Andy I am including a picture from the other end that shows the OHC gear towers. There are no chains-just spur gears. You can see the dual coils and dual distributor. The engine was heavily patented. They patented the gear drive that is in the valley for a magneto. They did not use the mag but the engine has 24 plugs. They also patented the body and how it attaches. It comes apart with a simple turn of a socket in the tail. You can see the seam in the body. In the picture you will see a tube in the manifold-this was a little gas tank they used when they ran the engine at Indy in 1969. The single carburetor is in front of that tank. Guys used to tell me how inefficient it must have been but I used to prove them wrong when I would run the engine in my shop in California. There are no headers on the car and there would be 12 bullets (flame) coming out of the exhaust when it was running and you could almost put a straight edge on the length of the bullets. This was the improved manifold and they knew more about this stuff than some of the railbirds today believe. Engine makes some really cool noise-sounds like a real race car engine. Peter De Paolo (the 1925 Indy winner) was Ralph De Palma's nephew and the first race he attended was to see his Uncle Ralph run the 299 at the 2 mile board speedway at Sheepshead Bay New York. He said even when he was away from his grandstand seat he could always hear the 299 go by as it was the loudest car on the track. Liberty engines are quite loud for whatever reason. De Paolo became Uncle Ralph's riding mechanic starting in 1920 and then got his own seat in a couple of years.
I'm seeing many engines that have exposed valve train..How does stuff get lubed? If engine is used on the ground I can see running around with an oil can at specified intervals but if the engine is in an airplane does one crawl out on the wing?
There was not one system used on all cars but there was a lot of oil thrown around when it came to race cars. If you look at the 299 on the preceding page (posted it here as well)you will see some oil strewing out of the lower part of the frame. If you look above the #4 on the cowl you will see an oil fill. De Palma carried a lot of oil in his cowl oil tank (probably several gallons and these were filled during the race if necessary). The board tracks used to use sand on some of the tracks to soak up the oil but it became a standing joke as to which was more slick, the oil or the oil soaked sand. The 299 has visible oil lines to the valve gear but also carried an oiler mounted to the left side of the engine. Here is a picture of the interior of the Packard Twin Six racer. If you look at the far left you will see two pumps. One was to regulate some occasional pressure to the gas tank and the other was to an oiler that lubricated what was necessary during the race. A good riding mechanic knew what and when to do. When I would ride with Greg I would use the fuel tank pressure pump but not the oiler. I have seen some early planes with oil strewn about as well so I can imagine they used some loss oil systems as well, although that is more guess than fact.
Dang Jim, didn't know I should bow to you. That is some great family history. Make me feel honored that you appreciate my attempt young kid racing.
I would love to get my hands on the blueprints of some of these earlier engines to make working 3-D models of them
James, I was a complete drag race fanatic before I discovered that my grandfather had a past that involved racing cars and I will go to my grave as a complete drag race nut. I guess I have two obsessions involving racing but drag racing and the great friendships I have made seems to be first and foremost. I can't wait for summer to get here so I can hook up with old friends at the 2nd Annual Pie Crust event and what will be my seventh Meltdown (the best event of the summer in my book-hands down). I appreciate what you have done with that 409 more than you can imagine. Looking forward to seeing what you will accomplish this coming year.
Ok a few teasers. These are not mine most were in various museums. And I know nothing more about them 1954 Stude made for Indy "Exploded" version
Nordberg Radial 2 stroke diesel stationary engine. Made in Milwaukee. The Nordberg's crank mechanism.
Holy crap!!!.........wheres that Studebaker engine been?............have never seen nor heard anything regarding that work of art...........I'm sitting here, mouth agape, I saw the Stude red & blue logos and thought what are they there for...... then read the small heading................and then I find I could have bought it in 1982........lol.............well maybe not...............has made my day seeing that engine, definately learnt something new and good this morning.......wow........thanks, andyd
1947knuck-I had thought the boat above looked familiar. I believe it was up for auction a number of years ago. Not sure if it sold but I thought Apache rang a bell. Googled this and ApacheII came up. It certainly appears to be a surplus WWI Liberty aero engine.
For whatever reason this picture popped up when I googled Apache. Thought it was a cool picture of a 1650ci Liberty-they even painted it with Packard green engine enamel. Similar headers to your pic. Super cool Packard behind the Liberty. Appears to be a 35ish dual cowl. Nice.
Eisenhuth Compound. Connecticut’s Eisenhuth Horseless Vehicle Company 1904–07 Compound models featured an inline three-cylinder engine where two outer cylinders powered an unignited, “dead” middle cylinder with their exhaust gases; the middle cylinder provided the engine’s output. The outer cylinders were huge, with 7.5-inch bores, but the inner, at 12 inches across, was larger still. Eisenhuth claimed a 47-percent increase in fuel economy over a standard engine of similar size.
The opposed piston concept looks good at first glance, it's a two cycle, uses no cylinder heads, valves, and the only cooling system is for the cylinder liners. As the two pistons in a cylinder reach their respective TDC positions they come together to form a combustion chamber and the timed injector does it's job. Just like the Detroit Diesel two cycle engines there is a scavenge blower to help the exhaust out. Sounds like there are a lot of good points, being a two cycle there is a power stroke for every revolution, and some components that are not needed. On the other hand twice the cranks and reciprocating parts ($$$) and the one big drawback as I see it- if you lose a piston, or even just the rings in a lower cylinder for example the repair job is a bitch.
The Jalopy Journal
