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danmas
Dan Masters
Alcoa, Tennessee
(578 posts)

Registered:
10/28/2007 12:11AM

Main British Car:
1974 MGBGT Ford 302

authors avatar
OHC for American cars?
Posted by: danmas
Date: March 13, 2010 09:46PM

Found this in the "letters to the editor" page of the November, 1952 issue of Hop Up magazine. Thought it was interesting.

Quote:
When are we going to get overhead camshafts on US car?
Great Neck, LI, NY. Ted Powell


I seriously doubt if we'll ever see ohc engines in production American cars...and for two very good reasons: One is that it obviously costs a great deal more money, and don't ever forget that the manufacturer really squeezes the pennies. As one wit said "every so-called mechanical improvement is actually the sales department's excuse for some cost-saving idea devised by engineering. Secondly, American car engine speeds are gradually going down, not up. By this, I mean revolutions per mile and not peaking speeds. The point here is that rocker arms are OK in an average size engine, so long as speeds do not exceed 4500 rpm. -- Tech. Ed.



tr6turbo
Dale Knapke
Sidney, Ohio
(169 posts)

Registered:
08/24/2008 09:44PM

Main British Car:
1972 Triumph TR6 Ford 2300, 4 Cyl Turbo

Re: OHC for American cars?
Posted by: tr6turbo
Date: March 14, 2010 10:58AM

Dan, Great find! I wonder in what year they said something like that about electronic fuel injection.

Dale


britcars
Phil Ossinger
New Brunswick, Canada
(346 posts)

Registered:
02/02/2009 07:58PM

Main British Car:
1977 MGB Roadster, Rover 3.5 ADVENTURE BEFORE DEMENTIA!

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Re: OHC for American cars?
Posted by: britcars
Date: March 18, 2010 08:41PM

It did take the American car industry a long time to try an OHC engine. I had a 1968 Firdbird Sprint with the OHC inline six and 4 barrel. Was that the first?


RMO 699F
Mike Maloney
SW Ohio
(531 posts)

Registered:
12/09/2007 12:28PM

Main British Car:
1974 MGB Sebring GT, 3.9 Rover V8

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Re: OHC for American cars?
Posted by: RMO 699F
Date: March 19, 2010 01:01AM

For the 1966 model year, the Pontiac Tempest replaced the Chevy-derived 215 six with a new Pontiac-built 230 cubic-inch overhead cam six, the only such engine found in an American production car at that time.


Bill Young
Bill Young
Kansas City, MO
(1337 posts)

Registered:
10/23/2007 09:23AM

Main British Car:
'73 MG Midget V6 , '59 MGA I6 2.8 GM, 4.0 Jeep

authors avatar
Re: OHC for American cars?
Posted by: Bill Young
Date: March 19, 2010 09:24AM

Leave it to Jeep, to have one earlier. When Kaiser bought Jeep the introduced an OHC inline 6 in 1962. Didn't last long, about a couple of years then Kaiser sold Jeep and the engine was dropped. Problems with the aluminum head cracking around the centerally located spark plug as I remember. [en.wikipedia.org]
And don't forget the Crosley in 1946 with a OHC 4.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/19/2010 09:26AM by Bill Young.


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