I posted this topis on the slantsix.com board as well, but I figured I'd post it here to get double coverage and hopefully double advice...

Been dreaming up an old hotrod for a while that was gonna use two flathead sixes, but it occurred to me last night that I may as well use a couple slants instead. I've heard about the flatties having problems with weak crank shafts and figured I might be able to avoid it by using slants...

BUT, to date, I've never had a car with a slant in it, so I'm not familiar with them at all. I was hoping to give y'all a brief description of my ideas, so you can tell me why it won't work, or how it could work...

The idea is to run one motor in front of the other. To couple them, I was thinking I would attach a "sprocket" to the rear of the front motor, and then another "sprocket" to the front of the rear motor and wrap them with a double chain. (Think double bicycle chain, or timing chain.)

Any reasons specific to slant motors or cranks that a set-up like this wouldn't work?

The unanswered questions are a starter that will crank 2 motors, and how to set up the cooling system...

School me.

Thanks,

Dave.

I have seen two slants in a boat. They both drove seperate shafts, but what was cool about the installation was that they were installed side by side, with the engines both slanting in towards each other. Made for a very compact installation. Not too sure how hard maintenence would have been, but I thought I'd mention it so you might have another option.
You'd have to run some sort of drive between the two engines, probably with overrunning clutches somewhere in case one engine packed it in. Turning a dead engine with a good one wouldn't be very efficient, and may break something if it happened at higher rpms.

Regards, Andrew.

By any chance is this going in a 30's style racer, and are you a HAMB'er?
-Jesse

If we are getting creative with fabrication, how bout using one engine per 2 wheels? That way you wouldn't have to worry about the issues of coupling two engines. Assuming all else is the same, just sync the throttle cables and you should be set

You could probably adapt a front wheel drive transmission to a slant if you tried hard enough. That would probably be the biggest challenge. Duplicate the setup in the rear, minus the steering, and your set. Or if you feel even more adventerous you could even duplicate the setup in the rear with steering and work out a 4 wheel steering. That sure otta turn some eyes...

Thanks for the input guys.

Typhoon, I don't think I'll have room between my frame rails to run the motors side by side. And I'm not sure if I want to think that hard about the reverse rotation of one of the engines.

Greasy, not sure if my vision would fit any particular category of car, but I am a HAMBer.

Pierre, sounds great, but I know for a fact I ain't sharp enough to pull that one off. Too bad, too, because after reading your description I had a vision of 2 slants sitting transverse in front of the firewall, driving 2 seperate front wheel drive trannies with the second motor's tranny driving a drive shaft to the rear wheels... Talk about blowing some minds on that one...

At the World of Wheels show last year there was a twin engine corvette. It was a Hot Wheels Fantasy Car. For the life of me I can't remember what it was called but he did what it sounds like you want to do. Both engines were mounted in front, it appeared as though there was one trans and diff. We were baffled by how he could get this to work but the story was that both engines were functional and the car would run and drive. It was slammed too low to see underneath it to decipher exactly what was going on under there. Maybe you can find this car (on the web) and get some ideas? Maybe someone else here saw that car and can remember more?

Good luck

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Grip it and rip it

The old "Chrysler Crew" unlimited hydroplane had two Hemi's for power and it also had a lot of breakdowns from trying to synchronize output from the two engines.

Any multi-engine setup would need some sort of viscous coupler to minimize mechanical problems.

...not slants, but they're inline sixes and there are 2 of 'em...


http://www.myhraphoto.com/Pages/drag_bako2_09.html


---Red

I thought your handle sounded familar, I'm Gettingreasy over on the HAMB.
-Jesse

http://www.gassermadness.com/mm2k2/rb/S ... _03-02.jpg

http://www.maziracing.com/aprilsonoma/2001recap.htm

Couple of larger pictures...

Joe

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My 63 Valiant
http://www.readersrides.com/rides/class ... aliant.htm
<img src="http://www.readersrides.com/slant6-02.gif"/>

I been thinking about this, and on a couple machines at work, we've got what's called a fluid coupler. It's used in a belt drive setup, so I can't say it would work as an engine-to-engine coupler. It's basically a self-contained torque convertor that's filled with oil on installation. It would allow some slippage between the engines, but if it gets too hot, there's a "melt plug" that opens and lets the oil spray out, emptying the thing so as to prevent damage.

We use it to drive a speed reducer on a scrap wood grinding machine. I do know it's available in larger sizes than we use, but am not aware of the HP ratings. I'm thinking along the lines of driving a 727 by routing the engine outputs through two belt drive setups, with both belt drives spinning the 727 convertor.

I can't imagine a 904 handling the output of two slants, especially if they're built.

Roger

Tragic, what I had in mind was one under the hood and one under the trunk. Two under the hood would be a nightmare for weight distribution. It'd be cool if this car was still drivable to car shows

They have an article in this month's magazine about a twin flat head dragster. The article is supposed to be online too at rodandcustommagazine.com under Flathead Jack's twin-engine digger. It mentions using a coupler from the read of one crankshaft to the front of the other. I also read once in Hod Rod I think about two 350 Chevy's welded together so it was a V-16. Now that would make a big slant!

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Slant Six... out of the ordinary - just like me!