Random UnAerodynamic Cars and Trucks Thread

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Corvair engine, Citroen front wheel drive.

That sounds interesting. Well, it actually makes me wonder why GM didn't even try to use the Corvair engine on other models.

[freebeard]

Some suggested that after Ralph Nader, GM should've upped the trim level to Olds or Pontiac level and competed with Porsche instead of VW.

[Piotrsko]

I am under the impression that the corvair engine was considered too defective to be useful for drive and neglect like most other chevy products. However, not as high routine maintenance as a VW. ( but different clientele)

[freebeard]

The only defect I'm aware of is the tendency to throw fan belts, because the belt travels around a 90° corner. Here is a similar install on a VW engine.


https://www.speedsterowners.com/topi...w-cooling-fans

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by Piotrsko

I am under the impression that the corvair engine was considered too defective to be useful for drive and neglect like most other chevy products. However, not as high routine maintenance as a VW. ( but different clientele)

I was going to say something, but think posting this article will tickle us all.

December 10, 2015
Didn’t Porsche Design the Corvair?
https://www.excellence-mag.com/issue...gn-the-corvair

As the Corvair took shape under its “Holden 25” code name, its engine was ready for road testing before the first prototype cars. Waiting to accept it was none other than the same 1957 Porsche 356 whose engine was used for cooling experiments. At Chevy’s freshly minted Engineering Center at Warren, Michigan, the first Corvair drivetrain was installed in the Porsche. Complete with Chevy’s manual transmission, effectively creating the first flat-six-powered Porsche ever. The Corvair six fitted it surprisingly well. Eager as a kid, Ed Cole hopped in and belted away....................

Ferry Porsche was, of course, interested in the Corvair. Through Huschke von Hanstein, his director of PR and motorsports, he arranged to buy one of the first ones made. It would be invidious to suggest that Chevrolet’s effort influenced Porsche, but it cannot be overlooked that Leonard Jäntschke’s first prototype engine for the future 911, the Type 745 of 1961, had a four-bearing crankshaft just like the Corvair’s. For its final design, though, Porsche adopted seven main bearings instead. It was a decision that secured the long life of Porsche’s flat six.

Ferry Porsche’s Corvair wasn’t the only one running around the streets of Stuttgart. Dan Gurney, one of Porsche’s Formula One drivers in 1961-1962, brought one over to show what the New World could accomplish in car design. Porsche later used some Corvair Lakewoods to test its first flat sixes.

[freebeard]

Thanks. Porsche also designed a Studebaker, the Type 542.

www.hemmings.com/stories/2008/06/01/sia-flashback-a-studebaker-by-porsche

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Why does that Porsche-designed Studebaker reminds me the Aero Willys?

Originally Posted by Piotrsko

I am under the impression that the corvair engine was considered too defective to be useful for drive and neglect like most other chevy products. However, not as high routine maintenance as a VW. ( but different clientele)

I was actually considering another approach, such as fitting the Corvair engine into a more conventional front-engined model. Not easy to beat the economics of scale from the 230 and 250cu.in. straight-6 or the 4-pot 153, but it would be quite interesting to say the least, just like those trucks converted to Diesel with air-cooled Deutz engines in Argentina instead of something more conventional such as a water-cooled Perkins.

[freebeard]

Same era as the Aero Willys. Front wheel drive boxer four with Porsche fan in a Prius:

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Front wheel drive boxer four with Porsche fan in a Prius

In a front-engined application, one can guess the cooling flow is improved. Well, sometimes it seems like the good old Volkswagen air-cooled engine could have lasted at least until 2013...

[freebeard]

Lees power with less weight, it would be an interesting experiment.