Tag Archives: Michigan

Auto Factoids for Week of Oct 28, 12

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This was a slow week in auto history.

A not so small feat was the formation of the Little Motor Car Co on 10/30/1911 – The Little was an automobile built in Flint, Michigan by the Little Motor Car Company from 1912-15. The Little first was available as a two-seater with a four-cylinder 20 hp engine, and had a wheelbase of 7 ft 7 in (2,310 mm) . In 1914 a 3.6 L six-cylinder L-head engine was available in a later model that had a larger chassis. This was phased out in 1915 as it was too close in size and price to the Chevrolet Six. Durant merged the Little Company and Chevrolet in 1913, gave the Chevrolet name to the Little car and moved manufacturing from the Detroit plant to Flint.

The Little was merged into Chevy in 1913.

On Nov 1, 1955 Studebaker debuted the “Hawk”.  – Hawk came in the Power, Sky, Golden, Flight in it’s first production year  1956. Want to talk rare cars?  How about the Flight Hawk in the K7 body type – only 560 produced.  The Power Hawk numbered 7,095; Sky Hawks 3,050 and the Golding Hawk came in at 4,071.

Golden Hawk

 

56 Flight Hawk

 

Power Hawk

 

’56 Sky Hawk

 

On Oct 2, 1935 two debuts for you –

The Cord 810 and the Ford Zephyr

1935 Cord 810

 

1936 Ford (Lincoln) Zephyr

 

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

 

 

 

 
 

 

So You Gonna Build an Engine? Part 3 – Bearings

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Federal Mogul Bearings

Have you even given this a thought?   Nope, not me either.

But here’s why you should and why you shouldn’t go cheap.

Engine bearings have the dual function of reducing friction between a rotating part of the engine (the crankshaft) and the stationary part (the main caps and engine block) and supporting the crank.

Because of the stresses caused by the explosions inside the internal combustion engine, the bearing material must be extremely strong, so a durable metal is required.

Engine bearings are small and relatively inexpensive components of internal combustion engines however failure of an engine bearing commonly leads to serious reconditioning works of the engine including its disassembling, regrinding the crankshaft and replacing the bearings.  Sound like fun?  No.  And we all know that it’s not cheap to rebuild, so let’s do it right and not cut corners in this area.

So what should you get? Well considering that there are all kind of ways to destroy your bearing, like dry starting (no oil coating) some of the following:

  • Wrong selection of the Engine bearing materials for the application.
  • Localized loading of the bearing due to a misalignment (eg. hour-glass journal, distorted connecting rod).
  • Fuel detonation caused by advanced ignition.
  • Running the engine under high loads (torque) at low rotation speeds for long period.
  • Poor conforming of the bearing back with the housing surface.
  • Over fueling.
  • Corrosive action of contaminated oil, which lowers the fatigue limit (Corrosion fatigue).

Yes it’s true bearing take a beating.  Here if you go cheap, especially if you are racing, you go home.

So double up on the cash because quality bearings like Michigan 77 or Federal Mogul competition will cost you twice as much.  Pay now or rebuild sooner.

Michigan 77’s

Thanks for reading.

Tim Sweet