The Relic

Please post current V8 projects IN BUILD NOW in here, Any non relavent posts will be removed,

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topcatcustom
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The Relic

Post by topcatcustom »

So- following a bit of guessing, I've decided to create a build thread and put a couple of you our of your misery!

Tony, I'm hoping you aren't upset enough to delete this thread, as it's not a V8... but a straight 8, but given it has a longer history and twice as many spark plugs as you lot I'm hoping for some grandfather rights!!

So, the engine is a 1932 Nash straight 8, capacity around 5l. It has the longest crank in the world, 9 main bearings which is excellent, twin plugs per cylinder, single cam in side of block, with some massive pushrods and rockers. Aluminium rods and pistons, which are really light but I think I will replace them as I'll be running some boost and at 82 years old, might not be at their prime any more. On the downside it has shared inlet and shared exhaust ports, but it's not going to be a racer anyway.

The blower is a (possibly) 50's Godfrey military blower, so not ideal for a performance auto application, but fine for me. Huge and low boost. Won it on ebay about 4 years ago for £60 and had no idea what to use it for, until I was doodling one day about 3 years ago and came up with this:
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Then I found out about the old straight 8's and instantly wanted one, so found the Nash, and the V8 series idea was replaced with the straight 8 one.

Here's a pic of the lump and the blower, next to a 1275 mini engine :)
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The engine itself has not turned in years and years, I bought it as "seized" but it was actually completely free, apart from the black sludge oil inside, and a lot of flaky rusty stuff behind one cover, it seems in very good nick! I'm just starting to strip it down, I plan to thoroughly clean it up, and replace the internals with more modern equivalents, though with the bore at only 82mm (ish) I can't use the cheap Chevy V8 parts I wanted to, which is a bit of a bummer. If anyone has ideas of what pistons around the 82.5-83mm diameter I can find that will be relatively cheap, and well made I'm all ears!! Considering milling my own conrods and rockers...

Here's a couple more pics of the lump and the filthy bottom end!
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Finally a pic of the Landy, I've been working on it a bit, replaced the leaf springs, fitted Disco disk braked axles (24 spline), been repairing the bulkhead etc etc.

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Huge thanks to Kiwicar for the advice and ideas already! Including suggesting that a row of 2" SU carbs would feed it well, so I found 2 pairs and will be making up an inlet manifold to fit all 4 carbs. Will have to modify them to work under boost as well, but that should be pretty straightforward.

Cheers guys,


TC

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Blown v8
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Post by Blown v8 »

Thanks for posting,
Love the pic with the A series engine,
Any idea how much the engine weighs ?
:D

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topcatcustom
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Post by topcatcustom »

A lot!! I guess something like 330kg, the blower is too heavy to pick up!!! Mike is/was trying to get me to use the engine in an altered on the strip!
TC

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Post by chodjinn »

Boosted Nash straight 8 in a chopped/dropped landy? I absolutely love it!

There was a build thread on retro cars a few yeas ago where a guy had slammed an old landy to the floor, it looked amazing.

Awesome madness from you.
RIP MGB V8 .... served me well as a learning curve.

R32 Skyline V8 .... this one is gonna be a monster!

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Post by unstable load »

That looks like it's going to be great fun to build.
See here for inspiration..... http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=1307984
Cheers,
John

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Post by kev_the_mole »

Something like this (maybe a bit too low?)

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Further info here

Cheers,

Ian
Image


It's an engine Jim.....but not as we know it ;)

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topcatcustom
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Post by topcatcustom »

I've seen that Landy before but never really liked it, it does just look like a landy body on a car. I appreciate all the work that has gone into it and the attention to detail, but to me it doesn't look right being slammed with road tyres and RWD, which is exactly why I'm sticking with 4WD and nobbly tyres, to keep some of the purity there!

Thats a fantastic build on PH, looks very heavy though!
TC

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Post by chodjinn »

That's the one Kev. I like the look of it, something difference at least.

TC, can I ask where the hell you found the Nash motor?!?
RIP MGB V8 .... served me well as a learning curve.

R32 Skyline V8 .... this one is gonna be a monster!

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Post by kev_the_mole »

chodjinn wrote: TC, can I ask where the hell you found the Nash motor?!?
I'd like to know as well just in there are others available.
Image


It's an engine Jim.....but not as we know it ;)

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Post by topcatcustom »

Rods'n'Sods, it was a guy near Birmingham who had lifted it out of the original car, he was renovating it for weddings and replacing the 8 pot with a Jag straight 6 for reliability, makes sense!

These are the only 2 pics I had showing the engine in the car:
Image
Image
TC

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Post by chodjinn »

I've just noticed as well, the rockers are adjustable like the old volve/Group A RV8 ones?
RIP MGB V8 .... served me well as a learning curve.

R32 Skyline V8 .... this one is gonna be a monster!

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Post by topcatcustom »

And mini ones, probably why I didn't think anything of it! Much better IMO, so easy to adjust like that than using adjustable pushrods.
TC

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Post by kiwicar »

kev_the_mole wrote:
chodjinn wrote: TC, can I ask where the hell you found the Nash motor?!?
I'd like to know as well just in there are others available.
If you are thinking straight 8 Nash Healey I thought of it first :wink: :lol: :D
best regards
Mike
poppet valves rule!

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Post by topcatcustom »

Apart from giving the crank a good scrubbing with oven cleaner (which really hurts when you get it in a cut and right under your thumb nail when the glove splits- it's gone quite red and watery now...), no weekend progress, but thought I'd post a terrifically bad photo of the crank next to a RV8 one!!

Image
TC

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Post by crayefish »

Now that's a beast! I LOVE straight 8's. And going in a Series Landy... damn I am jealous!
Zander

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