Opel Blitz question

[Superpeterbilt]

Can anyone give me any info on the engine in the 1/24 3 ton Opel Blitz kit? Manufacturer? Hp? Gas or diesel(I'm assuming gas)? Thanks in advance

[rctruk]

I did a google search......There is some helpful info there

[Superpeterbilt]

I did a google search......There is some helpful info there

all I was able to find is that it might or might not be a GM motor. Care to share what you found?

[Force]

Opel is owned by GM and the 6 cylinder 3.6 litre engine in the older Blitz trucks and Admiral's were a metric version of the old Chevy Stovebolt 6.
The later 6 cylinder in the later Blitz and Kapitän was an Opel developed 2.5 litre engine.

[rctruk]

Terry: You found the same info that I did. Since my builds aren't as detailed as yours,that info would have been enough for me. You are correct....very vague info.

[Superpeterbilt]

Terry: You found the same info that I did. Since my builds aren't as detailed as yours,that info would have been enough for me. You are correct....very vague info.

Thanks for the help. I'm trying to find an engine to modify into another engine, and just need to rule that one out or not. 

[Longbox55]

It's a GM engine, but far from being simply a "metric version" of the Chevrolet 6 of the same time. Yes, there' similarities, as GM did own Opel at the time, but there's enough differences that it is not a variant of the Chevrolet engine. The block and heads are completely different, only similarities I see, other than being an inline 6, is the crank has 4 mains like the Chevy, and the intake and exhaust manifold pots are similar.

What kind of engine are you trying to build?

[Force]

Well I did some research on the Opel 3.6 litre inline 6 subject a while ago and found this regarding the Admiral/Blitz engines from 1937 to 45, and that's what I grounded my earler statement on.
Nothing fits between them as it's all metric but it's still based on the Chevrolet 216 according to this article.

In 1936, and I assume here that the American deputy chief engineer at Opel Russell S. Begg was responsible, a new engine was designed for the forthcoming Opel Admiral model. The engine for this large Chevrolet-sized car was based on the new 1937-on 216 cu. in./3,549 c.c. 6-cylinder Chevrolet engine, with four main bearings. The Opel engine was copied from the Chevrolet by redrawing the original blueprint drawings and converting from Imperial to Metric measurements. In fact, at the end of the day the engine more closely corresponded with the Canadian Pontiac car engine for 1937, the 224 cu. in. unit, which was fitted into a Chevrolet-based bodyshell to create the Pontiac 224 model and also in Canadian GMC trucks. The “224” unit was created by increasing the Chevrolet 216.5 unit bore by 0.0625”, with aluminium pistons instead of cast iron. The Bore & Stroke were then 3.5625 x 3.75 in. [3 9/16 x 3 ¾ in.] [30.2 H.P. rated engine measured exactly at 224.1 cu in. The Opel engine became 90 x 95 m.m. Bore & Stroke, the nearest Metric equivalent, or 3.5433 x 3.74015 “, for 3,626 c.c. [Rated at 30.1 H.P., producing 86 b.h.p. @ 3,200 r.p.m.]. The Opel car engine had a 6:1 compression ratio as against the Chevrolet 6.25:1, and used the same transmission ratios as the Chevrolet: 2.94:1, 1.68:1 and 1.0:1.

The smaller 2.5 and 2.6 Opel engines are a different story. 

Edited August 14, 2015 by Force

[Longbox55]

The problem I see is that the block is not even close to being the same as  a Chevrolet block, other than being 6 cylinder and having 4 main bearings. I'm intimately familiar with the Chevrolet engine, and from what I see in the pictures of the Opel, they are not the same design. The head is completely different, with different port and valve layouts, plus the block design is not even close to matching.

[Longbox55]

Opel engines

Chevrolet 216.

Notice the differences in the head and block designs. While there are some similarities, such as the positions of the distributor, road draft tube, fuel pump, and the basic intake and exhaust port locations, you can plainly see that it is not a cast of simply converting the Chevrolet into metric dimensions, but rather a clean slate design.

 

[Force]

Here are a couple of pictures I found of the Opel 3.6 Litre engine.

And a couple of pictures of the Chevy 216 cui

I'm no expert on these engines but they looks to be quite similar to me.
If an engine is based on another engine design doesn't mean they have to look exactly the same, they were built by two different manufacturers with their own foundrys and casting facilities on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean so of course there are differences here and there, but to me they look very close on the outside.

Edited August 14, 2015 by Force

[Longbox55]

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. With my familiarity with the 216s, plus some of the specs I've found on the Opel, I just see to many differences in them for them to 100% be the same engine. It kind of files under the same notion that the Blitz chassis is the same the US market Chevrolet and GMC 1 1/2 tons, which it isn't.

[Force]

I respect your opinion Bill.
I never claimed that the Opel 3.6 and Chevy 216 should be exactly the same engine as it's not, they are very similar as the pictures shows, but if you go into details you can of course find differences.
The Opel 3.6 engine is obviously based on the Chevrolet 216 design as the article I provided says, but it's not an exact copy, the measurements are converted to the closest metric equivalent and it's developed and made by Opel to their own specs and for their own needs, it's not like they took raw engine block and head castings from Chevrolet and machined the internals to metric masurements, no the castings were made by different foundrys with their own molds half a World away so they are not 100% alike if you go into details.
As I see it the differences between them are not like "apples and oranges", more like green appes and red apples...close outside apperance but tastes a bit different.

 

Edited August 15, 2015 by Force

[Art Anderson]

It's a GM engine, but far from being simply a "metric version" of the Chevrolet 6 of the same time. Yes, there' similarities, as GM did own Opel at the time, but there's enough differences that it is not a variant of the Chevrolet engine. The block and heads are completely different, only similarities I see, other than being an inline 6, is the crank has 4 mains like the Chevy, and the intake and exhaust manifold pots are similar.

What kind of engine are you trying to build?

The first series Opel Blitz and Admiral engines were the same as the Chevrolet 216/235 inline six as used in US production, for the simple reason that from their introduction in both the US and Germany in 1937 until sometime in the spring of 1939, Chevrolet built all those engines for Opel in Flint MI, stopping only when the German Government decreed that all such engines (this hit Ford as well) produced for installation in German-produced vehicles be manufactured in Germany.  (from my extensive research when working up the ICM Opel Admirail Kabriolet this time last year.)

Art

[Superpeterbilt]

This is all very useful information gentlemen. Thank you  

[Casey]

Close up image of the 1/24 Italeri Opel Blitz's 6-cylinder engine/transmission parts: