I should have cleared that up last night...sorry, I forgot...I need to stay in the 200 cu in range (I forget the exact liter or cubic inch cutoff)...and the easier I can make that happen with something other than a stock motor in that displacement class (since those have all been tried already, and I don't have money to compete with those, I have to rely on ingenuity and engineering)...a 3.0 liter 200 cubic inch Pontiac V4 would be perfect if I can retain some of Pontiac's signature torque and low RPM power...I'm already designing exactly how I'd build the crossover scavenger exhaust and debating whether to eliminate valvetrain/compression from the non-running cylinders, or gut those dead weight cylinder internals altogether and run bob-weights on the crank or simply run those crank journals empty with the oil passages welded shut and balanced...hmm...the hamster cage in my head is indeed turning...especially if I decided to run this motor injected with a turbo...packed into a 60's Valiant...
that would be the perfect little motor for somebody building a nash metropolitan! has standard sbc bolt patterns for trannies too.
I'm so poor I'll just pull 4 plug wires and run it,,lol. Very interesting to see the different ways to do it.
That's not the Russ Eyres motor or the Bean Bandits car. That's the Hot Rod Works street roadster. Same idea but different setup. The Bean Bandits car is a yellow modified roadster and the Eyres motor has a 76mm turbo with efi. Both setups are very cool.
I agree that this has been done but IMO it's more work to do this than run half a v8. The bore spacing is totally different from the Chevy II to a normal SBC so you'd have to cut the head into four pieces and weld in spacers in between each piece. Surprisingly enough, a BBF/Cleveland head is a closer fit but not by much.
Hey guys; thanks for all the info and suggestions...my head is spinning! yup..I am building a "street roadster" to run at EL MIRAGE. Still in the gathering parts stage........I've got about 75% of them.. Turlock ..here I come!! My ideas are to see if I can run 4 pistons in a 350.....or look into one of the Pontiac slant 4 ...and try to find a 389 aluminum head for starters. uncle dave........
Ford built a V4 engine for the trusty Transit van in the UK for years. Anyone ever used one of those on a rod?
Phil1934 already posted a link mentioning the Larsen/Cummins efforts... from Rod and Custom Mag: Hot rod ingenuity, 1970-style: The Chevys in Larsen’s pickup totaled 300 ci. The blown motor on the left was the smallest Chevy engine ever at 120 ci. To shrink it down, Fred removed every other piston in order to compete in the E/Streamliner class. For balance, the crank had one rod and piston and one pair of rod caps on each journal. The Larsen & Cummins team with the V-4 Chevy set a 2L Streamliner Bonneville record of 246 mph in 1970.
There has been a few used back in the '70's over here. A rare engine now, not missed because it was a total turd.
The latest Gen4 small blocks in the Pontiac G8's drop 4 cylinders out at cruise for economy. They use a different cam and lifters to drop one bank, so it is possible.
there is a guy named smokey in san leandro,ca at s&s studios that made chevy v-4's for midget cars he raced. their shop is on hester st in san leandro,ca you might try calling him & see if he has anything for you. good luck,ed
Wasn't that basically the German Ford V4 that was used in the Taunus, industrial applications, the Saab, and as a family, the Capri 2.6 and 2.8 V6?
Ok, we know that by simply unplugging a wire from a cylinder it will work---but it will waste gas. If you have everything still functional---both valves and even maybe the spark plug, would it still work without harming anything? What i'm trying to get at is, why not just block air and fuel from getting to 4 of the cylinders?
During the Arab oil embargo in the 70s, one of the Rod magazines ran an article about one of the cam manufacturers (Crane maybe), showing a prototype of kits to convert American V8s into V4s, mainly to get better mileage. You got a special cam and 4 reciprocating weights to be used in place of the pistons in the bores that would not be seeing any fuel or spark. I think you used a stock or aftermarket manifold and you blocked off the runners to the "dead" cylinders. I think they used the stock ignition, but did not run wires to the unused cylinder. Not sure if they ever went into production with the kits. As I remember, they turned some maybe late 60s Olds sedan into a V4 and said it was very driveable and it increased the mileage by maybe a quarter or a third.
It would be simple enough to cut off the fuel and ignition to four cylinders, but I think they still have issues with the extra reciprocating mass and the residual drag of the rings and bearings. And there might also be some pumping losses form moving any volume of air thru the cylinders. But would the dead cylinders possibly supply enough air at enough pressure to be plumbed back to the intake and provide a supercharging effect?
What about bob weights, on the crank, to replicate the weight of the removed 4 pistons and rods, and to keep the oil pressure in check?
i guess that's what i'm trying to ask---what about the compression/pumping losses of the deactivated cylinders? Also, if air were blocked off, where would these dead cylinders be getting air if any? This pushes air back into the intake manifold. Could it work with no damage is what i'm trying to get at? As far as the dead cyls providing air, yes it has been done with special lifters that keep the intake valves open about .2 inches.
the bean bandits car has the cylinders removed, that picture posted is pretty old back when the car only went 146, it now holds a record of 218 at bonneville and 196 at el mirage
I'm surprised none of you know about the aftermarket 151 Pontiac blocks. They were used for class racing and you could buy a block that was setup to take the original 151 head or a SBC head. They're much tougher than the orignals as well, it's an offshoot of the old SD-4 program. That's probably the easiest way to build a 4-banger SBC.
I know you originally asked about a v4 SBC but if you don't mind Ford based power, read on. Not sure about the Mercruiser 181 and what it was based on, but have you given any thought to the Merc 470? It was half a bank of 460 Ford known affectionately as "Shake and Bake" It seems it would be a lot easier to use a production piece that is relatively plentifull. Just stick a good flowing head on it and some good pistons / rods and go racing. You could sleeve it down if it was too large for the class you were shooting for.
Among others and in order to make class, Jack Costalla ran a V7 SCB. Blocking off one cylinder bore, Bob weights, pulled the pushrods. Made plugs for the lifter bores. removed that fuel line for the injection. Worked fine.
I have a 302 that runs on 4 cylenders only. Its on my air compressor one side runs it the other side produces air pressure. runs like a top /
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