Technical Mystery motor needed ID please help

I copied the pics, so that was good. Maybe a cropped picture of the motor so others can see that manifold,

Just sayin,

cb1

 

Damn, Mark. What do you NOT do ? Got any Harley powered fish tanks ?

That looks cool as hell, and amazing ... using a Crosley engine, to power what you chose to put it in.

Can you post it ... the whole thing ... in the Antiquated section, of this ole' HAMB machine here ?

... and how often do you drive that thing ? Has Scotty's parking lot ever seen it ?

 

The COper BRAzed (COBRA) engine construction of steel stampings was similar to that used by Meercedes Benz for their Grand Prix racing motors of the fifties, although I'd guess those were mostly welded. The story goes that the Crosleys were then galvanized; the zinc and the copper couple was essentially an unintentional battery, and the rest is history.

The transmission pictured is not from a standard Crosley application. The body and rear U-joint look correct, but the extension on the front is wrong and the input shaft appears much longer. Crosley transmissions were not a joy; three speeds with NO synchro on any. Race cars often use BMC (Sprite, Midget, etc.) 4 speeds, with synchro on at least the top 3. The back end of the Crosley is set up for a closed drive shaft, like an early Ford, but of course smaller. I have a race Crosley motor which has been adapted to a Volvo OD tranny, which is modified to fit the Crosley closed drive shaft. This is an overkill, but a fairly easy adaptation; I can get you details if you like. I can provide a Crosley tranny, if you decide you need one.

There are new twin carb manifolds and finned cam covers available at very reasonable prices; I can get you contact info.

Google the Crosley Auto Club for tons of info these cars.

Usually in motorcycle applications, the engine orientation is fore-and-aft, like an old Henderson. You would pretty much need a BMW tranny, drive shaft and wheel assembly to make this work.

 

Hint: It's black and on the side of the engine.

 

Thanks, will see how the auction goes..

Thanks,

cb1

 

Rich,you are partially correct as to rusting out but that is not the only reason the change away from the tin side sided brazed block was made.

Powel Crosley was to manufacture the engine for wartime production but changed some features. The original 4 intake ports were Siamesed down to two creating a loss of 8 1/2 horsepower. Lloyd Taylor’s entire life was spent building engines using sheet metal pieces, furnace brazed together rather than cast iron. The thin uniform thicknesses dissipated heat rapidly allowing higher compression ratios. His Taylor Engines was in Oakland California.

This process was used in the V-12 Liberty engines of WWII and Taylor worked as a mechanic for Pacific Air Transport in the late 20’s, and later United Airlines.

The engine was used in WWII as auxiliary power for pumps and generators on PT Boats, B-17’s and many other applications.

Crosley obtained a license to produce the engine for his post war small car. The engine was called COBRA which derived from COpperBRAzed. With higher production needs on top of the rust problems, Crosley changed production to the CIBA (CastIronBlockAssembly). Thus the added weight of the later engines.

I believe Crosley relieved himself fully or partially of financial obligation to Taylor by not using the furnace braze technique.

Taylor went on to design and build prototype engines for Sports Cars and other racing cars. A DOHC 4 cylinder version with furnace brazed components on a cast aluminum barrel crankcase exists at Speedway Museum of American Speed.

 

Actually Daimler fabricated sheet metal blocks for airplane engines in the early part of the century. In 1914 Mercedes Benz built a Grand Prix engine of 115 HP that was very successful.

The Liberty engine borrowed the technique when it was developed in 1917 as a collaboration of Hall of Hall-Scott and Packard.

 

it's out of a Corvette

 

I forgot to mention in my previous post, regarding the availability of Crosley speed parts, that I'm not positive they will fit the Cobra engine; best to check with suppliers.

The "holy grail" of hopped-up Crosleys is the forged steel crankshaft. These were provided in some industrial and marine engines (e.g., fork-lift, generator and refrigeration compressor drive units).

The Homelight outboard crank can be fitted, with some machine work, which increase the stroke 1/4". The block also has 1/4" larger bore.

Back in the day, Crosleys were converted to a cross-flow 4 intake port arrangement by closing off the two ports on the exhaust side, and opening 4 ports on the spark plug side, with attendant port sleeves. Another modification was to take an additional aluminum crankcase (these are not integral with the block), inverting it, and do some additional machining, and bolting it to the bottom of the upper crankcase to form a stiff bearing girdle.

Several years ago I saw an article on a Crosley powered T- Bucket, built as I recall as a father/young son project. Body was a 'glass T, sliced and diced to get an appropriate scale. Can't recall if this was in the Hamb, or elsewhere.

 

The copper-brazed engine worked well in WWII service. For the car engine, Crosley left out the step where Taylor specified a plastic liner be inserted before the oven brazing. Hence the failure and re-engineering to cast iron. The cast-iron engines were popular in sports car racing, where they dominated H-Modified racing for most of the '50s. This popularity attracted a number of hop-up parts manufacturers, most famous of which was Braje. Nick Brajevich used his speed parts in a dragster:


I can think of three Crosley-powered roadsters that rec'd mag coverage: Dyer's Brisbane Baby, Butler's Bonneville car (both Ts) and Stebbins' hand-built roadster with a 32 grille shell. I think all were covered in the Crosleys - Mild to Wild thread.

 

I can't imagine going 97 mph in [on?] that Crosley rail job, looks more like a big go kart! Bet it was fun, if scary!

 

A good friend used to race small hydroplanes ( pumpkin seeds ) and ran a hot alky Crosley engine. Real screamer.

 

Wow Mark! No idea you were into bikes as well!

 

Post 47 and nobody has posted this? https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/scratch-built-crosley-special.1135185/

 

Went to the auction site today and you Sir are correct. After looking at all three transmissions on the pallet, they are the same and for the A. Two had bell-housings on them and had so much grease and dirt on them I thought by looking at the pictures they where different. Good eye. There was piles of other stuff looking like it came from this same seller, but no transmission for the Crosley.

I did get a better look at the Crosley and it has the tin cylinders and I think '48-49. I made sure the engine turns, which it did. So that is good.

I will be bidding, but did find my price point on the bay, so there is that.

cb1

 

Me too model A

 

Engine gaveled at $250, I was out at $200.

I did get a 2-place wedge car trailer with a big winch, though, so that was nice..

cb1