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Re: Crosleys , Jabro's ad nauseam

To: "Sergio Montes" <montes@postoffice.utas.edu.au>
Subject: Re: Crosleys , Jabro's ad nauseam
From: "Roger Garnett" <roger-garnett@cornell.edu>
Date: Mon, 23 Jan 1995 14:05:12 -0500
> From:          "Sergio Montes" <montes@postoffice.utas.edu.au>
>  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) 
> >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,

> However, the Crosley engine as modified by James Broadwell did
> have a cross flow pattern as I indicated in my posting.

I did mention this a bit back, I guess it's time to jump back in- There
was a marine version of the Crosley engine which had the cross-flow head.
Stock. I'll refrain from comment on whether some of the iron blocks had
removeable heads, cuz I haven't taken apart a Crosley engine.

I *have* driven and worked on a Jabro MK I, but it now has a SAAB 2
stroke engine, not a Crosley. James Broadwell did not manufacture many 
complete cars. He did make all of the fibre-glass bodies, and some of the 
frames. The Jabro was often sold as a kit- you buy a body and plans, get 
yourself an old Crosley, and either buy or build your tube frame. They 
were also built using Fiat driveline components, as well as SAAB engines, 
or whatever other 750cc stuff one could come up with. I've seen a couple of 
other Jabro's at the track, as well.

OB british-cars content: this Jabro also has a Sprite rear end, and an MG
TC gearbox. And it's still for sale, (It's not mine, a friend's here in
Central NY state.) complete with the original plans and pictures of
construction. Truely a silk purse out of a sows ear.

The MK I and MK II were similar, and used front engine only. The chassis 
and body continued development, and some MKIII's and IV's even used a rear 
engine layout.

I have also seen several Crosley cars, including the soft-top station
wagons (There's on a few doors up from me), and both the Hot-Shot and
Super-Sport, (Similar, but different models), and an original Le Mans
Special which currently runs with VSCCA at Lime Rock, etc.

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