<VV> Corvair Experimental Engine

[Tony]

At 2102 02/20/2004 -0500, Russell Moorhouse wrote:
>In John Wipff's 'The Compleat History of the Corvair" Vol.#1 there's an
>article on this engine on page# 113.  It was written by Ronald W. Nordquist
>of Aurora CO.
>
>He goes on and tells how he got one of these engines and installed it in his
>'65 Corsa.  Lot's of good pictures and an interesting article.



The one in the CPF has an interesting bit of info stamped on it, in the
area of where the engine code would normally be...  seems there's a name
there, similar to the name of an author who wrote a Corvair book.   The
engine in the CPF also is not a prototype that lived its life on a stand or
in a lab... it's evidently something that was run for some considerable
time, since it has combustion products all over its insides.  It also tends
to leak a tad bit...  

I'm not sure where the engine came from, exactly, but it must have had an
interesting pedigree.   It also isn't an exclusive item, seems there were
at least several of these engines to end up in the private sector, maybe
more than most people might suspect.   

I wondered a time or two about how GM expected to keep the engine from
shaking itself apart, what with the lack of anchorage between the
individual cylinders...  seems like it would try to rattle itself into
metal fatigue over a long period of time with all that aluminum hanging out
in the breeze like that.   

Or maybe not... since the engine in the CPF still seems to be hanging
together and it shows a minimum of cracks.  

It would be an interesting item to play around with.   


tony..