Inliners International Forums General Discussion Bench racing What is the ultimate inline six?

No, there weren't at that time, for sure...

And you have the specs right, though they might have been 40mm Webers.

Funny gearchange pattern too, I think.

hay ray my father had a prince skyline GT in 66 then updated again in 67 with another GT . this was a factory tripple webber carb small cubic inch inline 6 that was backed by a 5 speed manual trans. back in 67 the v8 was just thinking of getting on the scene here in australia and the next thing on the quick list was the mini cooper S . i would have to ask him for the engine specs but i think it was pretty slick for its day..

sorry mate not real good on a computer posted message again and found the one i lost. found some pics of the GT will get wife to try post them . sounds like you realy like the old grey motor , did you race ever race one ?? i race a red powered altered ,179 on alcohol injection with a bit of nitrous to help it along , but raced a super sedan with 202 power for a while too .

No, I don't have much time for the grey motor at all... much prefer things like the Fiat 1800 with a nicer head design.

I did have several grey motors in different road Holdens, of course, but the inline six in the Austin A99 was so much more useful. Heavy, but useful.

To post pics, use http://imageshack.us

the ''super six'' indian inline 6 motor e/w 2 schubler carbsbuilt by Herb Ottaway . I first saw this six cylinder Indian cycle at Daytona in 1997. Herb Ottaway built this six cylinder, 80hp Indian Six back in 1959. As you can imagine it took two Indian 4s to make this bikes. The photo was submitted in April 2001 by Herb's nephew Dennis Nelson who wrote, "The bike was able to do 130mph. It has Harley front forks, wheels, fenders and seat. It is also equiped with a radio, speedometer, ammeter, tachometer, hours meter, manfold pressure gauge, oil temperature and pressure gauge. Mr Ottaway was my uncle by marriage . He owned a large amusement park in Wichita Kansas called Joyland, and it had all kinds of rides and live steam trains. He's still alive and has a machine shop and motor cycle museum. Nice guy. I was born and raised in Dodge city Kansas, where they had the longest held (in a row) dirt track races in the world. I moved from their in the 70,s and I believe they stoped having them shortly after that. I rode the wall of death when I was 14 yrs old. No big deal, my brother did it when he was 12."


for us two wheeler guys

http://www.cycletownusa.com/Indian6.jpg

Grass Valley? Near to Shaun?

Have you any details on that Indian engine? I'm interested to learn more...

it's in a past issue of our national AMCA magazine
hand made from two inline fours.

no. calif.

Yeah... Shaun Rainsbarger lives in Grass Valley CA... he's helping us out with a bit of importing we're doing. But he's a V8 man.

As for the Indian, I haven't been able to access that! Sounds like an interesting project. Do you think you could e.mail me ( raybell@racingphoenix.com ) some pics and details?

Thanks...

From whatI heard the best ones are the "Flyin Jimmy" Bantam Roadster of Fontana & Tone between the 4 and 5 mile @ Bonneville in 2003 on 72% nitro with a Skinner 12 port GMC at 215 MPH; closely followed by the Ferguson Streamliner in 2006 at the end of the 5 mile at 305+ MPH. A 12 Wayne 12 Port head GMC on 60%. Now those were "sweet"

Thanks, Jimmy, but that's not what I've been seeking in this thread...

It seems that most of you folk think I'm asking what was the most powerful inline six, but that's not it at all.

I'm thinking of the nicest engine, with a preference for the high revs rather than raw power.

The BMW 3.5l (s38b35) , 3.6l (s38b36) and 3.8l (s38b38) DOHC inline six deserve some mention here. Early versions are known as the M88/1 engine installed in the BMW M1. These engines were available in the M5 and M6 models marketed between 1983 and 1995.

In street european form they cranked out 286 HP, 315 HP and 340 HP respectively with a redline of around 7000 RPM.

I believe these to be some of the most powerful inline 6 engines offered in a passenger vehicle.

Indeed, BMW have always built some nice screamers of inline sixes... sound good, go well. I remember being very impressed by a 528i I had for a weekend back in '77 or so when they were new.

But what a jerk of a car it was in turns! It was slower point to point over a country road than a Peugeot 504 had been a week or two earlier, both sitting on the limit.

But the BMW's limit was up to 125mph... the Pug would only do 99!

i really love the 4.2 ltr Jag 6 for pure beauty(love that 'offy' look)did hear in the sixty's the 3.8 litre was capable of 175mph in race trim.if it goes as good as it looks then i'm hooked!

The earlier engines, pre-4.2litre, only had plain cam covers. Sometime they fitted black finished covers with ribs along the top that were machined back to aluminium and they did look a lot better.

And 175 mph... in the D-types at Le Mans... for sure.

Hmmmm.. wonder if anybody has ever dropped a 240Z engine in a '50 Chev..? Now that would be something.....Hmmmmmmmm.

Hmmmm.. I also have a 300 Ford inline in my '92. May have to pull that someday when I'm sick of the truck and keep it for a future project. I also have an old rambler that needs new life.. RamblerZ? Hmmmmmm.

I don't know about that...

The 240Z motor is, after all, only 140-something cubes. Not a lot of grunt there. And it's not spectacularly light.

There's a 240Z running around Brisbane with a Chrysler Hemi 265 in it that stuns everyone with the way it waltzes away from standard models... and it's not as heavy either.

That sure is a slick set-up in the "Z car"!

I love to see the Japs eat crow.

Biggest problem they had with the installation was, because they moved the engine back a bit, that they had to make the bonnet catch on the firewall removable.

The picture is GREAT too.

Did you notice the shoes??

One 6 cylinder I owned and sounded fantastic was a 1934 Wolseley Hornet.
6 cylinder single OHC which ran in front roller bearing and only 1208cc.
They also had 4 cylinder.

Well how about that...

Finally a mention of the basic engine that started me on this thread!

Sixes, surely, are made to rev. And little sixes rev harder, do they not? And send out a song that's a delight to the ear of anyone mechanically inclined.

Hi Warren, had no idea you would have had one of those things!

Next one after the Austin 7- it was the sedan version-syncro on 3rd and 4th only- trafficators,hydraulic brakes of course, one shot lube, leather seats-sleepers-, and could it rev.
You would love AF at moment- Rod Slater has joined and his knowledge is fairly good.

A shame about AF... I keep begging, but nothing happens... it's been 18 months now.

The version of the engine that inspired this thread, you probably realise by now, was the K3 Magnette engine.

Supercharged inline six with overhead camshaft, 1087cc from a 57mm bore and a 71mm stroke. Lovely thing, it must have sounded great, and it went well enough.

And 120bhp at 6,500rpm was nothing to sneeze at in the early thirties, either!

Saw a K3 many years ago-must have been about 14 and there was a "car show" at Melville near Fremantle.
No new cars, just a group of enthusiasts. It was BRG of course and had little glass wind deflectors at ends of windscreen.
I was more impressed by a Isotto Franchini which was black and just two seats and small "trunk".
The bonnet was loooong! The car must have been close to 18' long. We had a Ford V8 and I was used to that size car.
The lady who owned it let me sit in it. She was very smartly dressed and wore,what I know now to be a "cloche" hat.
Straight eight from memory and all polished.
This is almost identical.

I would love to play with a modern engine after the style of the K3...

Shorter stroke, of course, about 1,000 to 1,300cc in capacity, inline six, SOHC or DOHC, and intended for a car rather than a bike.

I must have a K3 pic here somewhere... oh yeah, Vennermark's at Lobethal in 1940:



Warren... please e.mail me...

r@ybell.net or raybell@racingphoenix.com

Noticed when looking around that the Wolseley OHC and TOHC design was influenced by Hispano Suiza as they were their agents for UK and used their engines.

Posted this incorrectly in Ford section.

Ulster MG ex Eyston

http://www.yorkwa.com.au/Motor.Museum/1934MG-NE.htm

Unsupercharged...

Isn't that lovely? Again I ask, is it not the 'ultimate inline six'?

And again, what could a modern engine like that do?

Most definately. John Cunningham got his Nova wagon to run 9.2's in the quarter mile consistantly at traps around 145 mph with a nice sized turbo plumbed up to his 4200. Here's a picture.

BF&(nsm!)I in the theme of this thread...

While it's nice to know that something like that was built, and that it was able to be wound up to do that, this thread is really about neat little screamers.

Thanks for the pic.

230six,,,,
Has John Cunningham ran in the 8 second range?
I thought I saw a video that it ran 8.7's??? @ over 150 MPH???

MBHD

I believe he may have, but not with the straight six. He eventually pulled that engine out and went with a BBC. (I think)

Glen Treadwell has gone 8.03 with his normally aspirated gasoline burning 23T altered Vortec 4200. Awesome NHRA ride.

Ray, I dont remembering you saying that this thread was about "neat little screamers" when you started it - just what is the ultimate six? To some ultimate may be neither "neat" nor "little", just ultimate.

Ray, back in the '60s, I had a Taunus 2-door wagon that I thought was pretty peppy. That changed when I met a Fiat mechanic, who had a Fiat 1800 wagon. With hand-made headers and dual exhausts, that engine made the sweetest sounds I ever heard. His car made the Taunus look like I was pulling a trailer! His specialty was working on 600 Fiat Abarths.........but like you, he loved the 1800 engines. He was building an aluminum hand-made body, like a little Jag, to mount an 1800 engine/transmission in. Sadly, he had a heart attack, never finishing the car. I haven't seen an 1800 Fiat in years, but thanks for bring back the memory! I wish vehicles like that were still available, here today........at decent prices.

Frenchtown Flyer... no I didn't say that at the start as I was looking to see what would come out of it.

But as soon as huge marine diesels and the like were being mentioned I did try to divert thoughts to little engines.

Dennis... yeah, what a nice project. Shame it never got done.

I'm starting to get fairly impressed with a 3-litre six I have at the moment, a Nissan engine (RB30) that came here in both Nissans and in Holdens.

I don't know if I mentioned it or not, but when the Australian Formula 2 category was changed to be single cam (in block or head) production based engines up to 1600cc, no change in stroke allowed but bore could be altered to get the right capacity, John McCormack (an Australian Champion driver) reckoned that a sleeved down Fiat 1800 would be a very good thing to look at.

Wish someone had done it... but instead we only ever saw fours used.

Are there any pictures or website of Glen Treadwells 23T altered?
The 4200 Chevy engine seems to be "THE NEXT BEST KEPT SECRET IN DRAG RACING"!

MBHD

Hank, Try NHRA's website. Glen won the last two U.S. Nationals at Indy in Comp, 2006 in a 4.2 GMC, and 2005 in a 240 Ford. I'm sure a search will turn up many pics.

You're right buddy, The 4.2 is the next big thing in inlines. The king is dead - long live the king.

By the way NHRA has separate classifications for 2 valve pushrod engines like the 300 Ford and Double Overhead Camshaft 4-valves-per-cylinder engines like the 4.2.

I saw a few pictures in National Dragster a few issues ago. What I thought was neat was that they leaned the motor over towards the right to get less restrictive air flow from the carbs.

FTF- is the motor they are useing a Glen Self unit?

Steven

Glen Treadwell built the engine and did the R & D work on his in-house dyno.