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Offy Rod


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Nice ride! FWIW, Offenhauser engines (just as with their predecessors, the legendary Miller racing engines, and all the way back to the 1913 Peugeot GP 4-cylinder race car engine) were all "dry sump" engines, meaning that their crankcases themselves hold no pool of oil, rather the oil is held in a separate tank, away from the engine, pumped there and then back into the crankcase, with an oil cooler in the line.

To better understand: The Offy, just as with the Miller straight 8 engines (even the Miller 220cid marine 4-cylinder engines--forerunner to the Offenhauser) and the Peugeot GP engine of 1913 were "built up" units. The crankcase is an aluminum "barrel" unit, holding the crankshaft and having very large main bearing "webs" which were press-fitted into the barrel crankcase. Atop this was bolted the cast iron cylinder block, which was "blind-bored", meaning that there is no separate cylinder head--the bores and combustion chambers are cast in place, then machined and honed for the pistons.

In real life, several hot rods were built back in the 1950's and early 1960's, using the much larger "Championship" Offenhauser--almost all of them using the obsolete 274 cid engine, which was "legislated" out of use beginning with the 1956 USAC Championship season (normally aspirated Indianapolis Car -- the Championship Series in USAC). Some were fitted with the same Hilborn Fuel Injection system as used on racing Offies from 1952-onward, others used log manifolds with a pair of Riley side-draft carburetors. Detuned for street use, these engines still produced perhaps 170-180 HP, and properly driven, they could skin the pants of of most V8 powered hot rods--all the while making that distinct growling yet thunderous sound.

Art

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Nice ride! FWIW, Offenhauser engines (just as with their predecessors, the legendary Miller racing engines, and all the way back to the 1913 Peugeot GP 4-cylinder race car engine) were all "dry sump" engines, meaning that their crankcases themselves hold no pool of oil, rather the oil is held in a separate tank, away from the engine, pumped there and then back into the crankcase, with an oil cooler in the line.

To better understand: The Offy, just as with the Miller straight 8 engines (even the Miller 220cid marine 4-cylinder engines--forerunner to the Offenhauser) and the Peugeot GP engine of 1913 were "built up" units. The crankcase is an aluminum "barrel" unit, holding the crankshaft and having very large main bearing "webs" which were press-fitted into the barrel crankcase. Atop this was bolted the cast iron cylinder block, which was "blind-bored", meaning that there is no separate cylinder head--the bores and combustion chambers are cast in place, then machined and honed for the pistons.

In real life, several hot rods were built back in the 1950's and early 1960's, using the much larger "Championship" Offenhauser--almost all of them using the obsolete 274 cid engine, which was "legislated" out of use beginning with the 1956 USAC Championship season (normally aspirated Indianapolis Car -- the Championship Series in USAC). Some were fitted with the same Hilborn Fuel Injection system as used on racing Offies from 1952-onward, others used log manifolds with a pair of Riley side-draft carburetors. Detuned for street use, these engines still produced perhaps 170-180 HP, and properly driven, they could skin the pants of of most V8 powered hot rods--all the while making that distinct growling yet thunderous sound.

Art

Art thanks for the information. I didn't know that they had a dry sump system. Although the engine is wrong at the bottom end I would not change it now. Do you know if the bigger Offy's were available in a kit or in resin?

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Very sweet.any relation to Henry?

Michael,

I think he is referring to Henry Winkler, the actor that played Arthur (the Fonz or Fonzie) Fonzarelli on the American TV show "Happy Days" based on the movies American Graffiti and More American Graffiti...

Great build by the way!!!

Love the startings ...

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