lincoln V-12 finished, ready for 07 NNL West giveaway car

[jbwelda]

just thought some might like a look at the lincoln V12 i just finished. this is destined for a 32 ford our club (city styles of sacramento california) is building as part of a raffle prize for the 07 NNL West in Sunnyvale next month. the car will be a budget racer 32 ford based on the orange crate body, on a trailer being pulled by a 57 chevy pickup (theme is 32s and 57s).

i only build the motors for both cars; the bulk of the build is being done by fellow club members. in fact ive not yet really seen the cars the motors i built (the other is a chevy six slightly souped up) but i will try to get some photos of them when done and post here as well or if youre planning on attending make sure you check them out in person (or maybe even win them!)

anyway, heres a few shots of the flattie V-12. thanks to lyle willits for piqueing my interest in this motor and leading me to richard wilson who casts them up. i took some liberties with the motor due mostly to my ignorance of the real thing and some real-life limitations, but think it turned out pretty good.

one question...where is the fuel pump on this motor? hanging off the front? i would like to route the fuel line coming out of the distribution block on top of the engine over to the pump and then out to the tank. would it be reasonable to have a remote located pump somewhere on the firewall or on the frame?

comments appreciated by the way!

[Steve H.]

City Styles comes thru again! I don't know what we'd do without you guys!

Your giveaways models are always first rate. I look forward to seeing this years treasure.

[JAFFA]

hmm, id like one o those 4 my 48 continental....

looks good

[carsntrucks4you]

Great engine!

I'm had cast myself a Lincoln V12 which I'm modifying to a 2 carb set up.

Great work

Michael

[bsoder]

Outstanding!!.look forward to seeing this in Feb.. ...B

[Lyle Willits]

Some early rods had the fuel pump mounted under the car just forward of the gas tank. Some had them mounted to the firewall, at the bottom, under the fuel distribution block. Of course, it's a street rod, so almost any location would work, because street rods are custom built.

[ratrodder]

One fantastic looking v-12. What is the engine from? ratrodder

[Modelmartin]

Excellent work! I did one a while back. It is a little over the top where yours is very practical and realistic.

I may get this one out to GSL this year.

[jbwelda]

wow!

is that a halibrand quick change rear end on those super chargers or turbo charges or whatever those are? how did that work out on the strip?

thanks for the comments folks; i hope to meet many of you at NNL this year!

[ScrappyJ]

Being on the East coast, I won't get to see these in person, but wanted to express my thoughts:

Bill- Great job on the engine! Clean and nicely detailed. Hope the rest of the model(s) will look as good. Hail HIM.

Martin- Great job as usually! Your ability to do the, not too common subject, is uncanny!

[Gray Smith]

hey jb,

you did a great job on the flattie...i'm looking forward to pics of the final car..actually I can't wait to see pics from that show with all the 32's i'm guessing will be there. Good work man..

also Modelmartin..finally I know hwo built that car!, that car has been inspiration for me since I first saw it a few eyars ago(even though i've not finished anything its inspired yet, it did make me go out and buy a 41 lincoln kit for the v12.

Gray

[Modelmartin]

Hey Mr. Welda,

Again, I really dig your flathead v-12. Very cool! Yes that is a quick change off the crank of my v-12 to power up those centrifugal superchargers. The superchargers are out of my parts box and I was told they came in early 60s AMT pick-up truck kit. How did it work at the strip? I don't know what would snap first - the flatheads crankshaft or the wire wheel spokes supporting those slicks!!! I guess that makes it a showrod.

[Biscuitbuilder]

just thought some might like a look at the lincoln V12 i just finished. this is destined for a 32 ford our club (city styles of sacramento california) is building as part of a raffle prize for the 07 NNL West in Sunnyvale next month. the car will be a budget racer 32 ford based on the orange crate body, on a trailer being pulled by a 57 chevy pickup (theme is 32s and 57s).

i only build the motors for both cars; the bulk of the build is being done by fellow club members. in fact ive not yet really seen the cars the motors i built (the other is a chevy six slightly souped up) but i will try to get some photos of them when done and post here as well or if youre planning on attending make sure you check them out in person (or maybe even win them!)

anyway, heres a few shots of the flattie V-12. thanks to lyle willits for piqueing my interest in this motor and leading me to richard wilson who casts them up. i took some liberties with the motor due mostly to my ignorance of the real thing and some real-life limitations, but think it turned out pretty good.

one question...where is the fuel pump on this motor? hanging off the front? i would like to route the fuel line coming out of the distribution block on top of the engine over to the pump and then out to the tank. would it be reasonable to have a remote located pump somewhere on the firewall or on the frame?

comments appreciated by the way!

The Lincoln Zephyr V12, being pretty much a flathead Ford V8 with 4 more mistakes added on (not my line, borrowed from somewhere in my car literature) had its fuel pump mounted the same as on the Ford V8, atop the engine block, at the rear, between the cylinder heads--perfect location for causing vapor lock, BTW.

Since this is a hot rod engine, why not just put an electric fuel pump back at the gas tank?

Biscuitbuilder

[lordairgtar]

...it's got twelve cylinders and uses 'em all...Hot Rod Lincoln, original lyrics.

[HybridS130]

Perhaps Im missing something but can I go ahead and point out the obvious? How come only four exhaust runners if it's a V12?

[VW Dave]

Perhaps Im missing something but can I go ahead and point out the obvious? How come only four exhaust runners if it's a V12?

The inboard ports are 'siamesed,' so they each handle gases from two cylinders. A flathead V8 would have only three pipes, for the same reason.

Here's a Lincoln V12 that is in a local guy's model A coupe:

[Biscuitbuilder]

Perhaps Im missing something but can I go ahead and point out the obvious? How come only four exhaust runners if it's a V12?

For the same reason Ford flathead V8's have only three exhaust runners. On these engines, the intake and exhaust valves are in the "high" or inner side of the cylinder banks, with the exhaust ports extending to the low side of each bank of cylinders, passing between the cylinder bores, through the water jacket (made for a pretty efficient water heater too!). The exhaust ports in the middle of each bank are siamesed, 2 into 1, while those at the ends of the block are for a single cylinder only.

The V8 has but two cylinders in the middle of each cylinder bank, while the V12 has 4 that have to have this "siamesed" exhaust porting.

Hope this helps!

Biscuitbuilder

[jbwelda]

i mostly chose this motor for its looks and the fact you dont see them every day (or at least i dont)...but am i wrong in assuming they basically couldnt get out of their own way? thats a big chunk of boat anchor there, isnt it?

[Biscuitbuilder]

i mostly chose this motor for its looks and the fact you dont see them every day (or at least i dont)...but am i wrong in assuming they basically couldnt get out of their own way? thats a big chunk of boat anchor there, isnt it?

The '36-'48 Lincoln Zephyr V12 (bear in mind that Lincoln also produced a much larger V12 for their super-luxurious KB series through 1939) wasn't a bad engine, but it wasn't the greatest engine out there either.

Basically, the Lincoln Zephyr was a car meant to compete with the likes of Buick, Chrysler, and the lesser Packards. From the get-go in 1936, Lincoln Zephyr was a mix of innovation as well as very traditional Ford features, most notably the transverse springs and torque tube drive. LZ, just as with Fords, hung on to mechanical brakes to the bitter end, adopting hydraulics in 1939. The monobloc V12 was produced as a cost-saving measure, using the same basic technologies of the flathead Ford V8, things such as the mushroom-foot intake and exhaust valves, through-the-water-jacket exhaust porting, and the unique-to-Ford Motor Company camshaft driven distributor. Also unique to LZ was its full unit body construction, built along the lines of a truss-bridge, but with far more successful streamlining than the very radical Chrysler Airflows 1935-38. Chrysler sold hundreds of Airflows, while Lincoln sold tens of thousands of Zephyrs.

The original Zephyrs got their basic design from John Tjaarda, then at Briggs Body Company in Detroit (who had supplied 10's of thousands of Ford bodies.

The V12 engine put out from 115-130hp over its production run, not at all bad for the times--but it suffers, some say, from a distinctive lack of torque while being called upon to pull a 4000+ car (Ford was building 10's of thousands of Fords, at around 2500lbs with 85hp by 1936, With some TLC and good speed equipment, it could put out upwards of 200hp, although its rotating/reciprocating mass ruled out the higher rpms available from the Ford V8,

LZ's 3-speed toploader transmissions were very popular with early rodders, as it is a close-ratio, fully synchronized unit.

Hope some of these factoids help out@

Biscuitbuilder

[Guest zebm1]

Man if only sumone could tap into this man's mind....it would probably fill up 13 gigabytes of harddrive memory...... 8)

BTW, my dad and his brother Jim had a "hot rod lincoln" while in high school... 1936-38 (in hi-schule). No fenders and no front brakes, touring body, no top....good thing they lived in tha backwoods of North - Central PA, a little town called Wellsboro. I don't remember tha year, but I'm thinking 19 teens.