Tag Archives: Automobile

Engine Factoids- Chapman, Lotus and Ford Engines

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I love History, always have and I love engines.  I find learning about an engine’s history, its development and how and where it was used over time a great past time.  (In case you are unsure of my sincerity – check out my to engine series on Mopar’s 318 http://wp.me/pKHNM-gW and Chevy’s 283
http://wp.me/pKHNM-nu
http://wp.me/pKHNM-nB
http://wp.me/pKHNM

I also find fascinating, the involvement of U.S. car companies with the development of  cars for overseas companies.

Ok..this is a larger introduction for a one of my “factoid” entries, but here they are:

– In the  1950’s and 1960’s the main player of Lotus was a guy named Colin Chapman (aka Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman – tossed that in there because in several of my reading variations of his name was used).  Mr. Chapman was responsible for such cars as the Lotus 6, Lotus 23 and Elan.  Having developed his own engines and now desiring to improve on their racing performance and btw he was also known to be a bit tight fisted with the cash. This all led him to use technology, as it was back then, that was already developed elsewhere.  Give that propensity he used Ford engines for his cars and greatly (at least overseas) enhanced Ford’s racing repetition.  The engines he used were Ford’s 105e and 109E engines the Cleveland and Windsor respectively.

Fords 105E used by Lotus.

– These two engines were sometimes referred to as the “Kent” engines.

– They were fitted with twin cams designed by Harry Mundy. These heads were aluminum with hemi combustion chambers sporting .375 lift, 264 degree duration shafts, 1.53/1.325 valve with 9.5:1 compression.  All topped off with a Weber  twin sided-draught carb.

– They were a starting point for Lotus and Ford racing development and were uses for experimental purpose as well as racing.

– Heavy duty use showed some flaws in the engines due to the 3 bearing mains, resulting in broken cam shafts.

–  Was the impetus for Ford to developing the 116E engine with 5 bearing bottom ends, which was basis for the Lotus 1600 Twin Cam.

Ford’s 116E soon to be Lotus 1600 with Mundy’s Twin Cams

Lotus 1600..Looks it’s TWINS!! with weber carbs.

Thanks for reading

Tim

 

 

Auto Factoids – Chevy’s LS9

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Here some interesting facts for the new in 2008 LS9 engine.

– It was a combination of upgraded LS3 and LS7 components  and took 3 years to develop

– All 2000 units were hand-assembled in GM’s Performance Build Center in Wixom, Michigan

-It displaced 6.2 liters

– Bore and stroke 4.06×3.62 with a compression ratio of 9.1:1

– It had reinforced bulkhead to improve block stiffness and used six bolt steel main caps.

– Of note the headgasketts were cut to the shape of the LS3 but had four layers of steel.

– Remember the “tornado”? That device that was sold and was added to your air intake and was supposed to funnel air into your carb or throttle body, booting HP?   Well the LS9’s intake had “swirl ring” to improve the air flow.

– Sported the Eaton R1900 2 rotor supercharger, pumping out 2.3 liters of compressed air, but that’s all – this air was then super cooled by the Behr intercooler, that knocked off about 140 degrees.

– The valve were titanium on the intake side and stainless steel on the exhaust side

– The pistons were forged aluminum and the rods were titanium.

Here’s some output numbers:

At 1000 rpm – 300 hp and 320 lb-ft torque

The maximum was approx. 620 hp coming at 6500 rpm and 595 lb-ft of torque coming at 4000 rpm with nearly all of its top end torque available between 2600 and 6000 rpm.

That’s a rocket!!!!

Thanks for reading.

Tim

US or Metric Thread Guage

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These are handy to have around.

 

Bolt Depot - Thread Guage

So handy, I’d like  to give a couple away.

For next 3 individuals that sign up for my feed and drop me a comment.  I’ll send one of to you.

I’ll be notified of your subscription via WordPress.  In you comment include whether you need the Metric of  U.S. version.

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Engine Mini Series – Chevy’s 283 Part 3

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This is the part of the engine series where I list the uses for the power plant.  The 283, as I mentioned, carried Chevy engines to the next level, by being the first engine that car manufacturers were able to coax out the same horsepower as the displacement.

From 1957 (its inception) to 1959 the 283 was the base model V8 for nearly all Chevys, coming in a 2 and 4 barrel versions with the 4 barrel being the main power plant for the Corvette.  In 1958 the 4 barrel version was dubbed the Super Turbo Fire with 220-230 hp with 9.5:1 heads.   (Toss that name in with other versions like the 348 Turbo Thrust and the Super Turbo Thrust which sported 3 two barrel carbs.)  The other premier engine during that period was of course the FI used in the Corvette with 9.5:1 and 10.0:1 compression.

The 283 Super Turbo Fire

1960-1961 saw the base 283 drop to a 2 barrel and muster just 185 hp.  The bright spots were engines used only in the Corvette, the dual quad and the FI engines.  1961 also saw the 283 go MARINE – nope not joining that elite military branch but rather Chris-Craft the boat builder, sealed it tight and give a duty on their Cavalier Cruiser vessel.

Marine 283 for Chris Craft Cavalier Cruiser

Not much changed in 1962-1963, at least nothing very exciting.  Chevy dropped the dual quad as an option (although I bet you could still get it done) and the 283 dropped in hp to 170 and as was no longer an option for the Corvette, but was added to the Impala.

As perhaps a last chance to breathe some life into 283 Chevy gave it a bump in hp to 195 and it found a new home in the new Chevy II in 1964 and 1965 a 4V was added give the iron 220 hp and another new home the ’65 Chevelle.

But that couldn’t save the 283, it was time for Chevy to move on and 1966 was its final year.  It served as the base V8 that year as an option for the Chevy II and Chevelle and the other Chevy sedan’s, like my 1966 Impala.

Although it seems like I give this a quick pass (not a long list of models) the 283 served nearly all models of Chevy from 1957 to 1966, listing them all would be, well ..repetitive . Interesting enough it never crossed over to the other GM brands.  But it did make it into the Canada made Studebaker cars  in 1965 and 1966.

During the it’s life span the 283 was offered with every transmission available for that year. From the torque glide to the power glide automatic transmissions and even a few 3 and 4 speed manuals.  Additionally, I was surprised to find that it was offered with air suspension with some automatic.

Did the 283 really die? Nope it received the cam from the 327 and became Chevy’s 307!!

Notable:

–          The 327 followed the 283 and although it was an entirely hunk of iron, to keep cost down Chevy used some 283 components initially.

–          GM’s RPO 579E option on the 283.  579E was called the Air Box.  It was perhaps the first production cold air induction system(at least for Chevy). It consisted of a plenum box mounted on the fender well of the driver’s side.  The box was fitted to an opening in the bulkhead next to the radiator with an air filter inside.  The duck work ran to the fuelies injection unit. Records indicate that there were only 43 produced in 1957.

1957 Corvette AirBox

–          Corvette Fuelies had a reputation for hard starts and finicky operation and many were replaced with the standard carburetor  (1957)…Flash Forward the 1984 Corvette Crossfire (fuel injected) (Of which I was a previous owner) suffered from finicky operating and some were replaced with carburetor set ups.

I hope you enjoyed this little bit of engine history and as always, thanks for reading.

The correct should be – the 283 received the “crank” from the 327 (not the cam) and became the 307.

Thanks.

Tim

Tim

Engine Mini Series – Chevy’s 283 Prt 2

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Oh yes, believe it or not, the 283 put the Corvette at the cutting edge of performance in 1957, fitted with the RamJet FI (fuel injection) system (“fuelie” was the gearhead term for that).  In 1958 the 283 was the base engine for the Corvette, but the 283 that use to put on 283 hp was tuned to create an even 290 hp. If that wasn’t enough for you (of course it wasn’t enough, two words that should never be heard together ‘enough’ and ‘horsepower’…unless…the word ‘not’ precedes them).  The RamJet FI was an available option RPO 579D.

Additional configurations were dual four barrel carbs that produced 270 hp, they were either Rochester or Carter AFB.  The cam was changed in 1958 to give 0.398 inches of lift, improvements made to get more oil to the lifters and the exhaust manifold was reworked, called the Ram Horn’s manifold.  There was a change in how the 283 was mounted.  Chevy used the 3 point system with a mount on each side and one at the rear of the engine at the transmission.

Intake manifold for the 283 Double Quad

Dual Quad set up on a 283

In 1961 the FI jumped the engines’ horsepower to 315.  (Hey, the base corvette in 2007 was 400 hp.) The FI wasn’t the only improvement for the 283 in 1961.  It was treated with a set of solid lifter, improved heads and hydraulic cam which helped the block rich 315 hp, easily.  This would be as far as the 283 would go in horsepower – in production.  1961 was also the last time the dual four barrel carbs were available as an optional configuration.

By 1962 the 283 was replaces by an entirely new engine the 327 (that’s another mini series) as the premier Chevy small block.  The 283 was dropped from the a power plant for the Corvette to a base engine for Chevy’s passenger and used from 1963 to 1964.  Its horsepower dropped to 170 and 195 for two configurations.  A small bright was a four barrel configuration for 1965-67 that produced 220 hp. (That was the configuration of my 1966 Impala convertible.)

Of note is the use of the 283 in Chevy’s light trucks with a two barrel configuration for most of the models in 1958 to 1962.  It produced only 160 horsepower.  For the 1963 to 1967 light truck models the hp was increased to 175.

1967 was the last year for the historic 283.

 

1966 Chevy Impala

 

Coming up next a recap of the uses of the 283.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Engine Mini Series – Chevy’s 283 Prt1

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So far my writings are about engines have been ones I owned and the 283 was the engine in my very first car.  It was a 1966 Chevy Impala.  It was a gift to me for my 1976 high school graduation.  The car was restored by my father, who was a master auto body man.  The car was a convertible with A/C and glass rear window. It sported an automatic Powerglide transmission.

The 283  was a simple engine and of course the engine bay of the ’66 Impala  could hold a family of four, with lots of room  to work in there.  Oh…those were the days…a piece of cardboard on the ground and 3 bolts later you’d have the starter out.  I wish I could find a picture, I know there were some taken, polaroids back then, but they’ve disappeared over the years, much like the car.

So what’s the history of the 283 and what was it used in.  Well those answers are coming up as well as two special uses of the 283, one in the past and one modified restro-mod use…(yeah…someone mod’ed a 283..very cool, but that is later).

As with most engines the 283 wasn’t drawn up on the design boards and produced.  It was a result of Chevrolet’s desire to increase performance of a power plant they already had on the shelf.  The 265 cubic inch small block underwent transformation that resulted in a new engine in 1957.

The modifications made to the 265 to create the 283 were increased bore from 3.75” to 3.875″, the main bearing was given 2.30” journals and 2.00” connecting rods.  The base configuration (with a two barrel carb) for the 265 produced 165 hp, the 283 made 185.  Twenty more horsepower doesn’t seem much but toss on a 4 barrel and the 283 takes off at 220 hp which tops the 265 similarly configuration producing 185-195 hp.

Chevy's 283

1957 was a good year for Chevy.  Bill “Grumpy Jenkings took a 283 fitted with a dual carb set up and achieved 270 hp. It was also the first year for Chevy’s Rochester Ram Jet and what better engine to use than the new 283.  This combination took the 283 in to the history books by producing horsepower that equaled the displacement – 283 c.i.d. and 283 hp.

And that is what led to the installation of the 283 in Chevy sports car platform, the Corvette.

More on that coming up in Part 2.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Auto Factoids for Week of 12/6/2010

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Here are your Auto Factoids:

12/7/1950 – Buick builds it’s 6 millionth car

1950 Buick

In 1931 on the same day the last Model A was built.

1931 Last Year for they Model A

12/9/1963 Studebaker stops making cars in its South Bend, Indiana plant.

1963 Avanti - odd little car.

12/10/1915 – Ford tops 1 million cars.

Coupelet 1915 Ford

12/11/1905  I’ve never heard of a Delage but here it is:

1905 Delage

Some fact:

– Started by Louis Delage

– Company they started, in a barn on the outskirts of Paris in 1905, was an assembler of parts.

– Car was a steel chassis from Malicet et Blin

– Sported a three-speed gearbox and shaft drive to the rear axle.

–  The power plant (snicker) was Dion-Bouton 697cc cranking out 6.5 hps.

Thanks for reading.

Tim