Weird Weird Weird

[EldoMike]

Bought a couple bike projects from a friend of mine....like I said, Weird...

http://s106.photobucket.com/user/eldomike/library/Crosley%20Guzzi%20and%20Amb?sort=3&page=1

[Guzzistajohn]

Yep, pretty weird. Did this guy have a greenhouse out back?

[Triple Jim]

Last time I saw one of those engines in person, it was in an inboard hydroplane, around 1970 or so.

[EldoMike]

There was a guy running around the vintage meet at Davenport a few years ago with a Crosley(I think) conversion...it was real slick...

[oldbike54]

 Now I really have seen everything  Where does one find Crossley engine parts ?

  Dusty

[clubman]

Last time I saw one of those engines in person, it was in an inboard hydroplane, around 1970 or so.

Funny, me too. 49 cu. in. class, maybe? Do know they were overhead cam engines, and could be made to scream with the right parts.

[56Pan]

Bought a couple bike projects from a friend of mine....like I said, Weird...

http://s106.photobucket.com/user/eldomike/library/Crosley%20Guzzi%20and%20Amb?sort=3&page=1

I had a Crosley engine in a home made dune buggy type thing when I was about 13.  Parts were available for them in the '60's and this what they were famous for: http://skyliner75.blogspot.com/2007/08/tri-state-gas-engine-tractor-show.html
3/4 midget racing was still being held around southern Indiana in those days.  Spent a lot of my farm labor money on engine parts but no one had a carburetor for it.  Never got it running and it was a real disappointment.  Found out a few years later, after I sold it, that a sidedraft Marvel/Schebler carb off any HD in those days would have worked on it.  All the Crosleys were single overhead cam with a vertical tower shaft driving it.  No rockers, cam directly over the valves and the engine would rev very high and not float the valves.  The engine was originally made for mobile generator sets in WWII. If I remember correctly, they made 26 HP so this guy's motorcycle won't be any hotrod. After the war, they started making the cars with them.  I believe it was the same guy that started the Crosley refrigerator/radio company. Here's more than anyone ever needs to know about them: http://troypennysaver.com/index.php/2011/01/24/car-collector-corner-the-crosley-motor-company/
I seem to retain this type of useless trivia.

[oldbike54]

 Mr Pan , that isn't useless trivia , at least not in these parts . Heck , weren't some early F1 cars built using some Crossley parts ?

  Dusty

[John Ulrich]

There was a guy running around the vintage meet at Davenport a few years ago with a Crosley(I think) conversion...it was real slick...

Probably Curt Block from MN.  His father was a Crosley dealer. He's putting a Crosley motor in a Henry J restro mod.
 

[EldoMike]

Probably Curt Block from MN.  His father was a Crosley dealer. He's putting a Crosley motor in a Henry J restro mod.
 

Pretty sure that's it....nicely done...sounded great.

[56Pan]

Probably Curt Block from MN.  His father was a Crosley dealer. He's putting a Crosley motor in a Henry J restro mod.
 

Nice looking bike.  Especially the exhaust header.

[Triple Jim]

Funny, me too. 49 cu. in. class, maybe? Do know they were overhead cam engines, and could be made to scream with the right parts.

I thought it was the 48 cu in class, but it's been a long time.  The boats had wet sponsons and the kids that drove them had to kneel and lean forward to get them to plane, much like my 8-foot outboard hydro.

The Guzzley in the photo was done beautifully.  I didn't realize how small that engine is.

Here are a couple photos I found on the net, of a 48 cu in hydro:

[krglorioso]

Mr Pan , that isn't useless trivia , at least not in these parts . Heck , weren't some early F1 cars built using some Crossley parts ?

  Dusty

Dusty: Are you referring to the early Cooper F1 cars that used a "rather tuned" Coventry Climax engine from a fire truck water pumper?

Ralph

[oldbike54]

Dusty: Are you referring to the early Cooper F1 cars that used a "rather tuned" Coventry Climax engine from a fire truck water pumper?

Ralph

 Was thinking that some used Crossley suspension pieces mixed with some Triumph Herald parts . It was amazing how much power John Cooper got those 1500 CC water pumpers to produce .

  Dusty

[fotoguzzi]

Bought a couple bike projects from a friend of mine....like I said, Weird...

http://s106.photobucket.com/user/eldomike/library/Crosley%20Guzzi%20and%20Amb?sort=3&page=1

that link put some weird cookies on my mac.. just saying photobucket is not a clean site anymore.

[Sasquatch Jim]

 Not only was Crosley the first American car to come with 4 wheel disc caliper brakes but it had the most innovative engine.
 The cobra engine, name had nothing to do with a snake, it was an acronym for copper brazed.
  Thin sheets of steel were punched out for cylinders and water jacket passages and layered with thin sheets of a copper alloy.  These were heated in a special oven to over two thousand degrees until the copper alloy melted and brazed the plates into a single piece. This made for very thin walls of the water jacket which enhanced cooling and allowed for higher
 compression without knocking.  The engine block only weighed 14 pounds.  Not bad for a 44 cubic inch engine.
  They were popular in midget racing classes and hydroplane boat racing.  Mooney even used them in aircraft.
 The only drawback of this kind of engine block was electrolitic corrosion inside the water jacket.  The coolants of the day did not prevent this.  Maybe they should have taken a note from the Germans and run oil as a coolant.  During WW2
 on the Russian front even antifreeze would not protect an engine from the Russian winter, so they put oil in the radiators.
 This is done today in some German diesel engines, notably those used by Bobcat earthmovers and the BMW oil head
 motorcycle engines.  It is possible that laminated engines might still be manufactured today, possibly for motorcycles
 that need a lightweight powerful engine.

[John A]

That one is Curts, a nice job indeed. His dad built and raced 3/4 midgets with Crossly engines. Curt sometimes runs one but it's not racing, they just get a bunch of them to go around the track fo an exibition. Once Curt was short on Crossley engines so he put an 850T engine in one but it worked too well and the other guys asked him not to run so hard, it was supposed to be an exibition . Curt said he wasn't ,just basically idling around the track. He does weird things to motorcycles late at night . He put a Honda engine in a T frame that looks like a factory job.

[56Pan]

Had a '56 T110 Triumph that did a weird thing to me late at night once.  Got the scars on my legs to prove it.  Alcohol was involved. 

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

Saw this neat little Crosley at an antique tractor show back in late August. I want one...

[56Pan]

Saw this neat little Crosley at an antique tractor show back in late August. I want one...

And that Crosley engine had a downdraft carb.  Mine was definitely side draft and had the sheet metal cooling jacket around the cylinders.  Nice job of restoring it though.

[Offcamber1]

For more useless Crosley racing trivia:

http://crosleyautoclub.com/Sebring/Sebring.html

[oldbike54]

For more useless Crosley racing trivia:

http://crosleyautoclub.com/Sebring/Sebring.html

That's really cool Kip 

  Dusty

[rboe]

Fellow had that engine in a project at the last Steel Horse Swap Meet. Very cool motor.

[56Pan]

For more useless Crosley racing trivia:

http://crosleyautoclub.com/Sebring/Sebring.html

 :1:

[wymple]

Mt Pleasant Iowa has the world's largest steam show, called The Midwest Old Threshers Reunion, every year the week leading up to labor day. There is a guy there with an absolutely huge collection of everything Crosley. He even has a cutaway of that laminated engine. It's a very popular attraction. They made a lot of stuff you wouldn't think about.

[Tom]

Years back, I ran into a guy that had an Eldo with a Colt engine in it.  He said he made it in Missouri and had it shipped to Hawaii.  I asked him where the original engine was.  He said that he threw it away.  "Too bad, I would have bought it."  You should have seen his face.

[SteveAZ]

Cool thread. All this was before my time. The amount of arcane knowledge on this board is amazing (100% compliment there).