<VV> Fiction or...

[Marc Sheridan]

Bob Benzinger, in his talk in Flagstaff, did say that Porsche was quite
interested in how they cooled the center cylinders. He seemed quite proud of
that fact and noted that Porsche did not have an air cooled six until after
the Corvair.

Marc Sheridan

On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 2:43 PM, Dave Keillor <dkeillor at tconcepts.com>wrote:

> It's no coincidence that there are similarities since Bob Benzinger, the
> chief engineer on the Corvair engineer was also the lead on the Chevy
> small block.
>
> Dave Keillor
>
>
> Subject: Re: <VV> Fiction or...
>
> Total agreement here. The design of the Corvair valvetrain is the real
> clue
> to it's origin.
>
> The geometry of the valve train in the head is almost identical to that
> of
> the 1955 Chevy V8, including the use of
> Chevy's own patented one-piece stamped valve rockers, with the same
> hydraulic lifter adjustment routine as the larger V8.
> No other company (in the world) had a valvetrain with that design in the
>
> mid-'50s.
>
> Any talk of Briggs & Stratton's involvement is actually quite silly,
> since
> B&S had no experience with
> overhead valve engine production in the late '50s, only arriving at that
>
> point in the late '70s. If B&S
> had built any engine prototypes for GM in the fifties, they would have
> been
> flatheads with mechanical lifters!
>
> Mel
>