The upper one is a 151 Miller marine engine and that eventually evolved into the 200 and 220 cu. in. Millers. I believe the lower photo is a later iteration of the 151, could be a 200 or a 220. Just going by images of Miller/early Offenhauser fours I think Fred O started to use more bolts on the crankcase side covers after he acquired the company and patterns after Miller's bankruptcy. Also, the lower photo above is the flip side of the engine in post # 835.
Dick Harroun in 1941 with an experimental 8 cylinder opposed engine. Only 2 were ever made, one went to the military and this one was installed into a midget racer. 1918 Chevrolet V-8 Engine
Another Novi picture. Those working in Bud Winfield's garage are left to right: Pete Clark, Tony Morosco, Bud, Marv Jenkins (son of Ab Jenkins), and Lou Welch. Bud designed it and Lou was the money man. Photo credit to the Marv Jenkins Collection. RIP Marv.
That engine also looks like it had some sort of mechanical fuel injection system, with variable timing injection. Any more info? Bones
Could be.. International and Ford were hanging out together back then. Hope we get some more info! Bones
Unfortunately I do not have any more information on this particular engine. It is in the Museum Of Speed collection in Lincoln, NE. I took this photo when I was there a few years ago but failed to take a photo of the information card. I spoke with the then curator of the museum about several of these unusual Ford engines they had in their collection. He said that Ford had been clearing out some "old inventory" from their museum and Bill Smith had bought several for the Museum of Speed. If you ever get a chance to visit this museum it is well worth the effort.
Miller's 151cid "Marine" engine was also introduced in 1926. Many design features were carried over from Miller's 310cid straight eight marine engine. Athough conceived for hydroplane racing, car racers discovered and adopted these engine; often stroking them to 183cid or even 221cid. Miller engines traditionally featured barrel crankcases. Crankshafts are removed by pulling them out through the rear. Cylinder heads and cylinders were cast as one integral component. (No head gasket to fail!) This particular model was designed by Leo Goossen in late 1930 and early 1931. It features dual overhead camshafts and twin downdraft carbs.
Well don’t I feel silly now. I visited that Museum two years ago. They had to drag me out of there! Most awesome! But I guess I missed that one. It would be easy as there are tons of things to look at. We got there several hours before closing time... but that wasn’t enough time for me. My friends and the guards had to literally remove me.. with me hollaring “ I’m not done! “ lol. I highly recommend this museum to any gearhead! I’m going back and have my wife just drop me off in the morning and come get me at closing. Bones
I think that is a ProCo engine. That stands for Programmed Combustion. It was an early predecessor to some of the more modern EFI engines with fast burn combustion chamber characteristics and variable injection timing. It was a joint effort by the Ford Scientific Research Lab and Advanced Engine Engineering, never intended to be a "performance package" engine per se. I did not work on that program (I was a Ford Engine Development engineer for 31 years) and although it never made it to production it did help advance the technology of more efficient, cleaner engines we have today. One of its features was the use of "stratified charge" where the fuel/air mixture was not homogeneously mixed in the combustion chamber but had a pre-chamber of one fuel/air mixture and a larger chamber with a leaner mixture.
Thanks, that’s kinda what I thought based on my observation. ( the injection part) . I can imagine working on engine development for Ford! That would be my dream job. Bones
Here are two that I saw at car shows. 1) Seagrave Firetruck "Batmobile" 16 Liter 6 Cylinder of pure awesomeness 2) 1936 Cord - My dream car Lycoming V8
Also designed for Miller by Leo Goossen, Miller's V16 design debuted at Indy in 1931. This is the second Miller V16 built, it was used in 1947's Indy 500. 2.625" bore. 3.125 stroke. Miller's 308cid DOHC V8 was specifically designed for use in Miller's (two) 1932 four wheel drive Indy Cars. One of these cars won the 1936 AAA Championship. The other traveled to Europe to contest international races. This may be the first V8 to feature dual overhead camshafts. Cylinder banks are arranged in a 45° V, and a flat (180°) crankshaft is used. New to Miller, its split aluminum crankcase features babbitted bearings in removable caps. Heads/cylinders are cast iron.
LB some cool Miller stuff there. I am not sure that the Miller V8 was the first DOHC V8 (I had thought Peugeot had developed one in the teens for aero although I cannot locate a photo of it at this moment). I wrote an article a few years ago on Miller's first engine (the 289 four SOHC) and I believe this was pretty much the last engine he developed before he went bankrupt. It may not have been the engine itself but the whole car which were two four wheel drive cars-expensive-too much for the balance sheet. The idea was a great one in the mind of Harry Miller but with the depression and Miller's shortcomings let's say on the ledger side of business, he could not stave off bankruptcy and one car went to the Four Wheel Drive Auto Co. of Wisconsin and the other car he kept bringing peanuts at the bankruptcy hearing. I believe though that the FWD car (driven by Brisko) removed the "troublesome" V8 and installed a 255 four. The engine bought at bankruptcy ran at race in Italy (driven by De Paolo) without spectacular result. I believe both engines survive which is kind of cool though.
Pictured is the Marchetti engine of 1927 which only one was built. It's called a "Cam Engine" because it has no crankshaft. The reason it can be a radial with an even number of cylinders is because while being a four stroke cycle, the cylinders fire once every revolution. A similar 4 cylinder engine was patented by Harold Caminez in the same era and he was bought out by Fairchild Aircraft. That engine was certified and used for a short while in their aircraft but abandoned in 1929. Fairchild then developed the Ranger air cooled 6 cylinder in-line SOHC Hemispherical head engine which ran inverted with the cylinders down. Over 20,000 of these engines were built for WWII training aircraft. While Caminez worked for Fairchild and may have developed the Ranger, he is credited for being the chief engineer for Allison in the early 30's and the development of the Allison V1710, also a SOHC, but water cooled V12 used extensively in WWII fighter planes and more lately in dragsters, speed boats, and pulling tractors.
Fred Offenhauser bought out Miller's engine production business in 1934, and began producing engines for Midget racecars. This series of engines started at 98cid, but was soon increased to 102cid. (The later version is shown here.) The design was remarkably stable for nearly four decades. Basic specifications: aluminum crankcase with cast nickel iron heads/cylinders, two-valves-per-cylinder, 3.0" bore by 3.6125" stroke. Dale Drake and Lou Meyer bought the Offenhauser engine company in 1946. In 1947, Offenhauser started production of the "high tower" 270cid four cylinder engine. It featured dual overhead cams, four valves per cylinder, five main bearings, 4.3125" bore by 4.625" stroke, and a compression ratio of about 13:1. These engines produced ~415hp and easily revved to 6000rpm.
Didn't anyone compete with Offenhauser? J.C. Agajanian paid $225,000 to commission this 274cid V8 racing engine. He hired Leo Goossen to design it around a production Studebaker V8 engine block, with special machined-steel DOHC heads. A racecar with this engine arrived at the 1953 Indy 500, but its team withdrew after their high-torque starter damaged their crankshaft. The history of the 500 includes many obscure engines. Charles Voelker of Detroit built this 273cid DOHC V12 - an impressive but ill-fated one-off. Although entered in every Indy 500 from 1937 through 1949, it only qualified for the big race once. In 1938, Henry Banks started in 31st position and completed 109 of 200 laps before suffering a rod bearing failure.
Someone that lives about 120 miles from me is selling a "Briscoe" V8 engine. Do not know the condition, year is 1916-? Not much info out there on it. From what I could gather they were around 215ci, 3" bore, 3-1/2" stroke. If the price is right I thought it would be a cool engine to have on a stand in the shop. Clean and dress it up! First 3 pics are of the motor that is for sale.