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Jul 21st, 2025 | | | | Joined: Jul 2000 Posts: 172 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Jul 2000 Posts: 172 |
Last edited by Rustoholic; 04/30/2018 3:31 PM. Reason: fixed web address
| | | | | Joined: Apr 2005 Posts: 7,442 Bolter | | Bolter Joined: Apr 2005 Posts: 7,442 | That engine is just too cool! 
Martin
'62 Chevy C-10 Stepside Shortbed (Restomod in progress)
'47 Chevy 3100 5 Window (long term project)
‘65 Chevy Biscayne (Emily)
‘39 Dodge Business Coupe (Clarence)
“I fought the law and the law won" now I are a retired one!
Support those brave men/women who stand the "Thin Blue Line"! Hug a cop!
USAF 1965-1969 Weather Observation Tech (I got paid to look at the clouds)
| | | | | Joined: May 2005 Posts: 8,877 . | | . Joined: May 2005 Posts: 8,877 | More like Two cool....
It's just someone's home made job cutting a 4cyl in half. Chevy used 4 cylinder engines through 1928 when the 6 came out. They also used a V8 in 1917-18 which must be quite rare by now, I've never seen one. | | | | | Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 28,674 Kettle Custodian (pot stirrer) | | Kettle Custodian (pot stirrer) Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 28,674 | Anybody ever seen a 4 cylinder engine turned into an air compressor on two cylinders? Lots of Model A's were converted that way, using the whole front end- - - -front axle, gas tank, radiator, hood, etc. with a trailer hitch attached instead of a front bumper. A special intake and exhaust manifold ran the engine on cylinders 1 and 4, and 2 & 3 compressed the air with the exhaust valve disabled and a one-way check valve where the spark plug used to be. The 2 & 3 intake valves had very weak springs that let every down stroke draw air into the cylinder, and every upstroke compressed. Lots of jack hammers got powered by those rigs- - - -relatively low pressure, but lots of volume.
Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln
Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt!
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway
Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
| | | | | Joined: Apr 2010 Posts: 232 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Apr 2010 Posts: 232 | | | | | | Joined: May 2005 Posts: 1,624 Shop Shark | | Shop Shark Joined: May 2005 Posts: 1,624 | Grigg, I have a picture of the v8 Chevy engine. I don't post pics to this site as it's just too much trouble. I'll try to PM it to you.
Six volt guy living in a twelve volt world
| | | | | Joined: May 2005 Posts: 8,877 . | | . Joined: May 2005 Posts: 8,877 | I don't doubt they exist as I've seen a few pictures in books and such, but never one in person much less in a car running. They must be uncommon. | | | | | Joined: Nov 2011 Posts: 1,608 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Nov 2011 Posts: 1,608 | Anybody ever seen a 4 cylinder engine turned into an air compressor on two cylinders? Lots of Model A's were converted that way, using the whole front end- - - -front axle, gas tank, radiator, hood, etc. with a trailer hitch attached instead of a front bumper. A special intake and exhaust manifold ran the engine on cylinders 1 and 4, and 2 & 3 compressed the air with the exhaust valve disabled and a one-way check valve where the spark plug used to be. The 2 & 3 intake valves had very weak springs that let every down stroke draw air into the cylinder, and every upstroke compressed. Lots of jack hammers got powered by those rigs- - - -relatively low pressure, but lots of volume.
Jerry I have seen WW2 Jeep engines converted to air compressors. Neat little 2 cylinder. | | | | | Joined: Dec 2008 Posts: 1,915 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Dec 2008 Posts: 1,915 | WRT Chevy 2-banger: good mechanic, bad engineer.
What they made has "one up & one down" and is horribly out of balance, and has that same soothing offset exhaust note as a 350 Honda... until something breaks.
A better choice (but much more difficult) would have been to use the 2 center cylinders which are "both up" (same piston position) like a British twin.
A common Smiths industrial compressor (on its own trailer) is a converted Ply-Do 230" flathead L6. | | | | | Joined: May 2005 Posts: 8,877 . | | . Joined: May 2005 Posts: 8,877 | I have some old 2 cylinder industrial engines, newer than "hit and miss" engines but not a lot newer. One make, LeRoi, has pistons that both travel up together, and the other, Novo, has one up one down. They're both reasonably smooth and run nicely but the one up one down engine jumps around less. | | | | | Joined: Aug 2012 Posts: 1,214 Shop Shark | | Shop Shark Joined: Aug 2012 Posts: 1,214 | Anybody ever seen a 4 cylinder engine turned into an air compressor on two cylinders? Jerry Back in the 70's at Cherry Point we had an old Shrade (I believe) branded 6 cyl tractor with 2 cyl's modified into an air compressor. It looked factory. It ran (barely) but I don't recall how much air pressure it made. we had a lot of WWII and Korean War era gear intermixed with modern (for the 60's/70's)gear. We had some pretty wild multi-tasking GSE gear back in the day. Navair required we be prepared to operate and service aircraft in any environ sans modern utilities.... Wish I had accumulated some of that very flexible rock solid machinery now LOL re. Chevy 2 cyl engine. Cool find. In a kinda related post, after listening to that linked modified 2 cyl flathead Model T engine and it's sound, I am looking to add an old hit and miss engine as well as an old JD Johnny Popper to my collection one day. Theres something about their sounds that are, entertaining LOL Dave
Last edited by Volfandt; 08/01/2016 2:42 PM.
| | | | | Joined: Jul 2000 Posts: 172 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Jul 2000 Posts: 172 |
Last edited by Rustoholic; 04/30/2018 3:40 PM. Reason: fixed web address
| | | | | Joined: Mar 2010 Posts: 10,059 Renaissance Man | | Renaissance Man Joined: Mar 2010 Posts: 10,059 | Well now you need to find a way to put it to work. An ice cream maker?
1952 5-window - return to "as built" condition | 1950 3100 with a 235 and a T-5 transmission
| | | | | Joined: Nov 2000 Posts: 1,927 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Nov 2000 Posts: 1,927 | Not to get too off track, several years ago I saw a 1917-18 Chevy V8 running and driving at the Newport, Indiana Hill Climb. I did not get an opportunity to study the motor, but I did see it. I did not see it go up the hill, but it may have.
Speaking of compressor conversions, I have read of Flathead V8 Fords being modified this way.
Professional Novice
| | | | | Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 28,674 Kettle Custodian (pot stirrer) | | Kettle Custodian (pot stirrer) Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 28,674 | About 40 years ago a friend out in California ran a sandblasting rig with a compressor-converted flathead V8 on it. We installed a 4" stroke 49-53 Mercury crankshaft to replace the 3 3/4" Ford shaft, to give it a little more volume.
Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln
Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt!
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway
Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
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