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posted on June 28th, 2004 at 11:24 PM
Air Cooled Flat Twin
G'day all.
I've found a horizontally opposed, air-cooled twin cylinder engine, complete with gearbox, generator, distributor, carburettor, air filter, oil
filter, regulator, ducting and tinware.
I was hoping it would be of Continental origin, like Citroen, Panhard, Tatra, etc; but have found that it has Nippon Denso electricals (generator,
regulator) and some Asian letters moulded into the flywheel housing. So I figure it must be of Japanese origin.
Would anyone have any idea what car this is from? What manufacturer? It is an all-alloy engine and gearbox, with the gearbox out the back,
suggesting that it's most likely front-engined, with rear wheel drive. The fan is at the front, and the engine ducting leads the air over the
cylinders, similar to our VW's. Curiously, the generator drive belt is behind the fan, so maybe the fan had to come off the end of the crankshaft in
order to put on a new generator drive belt.
The engine unit has obviously been sitting idle for many years, so I haven't tried to turn it over just yet, don't want to damage anything.
I'm guessing it dates from the early to mid 1960's. And no, it's definitely not a motorcycle engine - it's way too big. Too big in overall size,
not engine capacity. So it's not Velocette, ABC, Douglas, BMW, Zundapp, Lilac, etc.
Thanks in advance. Cheers.
pod
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A.k.a.: Lee Noonan
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posted on June 28th, 2004 at 11:51 PM
I was also thinking Honda.. Z coupe...
Honda started making motor cycles many years ago but only went into cars around the early 60s.... made some odd little cars first...
I first thought of the Haflinger engine... from Pinzgauer in Austria..... looks like a twin cylinder VW engine...
Lee
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pod
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posted on June 28th, 2004 at 11:59 PM
thats the one i was thinking of as well. before the civic
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posted on July 2nd, 2004 at 08:33 PM
Thanks for your input, fellas.
I've found a chap in Japan who will be able to identify this engine - just a soon as I get it home, and get some photographs. Which I shall also
post to this list. Later this month.
Meanwhile, for those of you who have only recently stumbled across the Tatra marque, have a geek at this:
Ledwinka is widely regarded as one of the great European designers. One story I read about him - he believed that modern trucks had not changed
much since the days of bullock drays. And if one considers that both truck and dray chassis consist of two long members with pieces across to keep
them together, or apart, as the case may be, (i.e. ladder frame), then he was quite right. Save that the steering has improved somewhat. So his
trucks, both ridgids and prime movers, had bogie drive, with diff. locks as a matter of course, but also had independent suspension all round. I'm
trying to imagine the size of the constant velocity joints required to transmit that power. Perhaps not really suitable for trundling up and down the
Hume Freeway, but these trucks were capable of going into the forest and dragging out their own logs, without getting stuck.
What about Deutz ? Heard of them? Oh, diesels. Well...
What abut Franklin ? They were air cooled, too. Then there's Victa. Victa? Yep, they made a flat twin, too.
Gosh, there's no end to it, is there ? Cheers.
70AutoStik
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posted on July 2nd, 2004 at 09:14 PM
I looked up the czech site - very patriotic. But yo should have a look at a few more cars of the same era - that kind of shape was dicatated by a
combination of the manufacturing technology of the time and a need need to keep manufacturing costs of the body down to a point of making a car that
the average man in the street could dream of owning (sorry, Hitler wasn't quite the visionary some have painted him to be.)
type82e
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posted on July 2nd, 2004 at 11:23 PM
the first subaru's were a 2 cyl little coupe saw a picture of it somewhere? could be a winner.
marcel
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re Subaru: I did find a website giving some history and pics of this marque, but nothing mentioned of a 2 cyl. engine.
You may well be right, though. I'll keep looking. Cheers.
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posted on July 3rd, 2004 at 06:34 PM
type82e is right, the first subis were 2cyl, they were shaped like bugs, and i think maybe rear-engined too, called the 360 from memory.
Reimagined/Recycled/Upcycled Cool
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posted on July 4th, 2004 at 09:56 PM
Thanks. Wish I could find something about 'em on the ww web. Nice tidy unit, this 2 cyl. engine is. Now I'd like to know if Subaru made it under
licence, or whether it's all of their own design. There were no pushrod tubes on top of the cylinders, so I assume they must be underneath. Didn't
see anything to suggest it might be overhead cam, either. Hate to keep you in suspense, but as said, I can't do 'photos for a week or two. BTW,
It's an engine with a gearbox attached. There is no differential. The gearbox output shaft has a spider/flange/thingo on it to take a universal
joint. Which all suggests that it's either front-engined with rear wheel drive, or rear-engined with front wheel drive, the latter being very
unusual. If it were rear-engine with rear wheel drive, the engine overhang (out the back) would be enormous. Cheers.
kombikim
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posted on July 4th, 2004 at 10:04 PM
You will almost certainly find it is an engine from a Toyota Publica , which was sold in Australia as the Toyota 700, mostly fitted with a 2 speed
automatic transmission, around 1966, the were quite common & very long lived, only disappearing from the roads in the early 80s , they put out
quite a bit of power considering the size of the motor, which was also fitted to an 800cc sports coupe, of which only a handful came to Australia both
these vehicles were front engine/rear drive
[Edited on 4-7-2004 by kombikim]
Please, I need drivers side window regulator (winder mechanism) for my '54
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posted on July 4th, 2004 at 11:17 PM
Great stuff ! Thanks, Kim.
Found it on http://www.Carfolio.com
Nice little sports car, too. Very desirable. No pics of the engine, though.
Yes, that was a good power output for the time.
The Dyna Panhard developed about 50 bhp from 750 ccm,
from memory, also a very respectable figure, later models only. Cheers.
