I want to say the 510 inch engines here.mekilljoydammit wrote: ↑Mon Jul 16, 2018 12:29 pm The later ones were linerless, in the same process they tried for the Vega later.
pdq67
Moderator: Team
I want to say the 510 inch engines here.mekilljoydammit wrote: ↑Mon Jul 16, 2018 12:29 pm The later ones were linerless, in the same process they tried for the Vega later.
Reading internet hearsay, the linerless blocks were to get the bore up to 4.5". I'm not an expert though.pdq67 wrote: ↑Mon Jul 16, 2018 1:25 pmI want to say the 510 inch engines here.mekilljoydammit wrote: ↑Mon Jul 16, 2018 12:29 pm The later ones were linerless, in the same process they tried for the Vega later.
pdq67
You might try reaching out to the organization: https://svra.com/
Most of the Can-Am cars are raced by rich "arrive and drive" customers, and the cars are typically in the care of professional shops. Look to go to one (or all of these events) and you'll see what you're looking for.GerryP wrote: ↑Mon Jul 16, 2018 4:19 pmYou might try reaching out to the organization: https://svra.com/
I had the real pleasure of attending the Indy race last month. Best weekend of the year. You meet a lot of real interesting people and see some really amazing cars. These folks are my heroes.
bill was making harnesses in his basement before he retired from GM. he tried to get me to build them for fords as he was getting requests but I was still working and did not need any more projects. he used to send me down to the ford pits at the trans am races to see what was going on. I reported they were having oil pan failures because the pans were not holding in the broken pieces.MadBill wrote: ↑Sun Jul 15, 2018 11:46 pmAs you may know, he's still around and still into performance: https://howellefi.com/pamotorman wrote: ↑Sun Jul 15, 2018 9:01 pmbill was my contact with GM back in the day. he worked for vince piggens in product promotion dept or better know as the race shop.
Many years back I remember a British F1 team car retiring reportedly due to 'electrical failure'. Turned out the coil feed wire was cut by a con rod...pamotorman wrote: ↑Mon Jul 16, 2018 5:01 pm he used to send me down to the ford pits at the trans am races to see what was going on. I reported they were having oil pan failures because the pans were not holding in the broken pieces.
A minor clarification: The original design 4.440" bore aluminum Can Am engines were sleeved and used conventional pistons* Prototype versions were used as early as 1967 in Jim Hall's Chaparrals (direct from Chev R&D) . Although externally similar in appearance, it varied in many design details from the 4.250" bore ZL1 aluminum production big blocks and was never assigned an alpha-numeric engine designation. They were sold only as bare blocks or parts kit and many were either built without or migrated from the special 3.47" crank which gave 430" to the 3.76"/427" or the 4.0"/454 crank, the latter giving 495.5 c.i. (*I know, I've had one in my garage for 40+ years...)fdicrasto wrote: ↑Mon Jul 16, 2018 7:39 pm Just a couple of old tidbits about the 430" Can Am bbc. Unlike the iron sleeved ZL 1 block, the can am piece was 4.44" bore all aluminum. Needed specially coated pistons and rings. Short stroke crank also. All chevy stuff. The team I worked with went from Trans am to Can Am with 2 older McLaren cars. That was back in '71-'73. Lucas timed fuel injection was fuel system of choice for them. Cool stuff.
Conversely, an EE will tell you that that at its core, every electrical failure is actually a mechanical one...
"But the spec sheet said..."
The stuff we had was the later sleeveless block. Did not know they had a 4.440" sleeved block before that. Thanks for the correction.MadBill wrote: ↑Mon Jul 16, 2018 10:15 pmA minor clarification: The original design 4.440" bore aluminum Can Am engines were sleeved and used conventional pistons* Prototype versions were used as early as 1967 in Jim Hall's Chaparrals (direct from Chev R&D) . Although externally similar in appearance, it varied in many design details from the 4.250" bore ZL1 aluminum production big blocks and was never assigned an alpha-numeric engine designation. They were sold only as bare blocks or parts kit and many were either built without or migrated from the special 3.47" crank which gave 430" to the 3.76"/427" or the 4.0"/454 crank, the latter giving 495.5 c.i. (*I know, I've had one in my garage for 40+ years...)fdicrasto wrote: ↑Mon Jul 16, 2018 7:39 pm Just a couple of old tidbits about the 430" Can Am bbc. Unlike the iron sleeved ZL 1 block, the can am piece was 4.44" bore all aluminum. Needed specially coated pistons and rings. Short stroke crank also. All chevy stuff. The team I worked with went from Trans am to Can Am with 2 older McLaren cars. That was back in '71-'73. Lucas timed fuel injection was fuel system of choice for them. Cool stuff.
The later linerless 390 high silicon alloy Reynolds blocks (circa `1971) started out at the same bore, but could be machined to 4.50" and beyond.