Thanks to all who have commented. I built this engine with the main parts that represent the era it came from. I did not want to skew the results with parts that would not be available in the 50's.True, I used super light pistons and rods. I wanted to eliminated the characteristic vibration associated with a flat crank engine, and it worked.You'll note in the video that nothing is vibrating or shacking around, and put your hand on it and it is very smooth. I priced a new cam from Bullet and it was several hundred. All I was doing was getting rid of the worrisome groves they put in the cam main journals. I ended up running a high volume pump to address my concerns. I would have run the F.I. but for the fact that I would have had to send it to Enderly and by the time I got new lines and all the repairs and up grade to run E85 it was just out of my budget, not to mention the drama of running F.I. on the street. A carb is much easier.I grew up in the era of flat heads and Jimmy 6's. I will always remember the first SBC race car I ever heard , Butch Toomy's 55 Chevy. Sounded awesome, and I was hooked.
That engine sound superb! So much smoother than a cross plane. I love the stories associated with peculiar one offs. Thank you for documenting the project! And greetings from England!
I have heard a flat plane crank Flathead V8 60 . At the time I was running my '39 Std coupe with 3/8 x 3/8 flattie and thought that ran pretty hard, but the flat plane engine is a different beast altogether. The Siamese exhaust Ports gave it a different sound and that little engine was only working in the upper revs ,originally being built for 3/4 Sprint car. I would run the old style injection but with a simple electronic set up so it could be street driven. There are so many different companies out there making various types of injection kits that there is a set up for any budget. Those Buick rods were monsters alright,but so were the engines. Pontiac rods from the 50's would have been used back then as they were forged .I met a guy once who was selling pontiac rods to others who were building early hemis for boats and racing.
I've been around GM stuff for 45 years and read an article about one of these a long time ago but this is the first time to see one and hear it run....Double Cool....Good job
My Dad had told my stories of building those engines back when he was racing cars I have always wanted to hear one running thanks for sharing your build with us and taking the time to share GW
Smokey Yunik was a Genius, his book POWER SECRETS, IS A MUST HAVE FOR ALL MOTOR HEADS or anyone into power plants, engines, motors, turbines, rotary, etc. Also thermodynamics , flow patterns, Bah.. buy the book!
Very interesting, and loved hearing it run. I am currently rebuilding a flatplane V8. It is a very early 1916 Briscoe V8. It also has solid roller cam lifters. This is a overhead valve engine, and is going to be very interesting to build. I wish I could add a photo here but not sure how.
The engine is amazing. I am so happy you preserved it. Man oh man though! Your wall in the background! Talk about some memories! The Pierson coupe, Smokey, Super Shops, and Bonneville! I was fortunate enough to run Bonneville and El Mirage for years. We ran every one of the Muroc reunions from 1996-2000 as well. Absolutely the best automotive related times of my life. Thanks so much for sharing this awesome time capsule with us.
The flat plane crank has a beauty to the way it counterbalances the opposite bank and the free-revving it produces. Ferrari has been using flat plane cranks for 60+ years. They seem to be doing okay. I really enjoyed you sharing this little treat with us. I would love to see GM do a high-performance flat plane LS engine!
It's not often I see something in the sbc world that I didn't know about and this is cool, I'm 32 and pretty sure I was born about 40 years too late. Bad ass engine guys!!!
He’s clearly old enough to know a little hand work with the file would fix’er right up should we ding up the dingle end just a bit. Can’t argue with the sound of his results, sounds like angels singing imo
You should have put a set of 2.02 Fuelie heads on that engine. That is definitely an odd firing order. The stock V-8's had the firing order of 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2, and sounded totally different. Amazing at how she sounds! If someone was to stand there and listen to it while it was in a car, and they didn't know it was a SBC, they would have never known it as a V-8. And it didn't sound as loud with the open headers like a standard fire V-8. Really smooth sound. Thank you for an awesome video!
i knew Smokey as a personal friend, i was a Vocational teacher at DBCC college in Daytona , he would come by sometimes when we were having an open house gathering! he loved to talk to the students about engines , and they always were excited to listen! many of his exploits of life! around 1980- 1985!
Whoa that’s cool! Very unique sound! Almost like two motorcycles ramping up and down at the same time. Haha. I never heard of a flat plane crank until the new GT350 came out, and I certainly didn’t know they made a crank like this way back in the 50s-60s! Too cool
Thank you for restoring this unique piece of American automobile history. Imagine having this engine in a 1st gen Camaro, people would be truly befuddled!
Thanks for posting, very interesting. I’ve been into cars since I was a kid in the 60’s and this is all new to me! I had no knowledge of the flat crank design.
Thanks a lot for this video, excellent job:) Sounds like two four cylinder engines. So much talking about cross planes and flat planes and this is the best video i have seen on this :)
When I was racing sprint cars I got a publication that chronicled Smokey Yunick's stock block Indy effort. It was the only stock block to qualify at Indy. Under the rules it allowed a 204 c.i.and I believe the stroke was just over 2 inch. His flat plane build was also reverse rotation. He claimed 1300H.P. with twin turbos. That was in 1972. In the 40's efforts were made to make Ford flat heads perform better in class racing on the SoCal dry lakes.I read they were 180 c.i. In Australia a number of Ford engines have been unsuccessfully built with flat cranks. All longer stroke efforts have met with failure due to extreme vibration. Just read the 2020 Mustang will abandon the 5.2 flat plane VooDoo,many warranty issues.
Great job so nice that your building a little bit of history.I had Smokey's book when I was a kid, I did a few of his tricks and I always felt like I knew some top secret stuff,this engine is something of dreams...sounds amazing..I have a nice 62 Impala it would go good in
I am impressed with this setup as-is with that smaller carb. I bet that runs so smooth you can't even tell it's running outside of the exhaust sound! I want one (or two)!
It's exactly how a V8 is supposed to be, for a car. Cross plane stuff is a truck engine. Only reason flat planes are rare is that balancing them is difficult, they're flatly better for a performance engine.
@@bhaggen I've never considered vibration to be that much of an issue as long as it doesn't shake the car apart. I drive a crown vic for what it's worth.
Very cool ! I would disagree on saying the use of the rods being insane. At the time it was very smart. Remember the 2.25" rod journal added more journal overlap, which considering their materials they had then was important. I think it is cool you updated the rods. Awesome job on it and thanks for sharing
Having only just stumbling onto this video today ( 12-8-2022) and having Read much about good old Smokey Yunick , I was excited to see your engine build up and running on your dyno . Smokey said the reason he went down that venue with his Indy engine was because of the very flat torque and horsepower curves that he was able to achieve actually helped tremendously in getting the cars out off the corners and onto the straight-aways , but they were limited on top end power….. if my memory is correct. Your dyno pull showed that almost exactly!! Here’s to the “ Outside the box” thinking that went into designs like that. I didn’t see in the video ( nor read all the comments) if you ever substantiated who built your find in the first place , but hoping it was one of Smokey’s Indy car efforts from back in his “ Brickyard forays “ from those long lost days…. 🤞👍. Sounded cool 👍👍. Great find & thanks for keeping a piece of history alive and running. Someone is proud!! 😊😉
Very cool! I have a friend that had a 180 350 setup that he put in a small Blazer (or might have been a Jimmy?). Anyway, it sounded like a v-6 which is what those came with. (Yours didn’t sound like that to me but I’m just listening on my phone!!???) It was the coolest sleeper I’ve ever seen! It had a mild setup as well and I think he was getting similar results. The only drawback was it had vibrations in two rpm spots that were kind of annoying, but well worth putting up with! Thanks again for posting this!!!!
Balancing must have been a nightmare. The main advantage of a flat plane is lighter counter weights. If they added brass in addition to the normal counter weights it may have been an attempt to deal with the nasty secondary order vibrations but it was pretty self-defeating. Modern flat plane v8's deal with vibration by staying relatively small, balance shafts, external dampeners, ect. Still, this was a very interesting find and awesome to hear running.
Very cool, looks like a Super Modified engine from Oswego Speedway. Whatever you put that in, you're gonna have some fun at the car shows. People gonna be telling you "Ya got yer plug wires on wrong".........LOL
correct port matching seems to make for smooth running engine.what a cool little engine! saw the oil groove in the cam bearing.. smart!.never seen a crank done up like that, old school!
When I bought this I searched and called and found no other SBC flat planes out there. It is crazy to think that 60 years ago one guy got a wild hare to think he could gain an advantage by going to the trouble of taking a piece of steel and machine out a full counter weighted scratch built crank. Each counter has 3 holes for the brass plates and holes drilled, taped and plugged for oiling. Then to have a custom cam to suit the firing order. I also have a BBC flat crank that John Lingenfelder had built by Crower. Also have the roller cam, but the specs are such that it is no street engine. He must have had a fascination with FP engines as his company now runs the flat plane LSx in drag race form.Back in the 70's a fellow that Ran in the CRA sprint car series was at Ascot when I was there. He had a 392 Hemi with a flat plane crank that could be heard above all 20+ other cars. Sounded like 2 Offy's running at the same time. Of course thats what a 180* crank does is make the engine effectively 2 four cylinders.
Thanks for sharing, it's truly nice to see a rare part of racing history come alive again. It's just a shame that it brought all the trolls along for the ride lol. But that just means you're doing something worthwhile
I was under the impression flat crank V8 engines didn't require counter balance weights, making them lighter than a 90 degree since they were more or less naturally balanced. What an unusual sound this has. Sounds like an Offenhauser four cylinder Indy car from the era when reved.
Algon injectors, that is a name that I had long forgotten. I'm late seeing this, but what a wonderful sound from back in the days when people were trying all sorts of different things to run a little faster than the other guy.
Great sound!!! I wasn't aware of the flat plane crank until i saw this video...thank you for the great info!! i had a '79 Yamaha XS1100 (in-line 4 cylinder) that had each pair of pistons moving together. I assume this had a flat plane crank.
Great video, appreciate, love the posters of Garlits and Smokey. I followed Smokey's magazine articles writing for Pop Mech, Circle Track Racing and have all of his HP series books. A true common sense innovator. Called his garage one day about a product he mentioned in one of the HP books. Quite an experience...gruff, gravely old voice, but willing to take a few minutes to help a fellow gearhead. The stories abound with his unique approach to 'rules' and the work arounds he developed...the Indy side hack, the NASCAR Chevelle, the cheater Tran Am car.. Technically these were 'cheats' but actually were within the scope of how the rules were written. The man even built his own DIY heli-arc welder used for the Indy car side hack when the old roadsters of the day were still either gas or stick welded. A man ahead of his time.
Funny story... Did a bunch of enduro road race karting in the 80's. Why?? Great way to go fast cheaply on favorite road courses w/o the wallet busting cost of SCCA or IMSA. Approached one of the top engine builders one day with a coupla' questions. He answered with a smug, arrogant attitude of a celebrity until I mentioned dry film lubricants and heat barrier coatings which had been long known, proven by NASCAR and Top Fuel racers for years. But...the mere mention of these two words had him now whispering answers, says they're illegal...sorta?? Seems I hit a nerve with this, discovered his own 'speed secret'!!!Did flagging, communication for SCCA at Riverside for the NASCAR event when Darrel Waltrip kicked butt with his Chevelle that sounded more like an F-1 car or Ferrari with higher revs than the norm V-8 rumble. After the race, curious about this, approached Waltrips crew chief, found they used a flat crank and 180 deg. crossover exhaust. A nightmare to dial in, fit the headers he said but it paid off. All Chevy's should sound so sweet!!! Rules won't allow that kind of creativity now days. What a shame :(
This would be one id like to see a holy efi on just to see if it could make it run. Nice job staying period correct, I was certainly suprised by all the results!
There used to be a guy in our pulling club who ran a 350 with a flat crank, hilborn stack injection on alcohol, he had it in a 66 chevy pickup 4X4, it sounded just incredible.
That's a cool engine. Such strange things that used to be done. Now you see stuff like this all the time. I bet that would have gotten some strange looks in 1959.
Sounds like a pretty normal SBC at idle, then you race it up & it sounds like a pissed off 4-banger. If you didn’t tell us what you did, I’d be confused as hell. Excellent build, thanks for posting the video!
@Logan's Hot Rod & 4X4 I'm into Hot Rod's and I have to agree with you, I've always wondered how they built engines back in the day, I'm fascinated and speechless over this video ....
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@@sbckev2287 Same here!!! This guy is cool as hell, and i'd love to pick his brain. He probably forgot more last week than i'll ever know LOL!!
Let's talk about what a splayed cap, aluminum head and flywheel with solid roller and Titainium valvetrain with cross weber side drafts. Is it possible to get a sub 300 cube sbc to run hot and spin with a ferrari>?
I love how you guys resurrected this engine especially with the Pontiac rods and the sound of this engine is nothing like I've ever heard before it does not sound like A Z06 Corvette which is a flat plane motor it doesn't sound like a Ferrari V8 which is another flat plane motor and it doesn't sound like a cause worth either really unusual sound to this engineI l guys resurrected this engine especially with the Pontiac rods and the sound of this engine is nothing like I've ever heard an engine like this before it does not sound like A Z06 Corvette which is a flat plane motor it doesn't sound like a Ferrari V8 which is another flat plane motor and it doesn't sound like A Cosworth either , this engine has A really unusual sound to this engine . Thank you for providing this video for old motorheads like me , and some my friends love seeing this too thank you .
For those of us that spent our careers working on 4 cylinder engines, none of this seems too weird. The exhaust evacuation would have been perfectly equal on all cylinders. It even sounded like a 4 cylinder (well two 4 cylinder) engine.
It doesn't seem weird that a guy would have a one off crank and cam build after only 2 years of a block being available that could support a 4 inch bore. In order to gain some small advantage racing a dirt modified?? Seem almost unbelievable to me. LOL
Looks like there is not much going on below 3500 rpm but once it gets past there, yeah, nice wide torque band. Sounds a little like a Subaru in a Fast and Furious car. Smokey Yunick was always trying something new.
Doesnt surprise me that gm did this for year ive heard about them doing this never seen one in real life or on video awesome design in the 80s and 90s my step father and i did some crazy crank shaft mods to chevy small block engine's knive grinding and balancing small block cranks to see what we could get away with in weight savings on the crank and rotating assemblies to turn them up harder had a lot of fun messing with them and some of the results where crazy glad to see it running needs to be preserved for history of auto world in this country
That was awesome,,, thank you for sharing,,, as a Sbc 1st gen buff my self having a elusive 352 long rod full roller engine in my wife's Chevy Vega, she tells me the car eats Coyotes for lunch,, with a 5 speed 😂
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Hey rich, just wondering how you came to the 352? Stroked 327? or a 400 rod? What does that rev to? Thanks!!
I messed around with one in the 90's, used it 1/2 mile dirt track. It was a very smooth running engine fast reving. But anything that was externally mounted to the crank would work its way loose, flywheel, clutch, balancer, pulley bolts. I tried everything locktite, lock washers, tack welding the bolts after being torq. All I could come up with was harmonics at upper RPM. I could run it 5500 and below with no issues.
really, really hope the 2021 zo6 actually has an fpc.... that much power out of a flat plane is going to sound so sweet... & the fact that itll be 'murcan will make it that much sweeter 😊
"Wanna listen to it with open headers?"
*Yes, yes I do.*
How very cool to see a piece of history like that in the hands of someone who truly appreciates what it is.
Thank you for the video.
Thanks to all who have commented. I built this engine with the main parts that represent the era it came from. I did not want to skew the results with parts that would not be available in the 50's.True, I used super light pistons and rods. I wanted to eliminated the characteristic vibration associated with a flat crank engine, and it worked.You'll note in the video that nothing is vibrating or shacking around, and put your hand on it and it is very smooth. I priced a new cam from Bullet and it was several hundred. All I was doing was getting rid of the worrisome groves they put in the cam main journals. I ended up running a high volume pump to address my concerns. I would have run the F.I. but for the fact that I would have had to send it to Enderly and by the time I got new lines and all the repairs and up grade to run E85 it was just out of my budget, not to mention the drama of running F.I. on the street. A carb is much easier.I grew up in the era of flat heads and Jimmy 6's. I will always remember the first SBC race car I ever heard , Butch Toomy's 55 Chevy. Sounded awesome, and I was hooked.
That engine sound superb! So much smoother than a cross plane. I love the stories associated with peculiar one offs. Thank you for documenting the project! And greetings from England!
That is a great noise!
I have heard a flat plane crank Flathead V8 60 . At the time I was running my '39 Std coupe with 3/8 x 3/8 flattie and thought that ran pretty hard, but the flat plane engine is a different beast altogether. The Siamese exhaust Ports gave it a different sound and that little engine was only working in the upper revs ,originally being built for 3/4 Sprint car. I would run the old style injection but with a simple electronic set up so it could be street driven. There are so many different companies out there making various types of injection kits that there is a set up for any budget. Those Buick rods were monsters alright,but so were the engines. Pontiac rods from the 50's would have been used back then as they were forged .I met a guy once who was selling pontiac rods to others who were building early hemis for boats and racing.
Performance Engines it’d be interesting to see the numbers with the camel hump heads
I've been around GM stuff for 45 years and read an article about one of these a long time ago but this is the first time to see one and hear it run....Double Cool....Good job
My Dad had told my stories of building those engines back when he was racing cars I have always wanted to hear one running thanks for sharing your build with us and taking the time to share GW
I love the picture of smokey looking over your shop smokey played with flat cranks
This is a rare and equally unreal, and unique engine!! It needs to be in a museum!! Another part of engineering history!
Smokey Yunik was a Genius, his book
POWER SECRETS,
IS A MUST HAVE FOR ALL MOTOR HEADS or anyone into power plants, engines, motors, turbines, rotary, etc. Also thermodynamics , flow patterns, Bah.. buy the book!
Very interesting, and loved hearing it run. I am currently rebuilding a flatplane V8. It is a very early 1916 Briscoe V8. It also has solid roller cam lifters. This is a overhead valve engine, and is going to be very interesting to build. I wish I could add a photo here but not sure how.
The engine is amazing. I am so happy you preserved it. Man oh man though! Your wall in the background! Talk about some memories! The Pierson coupe, Smokey, Super Shops, and Bonneville! I was fortunate enough to run Bonneville and El Mirage for years. We ran every one of the Muroc reunions from 1996-2000 as well. Absolutely the best automotive related times of my life. Thanks so much for sharing this awesome time capsule with us.
Level pistons was a wild sight! Well done man, sounds amazing!!
The flat plane crank has a beauty to the way it counterbalances the opposite bank and the free-revving it produces. Ferrari has been using flat plane cranks for 60+ years. They seem to be doing okay. I really enjoyed you sharing this little treat with us. I would love to see GM do a high-performance flat plane LS engine!
Theres a Corvette on TH-cam.... sounds odd but cool
New Corvette ZO6 is flat plane
thank you for building something we have waited years to see, great work.
It's not often I see something in the sbc world that I didn't know about and this is cool, I'm 32 and pretty sure I was born about 40 years too late. Bad ass engine guys!!!
“Wouldn’t want to damage this thing” as he clunks the cam lobes against the crank lol
Yeah I was thinking you fucken idiot smdh
He’s clearly old enough to know a little hand work with the file would fix’er right up should we ding up the dingle end just a bit. Can’t argue with the sound of his results, sounds like angels singing imo
O thats unique cool find
This is mind blowing. The sound so different . That thing revs like a motorcycle. Great job. And thanks.
What a sound, and that pontiac rod - crazy. Back in the day... Greetings from the gearheads form northern germany over here.
You should have put a set of 2.02 Fuelie heads on that engine. That is definitely an odd firing order. The stock V-8's had the firing order of 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2, and sounded totally different.
Amazing at how she sounds! If someone was to stand there and listen to it while it was in a car, and they didn't know it was a SBC, they would have never known it as a V-8. And it didn't sound as loud with the open headers like a standard fire V-8. Really smooth sound.
Thank you for an awesome video!
Thanks for sharing your unique experience, I enjoyed it thoroughly! ;)
I love that your keeping it as it would have been back in the day
Thought I was well versed in my Chevies but I was wrong. Great stuff, you preserved history.
Thank you for sharing this cool peice of craftsmanship
Very nice piece to own, first time I have seen a flat plane classic engine. Well done.
Nice build hopefully I run across some more of your videos 👍
old school rules!
Great video George, thanks for the great explanation and sound?
Wow, it sounds like nothing else, theres a certain balanced harmonic song to it that just sounds awesome, shes a lively one too. Great job very cool
Thanks for sharing. I've always wondered what one of these would sound like.
Thanks for sharing the build George
i knew Smokey as a personal friend, i was a Vocational teacher at DBCC college in Daytona , he would come by sometimes when we were having an open house gathering!
he loved to talk to the students about engines , and they always were excited to listen!
many of his exploits of life!
around 1980- 1985!
Smokey belongs
Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. No shake or vibration. Love the firing order as well. Smooth as silk.
The information about the con rods and anything like that so cool and so valuable it's like better than gold or platinum. Just amazing
Whoa that’s cool! Very unique sound! Almost like two motorcycles ramping up and down at the same time. Haha. I never heard of a flat plane crank until the new GT350 came out, and I certainly didn’t know they made a crank like this way back in the 50s-60s! Too cool
Thank you for restoring this unique piece of American automobile history. Imagine having this engine in a 1st gen Camaro, people would be truly befuddled!
I'm a proud gear head, you my friend are the king gear head! Thanks
Just recently started hearing about guys converting small blocks, and LS engines to flat plane rotating assembly's. Then I came across this! Awesome!
Thanks for posting, very interesting. I’ve been into cars since I was a kid in the 60’s and this is all new to me! I had no knowledge of the flat crank design.
What a cool gem ! Excellent work gentlemen!
Can’t wait to hear it in a car, thank you for sharing.
It sounds even better than I thought it would.....
A true gem of a video. Rare for sure. Thank you for sharing
So smooth and a decent pull to boot. I was especially digging the bronze counter weights.
I can't believe how freely the rotating assembly turns. Well machined sir.
yeah im kind of worried about that on my engine. not sure if i honed the cylinders smooth enough its really tough to turn :/ (cadillac 346 flathead)
Thanks a lot for this video, excellent job:) Sounds like two four cylinder engines. So much talking about cross planes and flat planes and this is the best video i have seen on this :)
That is pretty epic, and a hell of a find! And it sounds so good!
So cool. Thank you for building this piece of history and posting it for us to see
Really cool video!!!! Unbelievable how old school rodders pulled off these things. Thanks for sharing
Very interesting exhaust note and for sure a cool build. Looks like it goes through some nasty harmonics as it comes back down to idle.
Yeah, seems similar to the harmonics in a flat crank 4cyl. I'd drive the shit out of it but run the valves a lot.
i see your being watched by "smokey" in the dyno room !! he would approve !!
When I was racing sprint cars I got a publication that chronicled Smokey Yunick's stock block Indy effort. It was the only stock block to qualify at Indy. Under the rules it allowed a 204 c.i.and I believe the stroke was just over 2 inch. His flat plane build was also reverse rotation. He claimed 1300H.P. with twin turbos. That was in 1972. In the 40's efforts were made to make Ford flat heads perform better in class racing on the SoCal dry lakes.I read they were 180 c.i. In Australia a number of Ford engines have been unsuccessfully built with flat cranks. All longer stroke efforts have met with failure due to extreme vibration. Just read the 2020 Mustang will abandon the 5.2 flat plane VooDoo,many warranty issues.
The pope of wrenches
Great job so nice that your building a little bit of history.I had Smokey's book when I was a kid, I did a few of his tricks and I always felt like I knew some top secret stuff,this engine is something of dreams...sounds amazing..I have a nice 62 Impala it would go good in
I’ve been building Chevy engines since I was a kid. I didn’t know Chevy ever made a flat plane crank. Very cool!!!
It's not factory
Reminds me of a 80’s worked rally escort 2 litre up through the rev range.Amazing piece of history thankyou
I've never heard a small block with an exhaust note quite like that... Very cool indeed! Loved the placard with that CrAzY firing order, too!
I am impressed with this setup as-is with that smaller carb. I bet that runs so smooth you can't even tell it's running outside of the exhaust sound! I want one (or two)!
This guy knows his engines. Bravo, my good man!
It’s literally 2 4 cylinder engines stuck together at the hips lol and that’s what it sounds like
Yeah, but it doesn't sound all farty and annoying like a single 4 banger
Thats exactly why its awesome
It's exactly how a V8 is supposed to be, for a car. Cross plane stuff is a truck engine. Only reason flat planes are rare is that balancing them is difficult, they're flatly better for a performance engine.
@@skyhop.....You wouldn't want a flat-plane in Mom's Caprice though; too rough unless it's under 4L; the new flat-plane C8 sounds fabulous
@@bhaggen I've never considered vibration to be that much of an issue as long as it doesn't shake the car apart. I drive a crown vic for what it's worth.
430hp out of a 9.5:1 comp 59 SBC w/flat plane crank. WOW! Sounds so sweet!!!
Very cool ! I would disagree on saying the use of the rods being insane. At the time it was very smart. Remember the 2.25" rod journal added more journal overlap, which considering their materials they had then was important. I think it is cool you updated the rods. Awesome job on it and thanks for sharing
Yes, that overlap provides extra strength to the crankshaft. I was a big Pontiac Ram Air V fan.
Great build!! Thanks for sharing this! Looking forward to seeing more!
That SBC sounds AWESOME! I hope it makes it into a vintage muscle car and hits the road/track some day.
Having only just stumbling onto this video today ( 12-8-2022) and having Read much about good old Smokey Yunick , I was excited to see your engine build up and running on your dyno . Smokey said the reason he went down that venue with his Indy engine was because of the very flat torque and horsepower curves that he was able to achieve actually helped tremendously in getting the cars out off the corners and onto the straight-aways , but they were limited on top end power….. if my memory is correct. Your dyno pull showed that almost exactly!! Here’s to the “ Outside the box” thinking that went into designs like that. I didn’t see in the video ( nor read all the comments) if you ever substantiated who built your find in the first place , but hoping it was one of Smokey’s Indy car efforts from back in his “ Brickyard forays “ from those long lost days…. 🤞👍. Sounded cool 👍👍. Great find & thanks for keeping a piece of history alive and running. Someone is proud!! 😊😉
How cool is that!!!!! Thanks for sharing.
What a unique sound...and unique Engine.... Awesome 😎 Thanks
What a gem, it almost belongs in a museum. Wait what am I saying.
Very cool! I have a friend that had a 180 350 setup that he put in a small Blazer (or might have been a Jimmy?). Anyway, it sounded like a v-6 which is what those came with. (Yours didn’t sound like that to me but I’m just listening on my phone!!???) It was the coolest sleeper I’ve ever seen! It had a mild setup as well and I think he was getting similar results. The only drawback was it had vibrations in two rpm spots that were kind of annoying, but well worth putting up with! Thanks again for posting this!!!!
Balancing must have been a nightmare. The main advantage of a flat plane is lighter counter weights. If they added brass in addition to the normal counter weights it may have been an attempt to deal with the nasty secondary order vibrations but it was pretty self-defeating.
Modern flat plane v8's deal with vibration by staying relatively small, balance shafts, external dampeners, ect. Still, this was a very interesting find and awesome to hear running.
Very cool, looks like a Super Modified engine from Oswego Speedway. Whatever you put that in, you're gonna have some fun at the car shows. People gonna be telling you "Ya got yer plug wires on wrong".........LOL
correct port matching seems to make for smooth running engine.what a cool little engine! saw the oil groove in the cam bearing.. smart!.never seen a crank done up like that, old school!
Lord what a holy Grail find
When I bought this I searched and called and found no other SBC flat planes out there. It is crazy to think that 60 years ago one guy got a wild hare to think he could gain an advantage by going to the trouble of taking a piece of steel and machine out a full counter weighted scratch built crank. Each counter has 3 holes for the brass plates and holes drilled, taped and plugged for oiling. Then to have a custom cam to suit the firing order. I also have a BBC flat crank that John Lingenfelder had built by Crower. Also have the roller cam, but the specs are such that it is no street engine. He must have had a fascination with FP engines as his company now runs the flat plane LSx in drag race form.Back in the 70's a fellow that Ran in the CRA sprint car series was at Ascot when I was there. He had a 392 Hemi with a flat plane crank that could be heard above all 20+ other cars. Sounded like 2 Offy's running at the same time. Of course thats what a 180* crank does is make the engine effectively 2 four cylinders.
Thanks for sharing, it's truly nice to see a rare part of racing history come alive again. It's just a shame that it brought all the trolls along for the ride lol. But that just means you're doing something worthwhile
I was under the impression flat crank V8 engines didn't require counter balance weights, making them lighter than a 90 degree since they were more or less naturally balanced. What an unusual sound this has. Sounds like an Offenhauser four cylinder Indy car from the era when reved.
Algon injectors, that is a name that I had long forgotten. I'm late seeing this, but what a wonderful sound from back in the days when people were trying all sorts of different things to run a little faster than the other guy.
Definitely a unique sound! Thanks for sharing the video!
Love it ! Amazing craftsmanship
Really cool brotha. I'm running a flat plane 350 in my wingless sprint. A 4 to 2 to 1 exhaust with spintechs sounds like an F1 screamer at 8400rpm
That firing order...
That sound...
That power despite '50s technology.
Great sound!!! I wasn't aware of the flat plane crank until i saw this video...thank you for the great info!! i had a '79 Yamaha XS1100 (in-line 4 cylinder) that had each pair of pistons moving together. I assume this had a flat plane crank.
never assume anything!
Great video, appreciate, love the posters of Garlits and Smokey. I followed Smokey's magazine articles writing for Pop Mech, Circle Track Racing and have all of his HP series books. A true common sense innovator. Called his garage one day about a product he mentioned in one of the HP books. Quite an experience...gruff, gravely old voice, but willing to take a few minutes to help a fellow gearhead. The stories abound with his unique approach to 'rules' and the work arounds he developed...the Indy side hack, the NASCAR Chevelle, the cheater Tran Am car.. Technically these were 'cheats' but actually were within the scope of how the rules were written. The man even built his own DIY heli-arc welder used for the Indy car side hack when the old roadsters of the day were still either gas or stick welded. A man ahead of his time.
If it's not in the rulebook, it's not being broken, right?😁
Funny story... Did a bunch of enduro road race karting in the 80's. Why?? Great way to go fast cheaply on favorite road courses w/o the wallet busting cost of SCCA or IMSA. Approached one of the top engine builders one day with a coupla' questions. He answered with a smug, arrogant attitude of a celebrity until I mentioned dry film lubricants and heat barrier coatings which had been long known, proven by NASCAR and Top Fuel racers for years. But...the mere mention of these two words had him now whispering answers, says they're illegal...sorta?? Seems I hit a nerve with this, discovered his own 'speed secret'!!!Did flagging, communication for SCCA at Riverside for the NASCAR event when Darrel Waltrip kicked butt with his Chevelle that sounded more like an F-1 car or Ferrari with higher revs than the norm V-8 rumble. After the race, curious about this, approached Waltrips crew chief, found they used a flat crank and 180 deg. crossover exhaust. A nightmare to dial in, fit the headers he said but it paid off. All Chevy's should sound so sweet!!! Rules won't allow that kind of creativity now days. What a shame :(
that will put a smile on old car guys faces💯👍sweet
This would be one id like to see a holy efi on just to see if it could make it run. Nice job staying period correct, I was certainly suprised by all the results!
There used to be a guy in our pulling club who ran a 350 with a flat crank, hilborn stack injection on alcohol, he had it in a 66 chevy pickup 4X4, it sounded just incredible.
Very cool. Sounds great!
It's the first time I ever hear one of these 180 degree crank engine. It has a very European sports car sound. Thanks for sharing it.
That's a cool engine. Such strange things that used to be done. Now you see stuff like this all the time. I bet that would have gotten some strange looks in 1959.
Very unique sound love it I bet it would be fun in an old school hot rod
Sounds like a pretty normal SBC at idle, then you race it up & it sounds like a pissed off 4-banger. If you didn’t tell us what you did, I’d be confused as hell. Excellent build, thanks for posting the video!
@Logan's Hot Rod & 4X4
I'm into Hot Rod's and I have to agree with you, I've always wondered how they built engines back in the day, I'm fascinated and speechless over this video ....
@@sbckev2287 Same here!!! This guy is cool as hell, and i'd love to pick his brain. He probably forgot more last week than i'll ever know LOL!!
That thing is SWEET........and so rare!!!
Let's talk about what a splayed cap, aluminum head and flywheel with solid roller and Titainium valvetrain with cross weber side drafts. Is it possible to get a sub 300 cube sbc to run hot and spin with a ferrari>?
It sound absolutely diabolical! It has an idle like that of a cross plane V8 until it's revved. 🔥
So crazy. Sounds like two 4 cylinders running side by side in sync. That’s basically what it is but it sounds like two separate engines.
That mild and that kind of power 🤯. Just imagine what could be done if you went this route today. Cost would be prohibitive but damn!
Love the sound of the lifters too
Bad Ass Man. Sounds freakin nasty but rhythmic. Awesome.
I love how you guys resurrected this engine especially with the Pontiac rods and the sound of this engine is nothing like I've ever heard before it does not sound like A Z06 Corvette which is a flat plane motor it doesn't sound like a Ferrari V8 which is another flat plane motor and it doesn't sound like a cause worth either really unusual sound to this engineI l guys resurrected this engine especially with the Pontiac rods and the sound of this engine is nothing like I've ever heard an engine like this before it does not sound like A Z06 Corvette which is a flat plane motor it doesn't sound like a Ferrari V8 which is another flat plane motor and it doesn't sound like A Cosworth either , this engine has A really unusual sound to this engine .
Thank you for providing this video for old motorheads like me , and some my friends love seeing this too thank you .
That sounds great good job
For those of us that spent our careers working on 4 cylinder engines, none of this seems too weird. The exhaust evacuation would have been perfectly equal on all cylinders. It even sounded like a 4 cylinder (well two 4 cylinder) engine.
It doesn't seem weird that a guy would have a one off crank and cam build after only 2 years of a block being available that could support a 4 inch bore. In order to gain some small advantage racing a dirt modified?? Seem almost unbelievable to me. LOL
It makes so much torque, for a long ways up the rpms. Great street car engine!. No need to rev it up much.. Really cool engine!.
Looks like there is not much going on below 3500 rpm but once it gets past there, yeah, nice wide torque band. Sounds a little like a Subaru in a Fast and Furious car. Smokey Yunick was always trying something new.
Doesnt surprise me that gm did this for year ive heard about them doing this never seen one in real life or on video awesome design in the 80s and 90s my step father and i did some crazy crank shaft mods to chevy small block engine's knive grinding and balancing small block cranks to see what we could get away with in weight savings on the crank and rotating assemblies to turn them up harder had a lot of fun messing with them and some of the results where crazy glad to see it running needs to be preserved for history of auto world in this country
That was awesome,,, thank you for sharing,,, as a Sbc 1st gen buff my self having a elusive 352 long rod full roller engine in my wife's Chevy Vega, she tells me the car eats Coyotes for lunch,, with a 5 speed 😂
Hey rich, just wondering how you came to the 352? Stroked 327? or a 400 rod? What does that rev to? Thanks!!
@ Sbc 400 block. 030(4.155 bore) large journal forged steel nitrated truck crankshaft (3.250 stroke) Scat connecting Rod (6.200) JE pistons,
real good numbers, I like the 180 out cranks, its like having 2 sportbike engines side by side.. they do handle RPM as well...
Sounds great. Like a boat. ⛵😁
I messed around with one in the 90's, used it 1/2 mile dirt track. It was a very smooth running engine fast reving. But anything that was externally mounted to the crank would work its way loose, flywheel, clutch, balancer, pulley bolts. I tried everything locktite, lock washers, tack welding the bolts after being torq. All I could come up with was harmonics at upper RPM. I could run it 5500 and below with no issues.
really, really hope the 2021 zo6 actually has an fpc.... that much power out of a flat plane is going to sound so sweet... & the fact that itll be 'murcan will make it that much sweeter 😊
Its pretty cool Ford has those flat plane cranks engenerded into the mustangs too.
It will. 5.5L DOHC 32-valve V8. Naturally aspirated