Dodge D5 engine in Russia

[sser2]

It might be of interest to the forum members that the D5 engine had a tremendous impact on Russian automotive industry.

By 1937, the Ford A engine licensed from US by Russia exhausted its upgrading potential and became sorely inadequate. A new, more powerful engine was necessary. Russian engineers were not up to the task of quickly developing a 6-cylinder engine of their own, so a decision was taken to identify the best American engine of the time and license it. A team of experts headed by Andrew Lipgart, Chief Engineer of Gorky Auto Works (GAZ), determined that D5 fitted the bill. A license was purchased from Chrysler, alongside with key production equipment, and preparations started at GAZ for mass production.

Actual production did not start right away. First, the whole design was changed to metric system. Second, few changes were made. One was helical gear drive instead of chain and sprockets for camshaft, which made it necessary to re-design the camshaft.  As a result of changing bore and stroke, engine displacement somewhat decreased. The first serial engines produced in 1939 were installed in M1, the only mass-produced pre-war Russian passenger car.

The first Russian D5 engines had a number of problems. Head studs had inadequate strength, which was remedied by adding more studs. Russian cast iron of the block was of inferior quality to American, causing excessive upper cylinder wear. This was fixed by using partial cylinder sleeves made of higher quality metal, spanning the top two inches of the cylinder bore. Babbitt main and rod bearings were not up to the task, and were replaced with bi-metal bearings. Due to inadequate lubrication (bad oil), rod bearings tended to spin during sustained high speed driving. The solution was limiting engine rpm with a sophisticated tamper-proof throttle design. Excessive dust of Russian roads accelerated wear, which necessitated using full flow crude oil filter in addition to bypass cartridge filter. Phenolic cam gear was getting lose on its hub. Eventually all the teething problems were solved, and the engine turned out powerful, economical, and reliable. Interestingly, most Russian D5 engines were equipped with aluminum heads; small number of cast iron head engines were also made. Marine and aviation(!) versions were being tested, but the war interrupted this work.

On the outbreak of war in 1941 all D5 engines were diverted to use in light tanks such as T60, T70, and self-propelled gun SU-76. The total of over 50,000 engines were delivered for these purposes in 1941-45.

After the war the main use of Russian D5 was in GAZ-51 2.5 ton trucks. 3.5 million of these trucks were made during 1946-75.

D5 was also used in the luxury government sedan ZIM. 

A mass passenger car of 50s, GAZ M20 Pobeda (Victory) used the 4-cylinder chopped version of D5. The total of 236,000 were produced.

D5 was also used on large scale in loaders, air compressors, welders, and as marine engine.

[Dan Hiebert]

Now THAT is interesting!  Thanks for posting.

[dpollo]

The D5 would have been 3 1/4 by 4 3/8   an engine  which , given its use in Plymouth, from 1942 to 54,  may have been the most used of all the flatheads.   I'll bet the Russians regretted trying to re engineer it.  Thanks for this information.

It is also interesting to note that the Ford v8-Sixty  found its way into Simca and the larger v8 into tanks and Military equipment. 

[sser2]

5 hours ago, dpollo said:

 I'll bet the Russians regretted trying to re engineer it.

Re-engineering was necessity rather than whim. The design needed adaptation to harsh Russian realities - lower quality materials, somewhat sloppy workmanship, and bad roads. For example, prevailing grade of gasoline at the time was 56, so aluminum head was not for hotrodding, but rather for avoiding degraded performance.

Here is a link to youtube video showing disassembly of Russian D5. They speak Russian, but it is pretty much self-explanatory.

Russian D5 disassembly

[knuckleharley]

Hmmm,I'm wondering if there is a source where I can buy a couple of those aluminum heads?

 

 

[sser2]

11 minutes ago, knuckleharley said:

Hmmm,I'm wondering if there is a source where I can buy a couple of those aluminum heads?

 

 

They won't fit due to extra studs. You can watch the video.

[knuckleharley]

The early ones made before extra studs were added would fit.

[Flatie46]

If they were used in aviation, wonder what kind of carb or fuel system they used? Thanks for posting.

[knuckleharley]

7 minutes ago, Flatie46 said:

If they were used in aviation, wonder what kind of carb or fuel system they used? Thanks for posting.

I saw no mention of aviation uses,and see no practical applications.

I could see it being used to power an air-compressor to turn over those big radial engines used back then,though. I have a 4 cylinder DeVibliss 2 stage air compressor mounted on a trailer that is powered by a 4 cylinder Wisconsin engine that was supposedly used by the Army Air Force in WW-2 to start aircraft. I can easily see the Russians using them to occasionally spin over the engines just to keep them lubed and from seizing in the winter as they sat outside on the ready line.

[sser2]

The only mention of aviation use that I could find was that the engine was equipped with reduction gear mounted in bell housing. Since standard unleaded aviation gasoline in Russia had octane rating of 70, and lead could bring it to 100 and beyond, it is not unreasonable to speculate 120-130 hp potential output. Also, better oils with anti-friction additives were available, exclusively for aviation. Motor resource of less than 100 hours was quite acceptable in aircraft applications.

The only Russian fuel injection engines of the time that I know about were twin row radials in the La-5 fighter plane. All Russian D5 engines were carburated.

Russian D5 engines were not equipped with Carter or Stromberg carburettors. Lipgart decided to save money on carburettor license. Earlier production engines were equipped with twin Ford model A carbs (another hotrodding that wasn't). Later engines had single K-23 carburetor, which was a Russian design similar to Carter. In the 50s, they developed a twin-barrel carburettor for this engine.

[bskaga]

On 1/6/2017 at 6:56 AM, knuckleharley said:

I saw no mention of aviation uses,and see no practical applications.

I could see it being used to power an air-compressor to turn over those big radial engines used back then,though. I have a 4 cylinder DeVibliss 2 stage air compressor mounted on a trailer that is powered by a 4 cylinder Wisconsin engine that was supposedly used by the Army Air Force in WW-2 to start aircraft. I can easily see the Russians using them to occasionally spin over the engines just to keep them lubed and from seizing in the winter as they sat outside on the ready line.

One of the main reasons restraining the development of mass sports aviation in the USSR in the mid-1930s was the lack of low-power aircraft engines. As a solution to the problem, it was proposed to use automobile engines, which, being 5-6 times cheaper than aircraft, also consumed significantly less fuel. In addition, it seemed very tempting to use conventional automobile gasoline instead of high-octane and expensive aviation. However, a significant obstacle to the installation of car engines on aircraft was their too large weight. The aircraft was G-23(Г-23) developed by the designer Gribovsky Vladislav Konstantinovich(Грибовский Владислав Константинович).

Edited April 12, 2021 by bskaga

[greg g]

They did much the same thing with all the Studebaker deuce and a half trucks that were shipped in the thousands during the lend lease period before and during WW II.  They were good at swiping engineering and designs, but metallurgy left a lot to be desired.  There was a car that was made in Poland that reverse engineered the SAAB 3cyl 2 stroke design pretty much down to the last nut.

[knuckleharley]

1 hour ago, greg g said:

They did much the same thing with all the Studebaker deuce and a half trucks that were shipped in the thousands during the lend lease period before and during WW II.  They were good at swiping engineering and designs, but metallurgy left a lot to be desired.  There was a car that was made in Poland that reverse engineered the SAAB 3cyl 2 stroke design pretty much down to the last nut.

And lets not forget the German BMW motorcycle. The Soviets bought several new in the crate in the mid-30's,and shipped them directly to Russia,where they were duplicated right down to the bolts and nuts,and IF I remember correctly,called the "Yural". The Red Army had tens of thousands of these things. They even had one with a sidecar with tracks for winter operations.

 

You know your life sucks when you are a motorcycle messanger in Siberia during the winter.

 

BTW,shortly after Communism collapsed in Russia,the factory in the Yural Mountains started painting them red and while,blue and white,and yellow and white,putting chrome rims on them,and selling them as civilian motorcycles. At one time I even remember them importing them into the US and looking for dealers.

 

They had by this time had the electrics as well as the mechanics updated,of course. Nobody these days was wanting to buy a 36 hp motorcycle with points ignition.

[greg g]

A friend has a Ural diesel  that he runs on catalized fryer oil fuel he makes himself.  He has about 200k on the thing on the bio diesel.  It ain't fast but it will get you where you need to go.  Riding behind him is like following a Chinese restaurant, you are always hungry for an egg roll at the end of the day.  By the way, on the air planes, stolen too.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahlin_SF-2_Plymocoupe

[Marcel Backs]

Good thing they did not install them in a Lada. Russian engineers would have had to design a ski for the oil pan. LOL

[T120]

44 minutes ago, knuckleharley said:

And lets not forget the German BMW motorcycle. The Soviets bought several new in the crate in the mid-30's,and shipped them directly to Russia,where they were duplicated right down to the bolts and nuts,and IF I remember correctly,called the "Yural". The Red Army had tens of thousands of these things. They even had one with a sidecar with tracks for winter operations.

 

You know your life sucks when you are a motorcycle messanger in Siberia during the winter.

 

BTW,shortly after Communism collapsed in Russia,the factory in the Yural Mountains started painting them red and while,blue and white,and yellow and white,putting chrome rims on them,and selling them as civilian motorcycles. At one time I even remember them importing them into the US and looking for dealers.

 

They had by this time had the electrics as well as the mechanics updated,of course. Nobody these days was wanting to buy a 36 hp motorcycle with points ignition.

Like the Chinese Chang Jiang motorcycle with sidecar  - I've seen a few on the road that have been imported here in Alberta. ?

[chrysler1941]

1 hour ago, knuckleharley said:

And lets not forget the German BMW motorcycle. The Soviets bought several new in the crate in the mid-30's,and shipped them directly to Russia,where they were duplicated right down to the bolts and nuts,and IF I remember correctly,called the "Yural". The Red Army had tens of thousands of these things. They even had one with a sidecar with tracks for winter operations.

 

You know your life sucks when you are a motorcycle messanger in Siberia during the winter.

 

BTW,shortly after Communism collapsed in Russia,the factory in the Yural Mountains started painting them red and while,blue and white,and yellow and white,putting chrome rims on them,and selling them as civilian motorcycles. At one time I even remember them importing them into the US and looking for dealers.

 

They had by this time had the electrics as well as the mechanics updated,of course. Nobody these days was wanting to buy a 36 hp motorcycle with points ignition.

And so did Harley with their XA.

BSA and Harley also copied DKW 125 2 stroke and called it Bantam and Hummer.

[plymjim]

Here's a Chang Jiang. Fellow in New Jersey imported them  15 maybe 20 years ago. Sorry, my 

memory ain't what it used to be. I DO remember that quality control at the Chang Jiang

factory was less than stellar. Apparently following WW2 Russia & China got the German 

plans for the Beemer, hence the Ural & Chang Jiang. By the way, this thing had a reverse gear too.

 

[MackTheFinger]

The way I understood it, and I wouldn't swear this is correct; after WWII when the Allies were splitting up Germany the USSR got the BMW factories and tooling on the Eastern side and cut their buddies in China in on the deal while all the U.S. got was to have the American dollar declared as the worldwide currency standard since the rest of the world was penniless and smoldering and the Allies were deep in debt to us. That isn't political, money doesn't care about politics. 

 

There's a Ural dealer just outside St. Louis. A friend had a Ural Sidecar rig that had been retrofitted with a BMW R60 engine. He thought about putting an R90 in it but the transmission and rear drive wouldn't have held up. They barely held up to the 500cc Ural motors. The first motorcycle I ever rode was a 1946 Harley 125 we had on the farm when I was a kid. It was the predecessor to the Hummer and had a rubber band suspended front fork. And thus began my decline into life as a motorcycle hoodlum.. Other than the skull fracture, broken bones, road rash, lacerations and contusions I wouldn't trade it for anything..  ?

Edited April 13, 2021 by MackTheFinger

[bskaga]

Mopar(Chrysler) Flathead engines are still alive in Russia. Here is an example of a transfer to electronic fuel injection control in artisanal garage conditions.

Video: https://youtu.be/lpkbbPi8Rsk

[Marcel Backs]

You could turbo that! Heh heh!