16 Cylinder W?

[oldskydog]

I went to a swap meet today and met up with a guy who had 2 409 blocks and a 348 block for sale. I chatted with him for awhile after buying one of the blocks, and he seemed pretty knowledgable on the W's. He claims to have seen a 16 cyl. W engine in a big pumper firetruck in Canada years ago. He said it looked like they cast 2 blocks end to end but used two sets of heads. That would be pretty impressive. I wonder how big the water pump would be? Also the crank leaves a little to the imagination..... could they join two cranks in series with a coupler inside the block or cast one superlong mutha? Anyone ever heard of this industrial application?:scratch

[rstreet]

Cecil: At this point I could believe it can be done. I just saw a picture posted by Ronnie of a blown flathead!!!!
Robert

[raymar58454]

If anyone is ever in Loncoln, Nebraska stop by Speedway Motors and check out their museum. They have a V-16 small block chev cast as one piece block and heads. Take a really long pinch nose coupe to fit it in though.:brow They also have a lot of other pretty interesting engines, most of which are one of.
Ray

[impalaragpat]

Dont know about a W block -V-16 but here is a small block V-16 and many other engines on this site


http://www.museumofamericanspeed.com/Collections/Engines/E002.shtml

[jim_ss409]

I wonder if the guy might have seen one of those V12 truck engines. I think they used four heads and the valve covers look a lot like W engine valve covers.:scratch

[MRHP]

Thats what I was thinking.

[GOSFAST]

Just to add some here, Al Mathon, Sr. was a friend of ours for some years. Al (Jr.) his son, is still here on Long Island.

I hadn't had any contact with Al until about 2 years ago. We had some some cast iron heads welded by him back in 2005. He had moved to Florida so we sent the work down there. I knew he was one of the "handful" of "old-school" welder's who could get the project done correctly, after all, he been a teacher of the art of welding.

Most unfortunately Al passed away in Florida after some serious health issues. I believe it was last year, May of 2006! This man was a "gentleman" and a tremendous asset in this industry through the years. He had been involved with repairing cast iron long before the popularity of aluminum heads came around.

All the older 'big-time/big name" racers using "iron" at some point used Al's services. I had the opportunity to repair a 440 Mopar head that literally had the entire corner of the head "blown" right from the main section. After he did the repair you couldn't tell how bad the damge had been. The broken portion of the head had to be retrieved from the shrubs at the racetrack for him to make the "fix".

Like I said, the man was a genious with welding/repairing cast iron.

If memory serves me correctly, I believe the Mathon V-16 was dyno tested out at Bill Mitchell's (World Products) shop back when! They were also good friends. Just about everyone in this industry in this area knew Al well, a "helluva" guy!!

Speaking with Al some years ago, he lead me to believe these V-16's were going to be produced with the boat market targeted!

If he did a "W", I don't know anything about that one, never heard about it.

Thanks, Gary in N.Y.

P.S. I never met his son, but I had spoken to him when his dad "passed"!

[Boat]

http://www.6066gmcguy.org/V6powered.htm

Probably a 6066 mated for industrial purposes...two 476 CID V-6 engines...kinda torquey:p

[johnnyrod]

I drove tractor trilor with a gas v12 it was 2 v6s bolted together. They had it in a gmc cabover. Nice to drive had good power and it had its own distinct sound. Hard to explain but it was pretty good machine. I think they had 2 distributors and 2 carbs. Its been like 30 years ago or more. John

[Gearhead99]

I know this is off post......but......I've seen a rendition of an old wooden racing boat that Garwood use to run. I think the original had Packards in it. Two or maybe four. Why it looked so unique is the exhaust stacks stuck straight up and were around 3 inches in diameter.

The "rendition one had 4 chevy small blocks in 2 each tandem. With straight up 3 inch exhaust. You could hear it a mile away. Cool though.

Sorry for the thread thief.

[Boat]

Thread theiving some more...

I saw a hydro called "Gravedigger" that has twin 327s chained together inline...

Back to the subject.

My grandpa has a (probably) 305 and a 4 speed in his old pickup. He had a heavy camper but that thing pulled, no problem.

I'd actually considered one of the 6066s as a truck motor...but I wanted to get some RPMs out of it. Too many obstacles, too heavy.

[GEARHED66]

Was probably this beauty here

http://www.transmissionadapters.com/Pics/GMCV12%20001.jpg

Also go to www.6066gmcguy.org for more info on these unusual engines.

If it was indeed a mated pair of 409's, I want to see.....:brow

[tripower]

I know this is off post......but......I've seen a rendition of an old wooden racing boat that Garwood use to run. I think the original had Packards in it. Two or maybe four. Why it looked so unique is the exhaust stacks stuck straight up and were around 3 inches in diameter.

The "rendition one had 4 chevy small blocks in 2 each tandem. With straight up 3 inch exhaust. You could hear it a mile away. Cool though.

Sorry for the thread thief.

Gearhead, You mean like this...

[Gearhead99]

Yep, nice...

[gearhead409]

wouldn't that 12 cyl. jimmy look sweet with two 6-71 gmc blowers on it??? the rat-rod guys would love it!! come to think of it, it would look good in any streetrod.

[oil4kids]

http://www.museumofamericanspeed.com/Collections/Engines/E030.shtml

http://www.museumofamericanspeed.com/Collections/Engines/E027.shtml


FYI some history here

The Frontenac Motor was a Single or Dual over head cam 16 valve Head designed by Louis Chevrolet founder of Chevrolet and designed to fit on a Ford 4 Cyl Model T engine,

he enters this Engine and Newly designed car and Wins the 1920 Indy 500



Zora Arkus Duntov, of Chevrolet Corvette Fame designs a overhead cam head for the Ford Flat head engine calls it ARDUN

http://www.museumofamericanspeed.com/Collections/Engines/E174.shtml

does this make any sense?

[Gearhead99]

Sure, they were engineers chomping at the bit to make something. Ford was the hot set up then. Lots of V-8's.

Shows how far ahead they were thinking even then.

FYI, I turned down a set of Ardun cylinders heads back around '62 or so. Racer that lived down the street from me had a set he wasn't going to use anymore. He went to the more modern OHV V-8. I looked at them [14-15 year old know it all] and passed. Kept my Offenhauser aluminum flatheads. They looked too complicated to me. I had some real foresight.....