Dual Spark Plug Flatheads?

Not that I'm aware of, rare as....

Look here... http://hotrodnostalgia.com/Categories/Columns/hrn04/nost04sak.html

Cheers,

Drewfus

 

Can't say that I ever saw a set those Hogans, The look bitchen though.
In reference to my reply above re; Jim Lattins 4 plug head- he made 2 different versions The reversible 21's with water jackets that are on his woody then there are the no jacket 24's that I had. just thought that I'd eloborate a lil bit.

 

Hogan heads were made in the sixties by Ron Hogan,father of drag racer Garth Hogan.He made single and dual plug versions.also finned heads and tripples for lincoln v12s .the NZ team "A SALT" runs these heads on their bonneville liner.see team members Colin Prouse or Garth himself.

 

Old Ron made them in alloy or Bronze ( for speed boats, a big thing in NZ at one time) . They could also be had in split or one peice so you could take the top layer off and clean the water jacket.
I bought a triple carb manifold off Ron,a One off which was the best damn thing i had. Talk about torque increase!. He improved on a US made manifold I think.
His twin ,triple and four carb manifolds he made before this were primitive. They consisted of a base plate to which you bolted a plate with carbs on it. They had a plenum type chamber which couldn't flow worth a damn.
A mate had a chopped 34 with a set of Hogan heads and four carbs which he left parked close to the street in full veiw. We came home from the pisser one night and found some low life had unbolted the top half off the manifold taking the 4 carbs and the plate! my mate was left with the bottom half...so he sold the car.
I saw this running on local TV last sunday. it's only good for demo runs having a filled block .

 

. Alright you flathead fanatics....Is this the duel plug monster the one that yer all searchin for?????
Actually I think it was a seagrave firetruck motor from the fifties, Just another one of the motors that I dream of seeing in an old hot rod someday.....

 

You are mixing up three teams there.

Garth is the Hogan in Hogan , Martin ,Rea... current record holders in XF/BFMR....34 roadster

Colin Prouse WAS with Bill Ward, Kiwi-A-Salt in 2008 who holds the XF/BFRMR record ........ T roadster

Kiwi -A- Salt is also the original name for the roadster Casey Hill runs and which holds multiple records...formerly Bill Wards roadster in 79,82 and 84.

Kiwi A Salt RMR does not have the Colin Prouse' owned flathead fitted any more , the motor runs " Hayden Mitchell" cast and Colin Prouse designed and machined heads.

Ron Hogan built heads for V8-60s, 24 stud V8s and Lincoln Zephyrs... I have heard that Garth can and will make a set of the Zephyr heads ...5k. There are a few sets out there, but they are not common, I have owned both V8 and V8-60 Hogan heads, and seen the set Garth has on his 48 Zephyr, look real cool.

 

It's an ugly big thing isn't it?. I wonder how one would go running on the salt in XF? .

 

XF is for production Ford/ Mercury passenger car V8 flathead engine 32-53 only up to 325 cubic inches

 

So how big is a seagrave engine then?
BTW I did know Billy Ward when he had this engine in his C cab...
This picture was taken long before it was sold to Bill.

 

As far as making a twin distributer drive I have made two of them and it's not any big deal. At least on a late model flathead. I don't think I would like to make one to be a direct cam drive.

 

I love that engine.. I thought this was made by or based on a Rolls Royce design?

There was a late 40's seagrave firetruck for sale here locally not to long ago, the price was right to, but the owner wouldn't let me buy the truck, remove the engine and leave the truck for him, I had to take it all and the towing bill was outrageous, so I didn't buy it.. still wondering if that was the right choice.

And before anyone asks, no it's no longer for sale, some restorer bought it.

 

Okay - this may be a dumb question, but hypothetically would a 12-volt conversion or running an HEI ignition/MSD box totally negate the purpose of having dual plugs?

The goal of dual plugs it seems is to get a better burn while working with what you've got in a 6-volt world... and are still unparalleled for coolness.

I see it done on Harley hemispherical heads... do folks do this for Mopar Hemis?

~Jason

 

Here is a picture of Norman Fricks two plug heads. They look great and only cost about $2000, then you can spend another $2000 for the dual mag/distributor drive.
I'll stick with my single plug heads and put the money for the dual plug heads into the blower setup..................more bang for the buck unless you are "race only".

IMHO

 

Not really what I was asking ( I have the SCTA rule book ) I simply asked how big they were. 906 cubic inch as it happens( google) ,but as you no doubt know,there is a class for everything.

 

I had thoughts of a cam drive dissy for a project involving multiplug heads. Today we have all sorts of tech available to us.
The biggest problem would be making a point cam wouldn't it?,then casting a cap made from some sort of resin. The casting etc is not hard,it's done for all sorts of purposes and if you know someone who does prototype work they can make one with a computor.almost magic!.
For racing on salt there wouldn't be a need for automatic advance/retard ....
This is from 2006 (pg 1)
As i saw it on TV the engine runs dual distributors .

 

I appreciate that one with the blower. Why, man, it looks like it is in use and not a show item.

LOL

traderjack

 

That would be a bit of a job. Just making a gear box to drive two existing distributers like I did is boys work by compairsion.

 

A guy I know sent me these to post up here as you can see he has some nice motors.

I have heard this running on a video it sounded real nice, its got a 180 degree crank, if I remember rightly it came from CA and was a drag motor? Les might chime in.

 

I've just seen a set of Elco Twin dual plug heads, and want some information on them. The engine also had a single distributor with 16 plug wires coming out of it. Anyone seen any of these before? Where can I get info on them? I'm assuming they are rare as hell, but would love to find out some info.

 

It would probably have been a Cadillac V16 distributor .Rare as hens teeth i would say.

 

I wondered if it was some v16 distributor. I think you may be right. The heads though are a mystery. I have found a couple mentions of them, but no real facts. They are aluminum, finned, and clearly not a one of piece. I'm at a loss.

 

Regarding the Seagrave V12. I have a '48 Seagrave open cab pumper with one of them. They were originally designed and built by Pierce Arrow (yeah, the classic car) in the early thirties. Just before Pierce Arrow went out of business, the sold the rights to this engine to Seagrave, who used them up into the mid fifties. The one I have is 468 cubic inches. The dual distributors are each dual coil, so you have 24 plugs and 4 coils and 4 sets of points. In case anyone needs the information, the points and condensor from a 46-48 Chevy will work as these are Delco distributors. My engine has two carbs (one for each bank of cylinders like the one in the picture). My Seagrave has less than 5000 actual miles, so it's in real good shape. It runs great, and you can idle it down to 350 RPM if you want to. I have won several bets at cars shows by betting I could start it with the crank; half a pull, and it starts every time. It also has dual batteries. All in all, it's a great, fun vehicle. Oh, and Seagrave also had a larger V12 they used in larger trucks, about 800 CI or so; I don't know anything more about them. By the way, the small V12 is of a size that you could run it in a rod if you had one and wanted to.

Tubman

 

Thanks for the great info!!!!

 

Elco's were one of the more 'common' dual plug heads. i have seen mentioned that Carl Orr ran them .I may be wrong there though.
Elco was a boat manufacturer (Electric launch company ) and built a lot of PT boats in WW2. I had a Elco converted Ford years ago from a WW2 power boat. Are the heads you mention alloy or cast bronze? The two peice head design is so you can clean out the inside(plus easier to make) .
here are couple of Elco converted long block hemis.

 

dirtynails the pics i posted, which you have subsequently posted, were taken at jere jobes in california, I believe he built the carbs for the engine, not sure who built the rest of it though or who owned it. I took these pics in May 2003 when I was out there.

 

Thats right,the engine is now here in Australia at Les Morans . As I mentioned it was on TV here just recently with a bit of a demo showing it running. It doesn't appear to have any particular use,because it's got a filled block.Here it is in Flatoz's picture.

 

The heads I saw are alloy, and appear to be one piece. I saw the Elco name mentioned as a marine company, but wasn't sure if they were the same. Thanks for the info. Here is a pic of the ones I saw.

 

Don Orosco from Monterey,Ca. had the ELCO TWIN SPARK heads recast and the quality in great. These heads require a Nash Twin 8 Distributor which has become very hard to come by. Last time I spoke with Don he had 3 sets left. If you want to talk to someone that has all the knowledge on these heads Don is your Guy. Hope this helps everyone.