7 Bearing Engine?

[meadowbrook]

I just saw a flat head six being rebuilt that was claimed to be a Chrysler engine from a 20's Chrysler and was being prepped to be used on a Le Mans race car replica from the 20's.

This engine had 7 main bearings, which looked like were insert bearing which were 'babbited' in place. I thought the Mopar flathead engine had 4 main bearings, which were insert (my 230 sure does). What gives? Was there another Chrysler inline 6 design besides the 23 and 25" engines?

[Don Coatney]

Was the engine you looked at also a 12 port engine? The larger Dodge truck engines were 12 port (as pictured below) and the displacement went all the way up to 413 CI. I am not sure how many main bearings these large engines had.

[TodFitch]

I've read that the original 1924 Chrysler 6 had a 7 bearing crank. But I don't know much about it.

[41/53dodges]

Was the engine you looked at also a 12 port engine? The larger Dodge truck engines were 12 port (as pictured below) and the displacement went all the way up to 413 CI. I am not sure how many main bearings these large engines had.

does anybody have one of these behemoths laying around? i would love to see one in person...

[48mirage]

Thears a thread about a guy who found one over at inliners. Here is a link.

http://www.inliners.org/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=37431#Post37431

http://www.inliners.org/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=40791#Post40791

[Dodgeb4ya]

I guess I will do a DC.... do a forum search and you will be amazed at what you should come up with!

[TodFitch]

From the introductory paragraph in A Pictorial History of Chrysler Corporation Cars published by Chyrsler in 1975:

The first Chrysler cars were introduced on January 5, 1924, at the New York Automobile Show located in the 258th Field Artillery Armory and in the lobby of New York's Commodore Hotel. These cars had a revolutionary new six-cylinder, high-compresion engine, a seven-bearing crankshaft, carburetor air cleaner, replaceable oil filter--and four wheel hydraulic brakes. Features like this had never been offered in a medium-priced car before, and the 32,000 first-year record sales substantiated the tremendous appeal of the first Chrysler car.

So the 1924 six cylinder engine had a seven bearing crank. Apparently a vibration damper was added in 1925 and rubber engine mounts in 1926.

The book also mentions that Chryslers finished third and fourth at the 1928 Le Mans race.

[austinsailor]

I have 2 in Central Missouri, one running in a truck, another on the shelf.

Yes, it's 7 mains and 12 ports. There is a fellow in England who's restored a ww2 era panel with one in it and has documented a lot of it.

You can see mine in various states of disassembly and rebuild at:

http://www.austinsailor.net/47_dodge/47dodge.html

I understand that the big truck motor is a version of the original motor you are asking about. They also make it into a OHV version to create the diesel of the 40's trucks.

[meadowbrook]

Yup, looks like the one I saw in Ypsilanti.

[austinsailor]

I'd love to find a 413. If anyone sees one that can be bought please let me know. Both of mine are 331 motors, same block, but different bore and innards.

One of the treads I read that the motor they were looking at had hydraulic lifters. Only the`413 had them as far as I've been able to find out.

[Dodgeb4ya]

Here is a picture of a 413 piston and rod compared with a Chrysler 323 straight eight rod and piston (smaller piston). The other short dirty 218 con rod is what my old child hood buddy dug up in his moms yard in 2008 - parts from a 1952 plymouth engine we took apart and buried in his back yard in 1966. It was the only small flathead 218 rod I have for comparison to the big truck engine piston assembly. I seem to only save the big stuff.

As for hydraulic lifters-they came in both the 377 and the 413 engines. I have a 377 also with them in it.

The lifter rack-2 required bolt into the block as an assembly.

Edited December 5, 2011 by Dodgeb4ya

[Frank Elder]

There's no way to run HYD lifters in the car engines is there? Or any reason to do it?

[Young Ed]

There's no way to run HYD lifters in the car engines is there? Or any reason to do it?

Isn't the reason to do it no more valve adjustments?

[randroid]

meadowbrook,

In the first post you mentioned bearings being "babbitted" in place and I'd like to amend that just a taste, if I may. Babbitt is a bearing material in-and-of itself, an alloy of lead, tin, and antimony, and is still used in low pressure applications such as bearings for steam turbines (which is where I became familiar with it). It is a soft material with lots of positive characteristics but it won't take much pressure, which is why although it was used in automotive applications early on, once compression ratios began to rise it began to fail. I don't remember when cars started using other bearing material but it is conceivable that a 1925 engine ran babbitt and if yours did do not discard the liners used to hold the babbitt in place because you'd probably need to them to re-pour the bearings.

Fascinating info on this thread and thanks to all the contributors.

-Randy