Chip Old wrote:
>On Wed, 18 Jan 1995, Sergio Montes wrote:
>> It used a special 8-
>> port cylinder head with intakes on the left and exhausts on the right. Four
>> Dell'Orto motorcycle carburetors were used and the builder (James
>> Broadwell) claimed 65 HP out of this little jewel .
>
>Are you sure about that cylinder head? On the Crosley engines I remember
>(admittedly not many) the head and block were one piece.
Chip Old is quite right of course, the Crosley engine did not have a
separate cylinder head, either in its first form, the COBRA engine or
in its second form, the CIBA engine,with a cast iron block, made after
1949.This second engine was used by competitors in class H racing, as it was
sturdier and could stand overheating, something that the older design
could not. To do work in the combustion chamber, change the valves, etc.the
block could be easily unbolted from the aluminium crankcase, and the same
bolts held the main bearing caps.
However, the Crosley engine as modified by James Broadwell did
have a cross flow pattern as I indicated in my posting.Broadwell must have
done some very clever cutting and welding, to de-siamese the intake ports
and route them to the opposite side of the block, in effect a cross-flow
block,not a cross flow head as I said incorrectly. Broadwell advertised
for this modification and charged $245 (1961dollars) to modify an existing
Crosley block.The Birdcage chassis was alsoadvertised at $850 and the
fiberglass body at $360.
He was not alone, of course in attempting this difficult bit of
one-upmanship. A few years later when the Formula Jr. began with such
success, one the faster cars at the beginning of the Formula was the
Lancia-Dagrada, which used a much modified Lancia Appia V-4 engine. There
the extent of head surgery was even more extensive, as exhaust and intake
ports were partially reversed, one set of intake ports to each side of the
engine to shorten the inlet tracts, and four exhaust ports coupled
together into a 4-2-1 tuned exhaust system.
Someone asked how did we get into this thread ? Because, I suppose this
group has the very British habit of liking lost causes, and Crosley cars
must be the lost cause par excellence.
My first wheeled,motorized vehicle (ca. 1954) was an unusual American made
scooter with the brand name "Powell".Never seen any other again and the
name is not in Tragatsch's cyclopedia. It had a single cylinder 450 cc.
engine, single speed with a centrifugal clutch, rear brake only. In many
ways it resembled Crosley cars,many clever ideas,poorly executed.The name
could be that of Powell Crosley. Can anyone supply information on this
vehicle ?
Sergio Montes Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering
University of Tasmania
Box 252C,Hobart 7000,Tasmania,Australia
Ph. 56-02-202113 (Int) 002-202113 (Australia)
Fax 56-02-234611 e-mail Sergio.Montes@cmech.utas.edu.au
|