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Old 08-20-2015, 11:21 AM   #1
sidevalve8ba
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Default Museum of American Speed flatheads....

I had a chance to stop by the late Bill Smith's Museum of American Speed in Lincoln, NE recently. I found some rather interesting sidevalve engines there.

Like this air cooled model. Experimental prototype. I wonder if it ran hot?



Or this experimental aluminum block overhead cam model....




Or this pre-production model........



If you get a chance to stop by this place I think it would be well worth your time.
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Old 08-20-2015, 11:25 AM   #2
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Default Re: Museum of American Speed flatheads....

Thanks for sharing ! It's on my bucket list!
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Old 08-20-2015, 11:28 AM   #3
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Default Re: Museum of American Speed flatheads....

Speedy Bill used to enjoy conducting personal tours for car guys, and telling the story of how he was able to obtain his experimental engines from Greenfield village.
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Old 08-20-2015, 11:33 AM   #4
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Default Re: Museum of American Speed flatheads....

The curator of the museum told me that Greenfield screwed up and sold some things to Bill that weren't supposed to get out of their museum.
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Old 08-20-2015, 11:51 AM   #5
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Default Re: Museum of American Speed flatheads....

Gawd I would love to have that aircooled block. So great! Thanks for sharing.

I have some prototype Model A carburetors that Greenfield sold a while back.
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Old 08-20-2015, 11:58 AM   #6
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Default Re: Museum of American Speed flatheads....

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Those are some nice engines. I liked the overhead cam with what I am guessing is gear driven. Nice design.
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Old 08-20-2015, 12:11 PM   #7
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Default Re: Museum of American Speed flatheads....

Quote:
Originally Posted by sidevalve8ba View Post
The curator of the museum told me that Greenfield screwed up and sold some things to Bill that weren't supposed to get out of their museum.
There are pictures in my 1976 Petersen "Ford in the Thirties" book of experimental Ford engines stored in the Sugar Mill building at Greenfield Village, and are probably some that were sold to Bill Smith. Picture #3 looks like one.
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Old 08-20-2015, 12:42 PM   #8
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Default Re: Museum of American Speed flatheads....

It's interesting that on the air-cooled engine, the exhaust ports exit from the block deck ala Cadillac's design, thereby avoiding running the hot exhaust gases through the engine, which no doubt, would have created too much heat load for an air-cooled engine to cope with.

Too bad Henry didn't pursue this approach on the production flathead...it would have eliminated the one major shortcoming in an otherwise brilliant design.
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Old 08-20-2015, 01:10 PM   #9
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Default Re: Museum of American Speed flatheads....

That's an amazing place to visit. Many of the things in Bill's collection were not car related. The lunch box and model airplane motor collectsions were just two of the many that I remember. I wiold really like to get back there again.
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Old 08-20-2015, 01:14 PM   #10
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Default Re: Museum of American Speed flatheads....

Very cool! thanks for posting the photos.
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Old 08-20-2015, 01:16 PM   #11
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Default Re: Museum of American Speed flatheads....

Look very carefully at the base of the engine stand for the aluminum engine and the blue prototype engine. Isn't that a Ford I-beam axle?
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Old 08-20-2015, 02:28 PM   #12
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Default Re: Museum of American Speed flatheads....

That air cooled engine may have run cooler than the V8 Henry was trying to develop for the model A. The thermosiphon cooling system didn't work all that well on the Model T. All classic Henry Ford experimentals. The aluminum SOHC V8 must have been an alternative for the V8 60. It used the same crankshaft and only had 134 cubic inch displacement. It looks larger in the photo than it really is. There seems to be no provisions for a wet cooling system or at least minimal ports for one.The distributor must have run off one of the cams. Interesting items. The X-8 was the weirdest one I've ever seen.
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Old 08-20-2015, 02:49 PM   #13
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Default Re: Museum of American Speed flatheads....

Hi Everyone, Thanks for the post sidevalve8ba, those are very interesting.

I saw a pre-production block at The Henry Ford last month and wrote about it in this thread. There's also a photo of the X8 that rotorwrench mentions.

http://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=173738

I'd love to stop in Speedy Bill's place. Will have to make sure I do it next time I'm in Nebraska.
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Old 08-20-2015, 04:04 PM   #14
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Default Re: Museum of American Speed flatheads....

Quote:
Originally Posted by sidevalve8ba View Post
I had a chance to stop by the late Bill Smith's Museum of American Speed in Lincoln, NE recently. I found some rather interesting sidevalve engines there.


Or this experimental aluminum block overhead cam model....




If you get a chance to stop by this place I think it would be well worth your time.
The book "George Riley Racing Scrapbook", by Dan Iandola describes and pictures a similar engine built by Riley as having been commissioned after Ford Motor Company contacted Riley about an engine for a "...new unlimited class for International stock car racing". Specs required the use of a stock crank, rods and pistons only. The 3 1/16 X 3 3/4 engines were said to put out 202HP. Supposedly four were built, installed in 1934 Ford Roadsters and shipped to Argentina for a race. When the book was published in 1992 it was believed the engines were stored somewhere in Argentina.
A later version built by cam grinder Kenny Harman (when he was employed by Riley) for 225 cu. in. Hydroplane racing was described by Harman as being "Like a cheap hotel, lots of bugs." The gear train was weak and the oiling system needed work, and the rods were eventually replaced with vanadium steel, tubular rods.
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Old 08-21-2015, 08:44 AM   #15
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Default Re: Museum of American Speed flatheads....

I was able to read most of the placard at the air-cooled engine by enlarging the photo.

"This all magnesium experimental air-cooled L-head design engine was built in the early 1930's by Mr. Ford's engineers at his residence at Fairlane.

Cylinder blocks & heads are cast as integral components then bolted to separate crankcase.

Removable plates over each pair of cylinders enable access to valves and locate spark plugs."
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