Well I don’t actually have any proof of that, but there sure were a lot of new car makes that year.  Here the list:

Alpena; ArBenz; Atterbury; Carhartt, Case, Chevrolet; Colby, Crow-Elkhart, Dalton, Gaylord, Havers, Hupp-Yeats; King; Lenox; Mighty Michigan; Motorette; Nyberg: Penn; Rayfield; R.C.H.; Roader; Rogers; S.G.V.; Standard Electric (yes electric); Stutz; Stuyvesant; Virginian; W.F.S.

So who were the leaders for that year?

Ford out-paced all with 69,762 Cars.

Second up was Studebaker/EMF with 26,827.

1911 Studebaker...you can't use just '11 any longer - someone might think this was a 2011 Studebaker

Willys-Overland up next with 18,745 and Maxwell about 2,000 less at 16,000.

One of the 16,000 Maxwells

Buick came in at fifth with 13,389, beating out Cadillac with 10,071 cars.

Hudson and Chalmers finish up the list with 6,486 and 6,250 respectively.

The 1911 Chalmers - look at that stance!!!!

1911 Milestones:

–  International Motor Company was formed (MACK)

– Buick sets a speed record, running 20 miles in just over 13 minutes.

– First Indianapolis 500 was held and won by Ray Harroun in a six-cylinder Marmon Wasp – 6 hours, 42 minutes and 8 seconds of drive time.

The Marmon Wasp

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Automakers World War II Efforts- Crosley

By | | , , ,
8 Comments

As you know, the US government asked and eventually forced the auto industry to contribute to the war effort.  This series is to highlight some of the major contributions and first up is Crosley.

Crosley produced cars from the 1930s until the 1950s.  Interestingly, before Powell Crosley produced cars, he was the owner of the Cincinnati Reds.  Their first car, what we would call a subcompact these days, was a convertible.

1939 Crosley Convertible

For the war effort Crosley supplied its power plant the four-cylinder CoBra.  CoBra was short for  Copper Brazed and often refered to as the “The Might Tin” it was used aboard PT boats  and  and the B-17 Flying Fortress bombers  mainly to power generators, refrigeration compressors, etc., and were widely praised for their successes in the war effort. The engine was made from sheet metal rather than cast iron like most other engines.

CoBra Block – the thin walls reduced hot spots.

Crosley CoBra this one was set up for vehicle use

Crosley stayed in business after WWII and eventually closed up in 1952.  Their last attempt to save the company was to production a utility vehicle called the  Farm-O-Road which was used on farm and ranches.

1950 Farm-O-Road Utility

Their last car was in 1952:

Last year of production for Crosley

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Vacuum – Tune it up!

By | | , , , , , , , ,
4 Comments

Checking the vacuum on your old car is an important part of a thorough, but most of the average guys don’t bother, or don’t have the gauge.  Most often if you do have the gauge, you might not be exactly sure what the reading might be.  For the recorded I’ve never had a car where the readings were stable.  Normally you’ll get a fluctuating reading that move around.  Below are a few ‘ranges’ and what they may indicate.

Standard Vacuum Gauge

These are for V8’s only:

–  A good reading will be between 15 and 22 in. hg (a steady needle).  Closing the throttle you should see a 5 notch drop and reopening it should settle back previous span (15-20).

– If you get a reading where the needle has a swing 4-5 in. hg ethier side of normal, you are looking at a possible simple carb adjustment.

–  If the reading is higher than normal you need look at replacing your air filter or check to ensure your choke is not stuck.

–  Low reading would be fairly steady reading around 5 hg will have you looking for a vacuum leak on the intake/carb area.  Look for poor connections at the carb or any “T” or “Y” or straight though connection.  Baring that look for cracked hose.  You know I hate vacuum leaks.  I recently restored a 1984 corvette with the Crossfire injection set up.  Rather than chase down a single spot, I just replaced them all.  That was a lot of vacuum hose and tucked in some stuff spots.  But you are working on something bit older, like my 1970 Mustang, replace it all, it’s going to go back sooner or later, especially with the kind of temps we have out here in the Southwest.

–  If you get a reading that between 8 and 14 you are looking at a timing issue at the least to leaking piston rings at the worse.  Do a compression check for the leak and use your timing light before you tear it apart.

–  If the needle is swinging (unsteady) between 14 and 19 hg that indicates valve guide problems.  That going to be a valve guide problem.

Thanks for reading

Tim