Tiny Engine

[Logan]

Completely unrelated to Cadillacs.....but interesting. Does it use TTY head bolts?

http://www.foxnews.c...intcmp=features

Pretty sure the trans is a dummy...just for looks.

[Cadillac Jim]

Conley Precision doesn't say much about the head bolts. They decided early-on that selling this engine as a kit for customers to assemble embroiled them in massive customer support time commitments and sell this engine only as an assembled unit, your choice of normally aspirated at 5.5 hp or supercharged at 9 hp. For this engine, called the "609,", bore is 1" and stroke is 0.97" for a displacement of 6.09 ci or 100 cc. An older V8 engine that they produced for many years until its dies were destroyed in a fire was the "427" at 4.27 ci or 70 cc. The 609 evolved from surviving dies of a replica Viper V10 engine, apparently on the order of 125 cc. The 609 gets its peak hp at 9,500 rpm, a relatively low figure for this small an engine. The older "427" engine was a bit smaller and was sold with several "1/4 scale" cars but only one, a "'23 T-Bucket" can accommodate the 609 engine so the rest are discontinued for now. They do have a prototype "blown fuel dragster" prototype that is featured in the photos.

The transmission is real. It has a centrifugal clutch, one forward speed, and one reverse speed. It will be available soon if it isn't already. Nearly all of the videos of various versions of the 609 show the transmission attached.

At only 9 hp max and, from the videos, an apparent oil-burning problem, this engine is good for RC models and use in such things as model racing. It's a new model and is relatively crude in some ways. I think it has potential for 20,000 rpm and 20 hp if breathing and durability problems can be solved. Cost of the current unit is about $7K for the supercharged version, so manufacturing price is a problem right now because it's hard to envision much of a market for an expensive-to-develop more refined version.

At only 11 lbs shipping weight, this 100 cc engine has potential right now as a scooter engine or even as a small-displacement racing motorcycle engine. There are lots of 100 cc scooters out there with 5 hp or less, and 9 hp isn't bad for an 11-pound engine. Price is a big problem but if they get a contract to sell a bunch of them for scooters, they should get a volume discount for all of their castings. The crank is the most expensive and labor-intensive; it's a two-plane fully counterweighted crank that looks like a SBC or other modern automotive high-performance V8 crankshaft. Conley knows where the bottlenecks and cost are, and if faced with an opportunity he will know what to do. I would go to a forged crankshaft that gets right to the grinding, drilling and balancing operations, for example.

Conley's history shows that he is comfortable with using each V-pair of cylinders as a module for V2, V4, V6, V8, V10 and V12 engines. A V12 with the same bore and stroke would be 150 cc and 8.25 or 13.5 hp, respectively for normally aspirated and supercharged versions, going with the same specific output as the existing V8. The V12 crankshaft has less need for counterweighting than a V8 crankshaft which may be helpful in increasing maximum rpm.

Now, about adjusting the valve lash...