On 8/28/2016 5:23 PM, Lawrence Woods wrote:
I have a question about the unused front foot of the engine compartment in the Chevy. Is the internal front wall that
the horns and fan are mounted on something car makers put in back then if you chose an engine that was physically
smaller than the biggest option? The fan is definitely an add-on. The factory fan would be belt-powered and
behind the radiator in the 50's.
I don't recall how much space there was in front of engine and radiator on my '55 Chevy, but there was certainly some
dead space. From about then until the end of the seventies, size and design of the front end had nothing to do with the
engine. I remember thinking that there was room for at least a couple of large suitcases in front of the actual engine
compartment of my dad's '60 Olds.
Much later, a brother bought a classic '69 Caddie DeVille convertible*. The 472 cu in (7.7 L) V8 looked like a toy in
the engine compartment**. It looked like a moderately sized mechanic could stand next to the engine inside to work on
it. Then there was lots of dead space in front of that, too. A third world family could live in the trunk.
Memories of Excess Moose
* I actually did one of those running leaps into the back seat, without damage
to me or the car. :-)
** Remember, displacement goes up with the cube of the dimensions of the cylinders, so external dimensions don't go up
very fast with displacement increases.
--
What if the Hokey Pokey *IS* what it's all about?
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