Vintage Car Thread - Discussion and Parts Requests

[David Conwill]

Sometimes it is neat to see the engines most people would consider garbage be souped up. I've seen some neat Chevy inline sixes about.

I would love to build a 1920s Star roadster with a hopped up Continental Red Seal 226 ci flathead six. They're just an industrial motor to most people, but they were built in my hometown.

 

[Stearmen]

In PT boats? Really? I knew they used Packard V 16's, but a 4 banger? PT's with these in them must have been used to attack heavily armed Japanese sampans!

The Packard engines that powered all American PT Boats were V-12s! The Crosley four cylinder engines were auxiliary generators, also used in Boeing B-17s.

 

[jamespowers]

In PT boats? Really? I knew they used Packard V 16's, but a 4 banger? PT's with these in them must have been used to attack heavily armed Japanese sampans!

Yeah, I think they used it to lift the anchor.

 

[jamespowers]

The Packard engines that powered all American PT Boats were V-12s! The Crosley four cylinder engines were auxiliary generators, also used in Boeing B-17s.

Exactly.

 

[Carl Miller]

I would love to build a 1920s Star roadster with a hopped up Continental Red Seal 226 ci flathead six. They're just an industrial motor to most people, but they were built in my hometown.

I have a Continental 6 in one of my forklifts and its damn near bullet proof (as long as you keep the oil topped off).

An aside to Tom, I'm a fan of the old two stroke Detroit Diesels. Most people dont like them because they are loud, oily and a general PITA but I love the sound. Many of them had superchargers and turbos. The Higgins landing craft of WW2 used the 6v71 as one of its powerplants.

 

[Stanley Doble]

I would love to build a 1920s Star roadster with a hopped up Continental Red Seal 226 ci flathead six. They're just an industrial motor to most people, but they were built in my hometown.

Highest performance Continental six was the supercharged 140HP job in the 1954 and 55 Kaiser. Kaiser built their own engines under license from Continental in a war surplus plant they leased from Continental. They differed from the Continental industrial engine in having 6 intake ports instead of 3, as time went on Kaiser made their own improvements. They continued using them in Jeeps until 1962 so they are not too hard to find, even the superchargers turn up from time to time (I have 3 of them).

In the last few years nostalgia hot rods with unusual motors have been popular in certain circles. Just don't use the term "rat rod".

 

[vitanola]

I would love to build a 1920s Star roadster with a hopped up Continental Red Seal 226 ci flathead six. They're just an industrial motor to most people, but they were built in my hometown.

Star only used fours until '26. The Star was pretty decent machine, and a rather nice driver for a low-priced car of the day.

 

[Auld Edwardian]

The Packard engines that powered all American PT Boats were V-12s! The Crosley four cylinder engines were auxiliary generators, also used in Boeing B-17s.

Thanks for the correction on the Packard's being V-12s and not V-16s. After I posted it I had second thoughts on the number of cylinders, and was going to check on it. However I did not know about the Crosley auxiliary generators. It is always interesting to learn something new. I have a family member that worked on the designing of the Elco PT's in WW II.

 

[jamespowers]

Thanks for the correction on the Packard's being V-12s and not V-16s. After I posted it I had second thoughts on the number of cylinders, and was going to check on it. However I did not know about the Crosley auxiliary generators. It is always interesting to learn something new. I have a family member that worked on the designing of the Elco PT's in WW II.

He knows the Crosley 4 banger then.

 

[Stearmen]

Thanks for the correction on the Packard's being V-12s and not V-16s. After I posted it I had second thoughts on the number of cylinders, and was going to check on it. However I did not know about the Crosley auxiliary generators. It is always interesting to learn something new. I have a family member that worked on the designing of the Elco PT's in WW II.

Thats great! Did you get any photographs from him, or memorabilia? Always fascinated by the Elco 77' and 80' boats along with the 78' Higgins and even the limited production Huckins boats!

 

[David Conwill]

Star only used fours until '26. The Star was pretty decent machine, and a rather nice driver for a low-priced car of the day.

Yep, the Star fours were Continentals as well. In their second lives, many went into home-built boats. I was thinking engine swap.

 

[Auld Edwardian]

Thats great! Did you get any photographs from him, or memorabilia? Always fascinated by the Elco 77' and 80' boats along with the 78' Higgins and even the limited production Huckins boats!

No sadly he died years ago, and all the family members of that part of the family are gone so there is no one to ask about photos, drawings, or other memorabilia. I just remember being told that he worked for Elco during the war, and he worked on the design of the boats. Naturally you learn to appreciate such things the older you get. Especially since I went on to serve in the Navy, albeit in a submarine.

 

[Talbot]

Oh, I knew you were pulling my leg. I was playing along. It was funny. A high performance engine with 26 horsepower is hilarious. :rofl:
That dual carb setup would be high performance though. They used high performance editions of this engine on PT boats believe it or not.

28 hp if you engage the starter motor for extra power.

 

[jamespowers]

28 hp if you engage the starter motor for extra power.

lol lol and another five horsepower if you get out and push.

 

[Talbot]

Crosley wins the Sebring six hour race in 1950!

Index of performance class that is.....

Perhaps the driver had some stout shoes

 

[jamespowers]

Crosley wins the Sebring six hour race in 1950!

Index of performance class that is.....

Perhaps the driver had some stout shoes

With lots of traction on their soles.

 

[Rathdown]

It has been a while, so I may not have this 100% correct, but I seem to recall that the engine in the Crosley lived on as an Evinrude outboard motor.

 

[jamespowers]

It has been a while, so I may not have this 100% correct, but I seem to recall that the engine in the Crosley lived on as an Evinrude outboard motor.

I don't think it was Evinrude but it was adapted to outboard motor applications.

 

[Auld Edwardian]

Ahoy All,
I had the scare of my life a few days ago. I was a fine warm day with blue skies and puffy white clouds so I decided I was going to take the family out for a steam in my land yacht, the 1965 Lincoln Convertible. I pulled it out of the Garage onto the drive, stepped on the brake peddle, and it fell flat to the floor! Thank heavens that my son was not in the driveway at the time, and that I had already moved my wife's new Subaru out of the way, and no one was driving down the street at the time. I ended up going down the driveway, did a "hard right rudder," mashed down hard on the parking brake, and ended up stopping in front of my neighbors home. I was thankful that I was able to make a right turn as the street is uphill in this direction. I opened the hood, took the lid off the new master cylinder, and was dumfounded to find it bone dry! I could not imagine why this was so because in July I had just had the braking system gone over from stem to stern with new disks, calipers and lines in the front, and pads, cylinders and new lines to the rears. After I had the "Queen Mary," as she is fondly know, towed to my mechanic he espied that the apportioning valve had failed and allowing the fluid to drain out whilst she was resting in her berth. Praise God that it failed in such a timely and safe manner. I shudder to think what might have happened if I had gotten out on the road! I might have had to scrape a Smart Car or two off the grill.

 

[jamespowers]

Ahoy All,
I had the scare of my life a few days ago. I was a fine warm day with blue skies and puffy white clouds so I decided I was going to take the family out for a steam in my land yacht, the 1965 Lincoln Convertible. I pulled it out of the Garage onto the drive, stepped on the brake peddle, and it fell flat to the floor! Thank heavens that my son was not in the driveway at the time, and that I had already moved my wife's new Subaru out of the way, and no one was driving down the street at the time. I ended up going down the driveway, did a "hard right rudder," mashed down hard on the parking brake, and ended up stopping in front of my neighbors home. I was thankful that I was able to make a right turn as the street is uphill in this direction. I opened the hood, took the lid off the new master cylinder, and was dumfounded to find it bone dry! I could not imagine why this was so because in July I had just had the braking system gone over from stem to stern with new disks, calipers and lines in the front, and pads, cylinders and new lines to the rears. After I had the "Queen Mary," as she is fondly know, towed to my mechanic he espied that the apportioning valve had failed and allowing the fluid to drain out whilst she was resting in her berth. Praise God that it failed in such a timely and safe manner. I shudder to think what might have happened if I had gotten out on the road! I might have had to scrape a Smart Car or two off the grill.

There wouldn't be any Smart cars left to scrape off.