Alright, Whats up with this Simca bodied twin mill thing? Does anyone know why one SBC points forward and the other points rearward? (look at the magneto on the RH engine) Is it the drive unit? Gotta love this thing - just not sure how it works. Help me out here...
I would think that one motor is backward so that you have reverse rotation on one side in comparison to the other. That way you can hook one to the other directly (gear to gear). Also the reverse rotation would tend to have a stabilizing effect with the engines torquing in opposite direction. Maybe I overthink a bit, perhaps that's how they fit best into the chassis?
IIRC, it had a chain drive off the front of the right hand mill, connected to a shaft that went rearward, between the engines, where a similar system from the left hand engine connected, sending drive to a center diff. You can kinda see it through the front wheel. I remember being fascinated by the article in a magazine when I was a kid.
Red Sled, Thanks - an article - on that car? cool. Looks like something E. J. Potter would try on like his old riding mower or something... Wow
You might try looking for Dye and Hampton "Two Bad" Fiat Competition coupe. BTW Competition Coupes and Roadsters didn't have much in common with Gassers. Larry T
That's not a Gasser ... it's a Competition Coupe ... the Eldon Dye & Don Hampton "Two Bad" Topolino. EDIT: I see that Larry T beat me to it ... I really need to learn to read & type faster!
On twin engine cars that were connected by gearing the flywheels togeather, one was reversed and the flywheel put on the front of that one, to cause the rotation to be correct for the gears. The drive went from the conventionaly mounted engine. If there is a chain driven shaft between the engines reversing one of them would be the wrong thing to do a they would be turinig in oposit directions and could not be connected with a chain.
Labels - the problem with incorrect labels is that more and more incorrect information enters the information stream and tends to become "fact". Charlie
Who cares what it is called, that thing is mean and awesome. I love it. Looking at that front shot, I suppose one nice thing about the twin mills is you can actually see where you are going between them.
Yes ... Mazooma1's 8mm film includes the Dye & Hampton twin engine Fiat at LIONS. Doug also posted these two color photographs of the car (shot the same day as the movie footage):
No, it's not a gasser BUT! It's a future funny car! The car later became Hamptons twin engine American Bandstand Corvette FC.
Don Hampton must have liked fooling around with twin engined cars. Here's the same set-up in his Corvette funny car around 1970.
Man, I miss the days when this type of innovation flourished. The "box" that these guys were thinking outside of wasn't as confining as the current one.
Question - Did the engines have dry sump systems? Seems like they would have to because of the mounting angles. That or some fancy oil pan and pickup tube work to keep them from starving for oil. The fuel injection doesn't care like a carb would, just hoping a fellow HAMBer can shed some light on this and/or post some pix? How about the oil draining from the top end and onto the cam through the valley (or not in this case!) ? Just curious.... Thanx
Ya ' all are great... Thanks for clearing all this up. The more I thought about it the crazier I got. One of my painter buddies thinks its the iso cyanates - says its his problem anyway... I think about things for more than a minute and it becomes a plot... another story for another time... so anybody make full kits for tandem engine car building, or do we all create our own?
Probably because it's out in front and not between the driver's feet. Remember, this is 1970 before ballistic blankets on blowers, etc. to keep the magnesium rain out of the stands.
The Jalopy Journal
