1951 Pontiac Chieftain

[PhilA]

Phil, did you not say an engine rebuild was in otder? I can't remember the issue now.

Valve job. I just don't push it too hard because the bottom end is a bit more loose than I would like. Cold morning before the oil pressure comes up it'll gently hocka-hocka-hocka to remind you of the fact.

[DodgeRover]

Could he have had a bigger set of rear wheels/ tyres to drop the revs down or a 2 speed rear axle?

[PhilA]

Could he have had a bigger set of rear wheels/ tyres to drop the revs down or a 2 speed rear axle?

No, apparently when set up all nice and tight and running right these are capable of running in the red without much in the way of harm.
When they get worn, that's when bits start to wobble about at high RPM and cause damage.

[DodgeRover]

I guess if everything was balanced etc but it's not something I would like to try with my own vehicle

[PhilA]

I guess if everything was balanced etc but it's not something I would like to try with my own vehicle

Nice thing with the inline 8 is that is inherently balanced so the rotating assembly is lightweight, with no counterweights. Thus, if it's all kept neatly in place and is balanced well in terms of conrods, pistons etc, you can get them up to really quite high speeds. The Buick straight 8 will rev to nearly 5000 RPM; better breathing and fairly hefty main bearings allowed this.
Mine, a design from the 30's is all "Why in tarnation would you want to be in such a hurry?".

[mercrocker]

The Buicks were pushrod too.....

[PhilA]

The Buicks were pushrod too.....

They also started looking at the fluid dynamics and determined that round ports, particularly for the intakes, was not the best idea.

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Mine, with the massively unequal runners, round ports, siamesed into the question-mark shaped path into the cylinder simply cannot compete. Like a lot of low compression, long stroke sidevalve engines the breathing starts to run out upwards of 2500 RPM.

Edit: The publications of the day rather reflect this engineering paradigm. People today are dissatisfied if the vehicle wasn't fine tuned at the nurburgring. Buick made a thing about how fast their cars were, how sleek, how many speed lines the artist could fit into one picture of the car.

Mine, well, that was more in the vein of "the children didn't throw up in it on the way back from a picnic on the side of the highway".

No 0-60 figures, no top speed, no economy quoted. Just " smooth, happy motoring for the family living in the jet age".

[mercrocker]

There was plenty of brand loyalty about back then, too, I guess.....Interesting.

[SiC]

The engine always to me looks like a enlarged 8cyl Briggs and Stratton.

[PhilA]

The engine always to me looks like a enlarged 8cyl Briggs and Stratton.

Principle of it's manufacture is the same, barring the cooling method.

Except it took Briggs a lot longer to move to thin-wall casting. This was the last of GM's thick-wall passenger vehicle engines.