917 engine pics, been looking for a 908...but its cool Options

[r_towle]

what an amazing piece of mechanical enginering...

http://www.pbase.com/917carl/917_12_cyl_engine

[URY914]

What you you think this engine is worth? $2-300,000? If the cars go for over a $1,000,000??? (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/confused24.gif)

Paul

[Brett W]

Did you look at the 917 Chassis pics. Looks like they stuck those chassis together with chewing gum.

http://www.pbase.com/917carl/image/21035442

[URY914]

Those welds look like mine! (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/laugh.gif)

[cnavarro]

That engine is a thing of beauty. I just spent the last half hour drooling over the pictures. Maybe I can justify building one to make Nickies for it? Do you think I can fit that in a 914 :-)

Charles Navarro
LN Engineering
http://www.LNengineering.com
Aircooled Precision Performance

[Quilmes]

Here is a picture of the 16cyl engine that was design also for the 917.
I think that at that moment Porsche decide to go with Turbo power for the Can-Am 917 instead of the 16cyl.

Quilmes

[Quilmes]

One more view 917 16cyl engine.

[JeffBowlsby]

Not only is it 16 cylinder...it looks like twin plug too. That means 32 sparks to coordinate... (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/wink.gif)

Is this the 1190 hp Can Am engine we have heard about?

[DuckRyder]

I think I'll go into autozone and ask for a distributor cap for one of those just to watch them all run around trying to figure out WTH I'm talking about.

Sort of like taking the Cheby 350 powered 240D to the Mercedes Dealer for an oil change...

[bd1308]

OMG....look at that dizzy. finding ign problems must be a nightmare....i bet it idles smooth though. Not like my 914 definately.

[Aaron Cox]

MFI too!

[Mueller]

at the factory museum, they have an aluminum frame/chassis hanging on the wall....I must have stared at it for 10 minutes straight (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/pray.gif)

[TravisNeff]

slide valve intakes... woohoo.

[BigD9146gt]

towle,

let me know what you find on the 8... I've been looking for some blueprints on the type 771 2.2L SOHC engine, but most of the pics i can find are on the 3L DOHC engines.

[sixnotfour]

Have you seen these 8 banger 2.2 pics ?
http://www.pbase.com/9146gt/factory_racing...parts_907engine

[Reiche]

I think I read once that the flat-16s crankshaft was so long that it flexed too much. It created lots of unwanted vibrations and they were afraid it wouldn't hold together for race distances. Made a lot of power though. The two in the pictures are the only ones ever made IIRC.

I saw that 917 frame at the Porsche museum too. The curator took it off the wall and let me hold it (it was a slow day and we were the only people there.) Only weighed about 20–25kg I think? REALLY light. But no, the welds weren't very pretty.

[type47]

you guys SUCK! it took 5 posts before someone posted about putting the engine in a 914. time to turn in your CLUB card (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/mad.gif)

[BigD9146gt]

Helium making the chassis lighter? I don't think so. Yes, helium is lighter than air, but by the time you pressurize it, your probably looking at the same mass as atmospheric pressure (14.7 psi/1 bar) air in the tubes would be. Now what would be lighter is if they sucked all the air out of the tubes and made it a vacuum.. less mass in the tubes, less mass overall.

The reason why the put helium in the tubes is because the welds need it on the backside to be stronger. "Perge" is the term used to weld tubing that needs to be structurally strong, stainless is one metal that REALLY shows a difference. When you purge those metals, if fact any metal for that matter, the opposite side that would normally be exposed to oxygen now is sheilded by the inert gas, making the back side of the weld look almost like the front side.

TIG welding, which is sometimes refurred to as Heli Arc, is what they had back in those days. The company that came up with the TIG welder was called "Heli Arc Co.". Now I would assume they named their company that because they first used helium as the inert sheild for welding, but thats not the reason why TIG welding is refurred as Heli-Arc. Kind of like "Vice Grip" or "Allen wrench", they are name brands.

The drivers were nerveous because they were in an 800hp car that weighed ~1700lbs and had horrible aero dynamics. Vic Elford finally became their test driver, and with his rally experience, he, more than any other driver, helped develop the 917's.

[andys]

Thinking back to the glory days of Riverside, I recall seeing the pressure guage on the chassis when walking the pits. I seem to recall that it was not just the 917 that pressurized the chassis', but other Porsche prototypes as well. I still see the image of the cockpit in my mind, but I don't recall which car (can you blame me 30+ years later!!)! Chassis *looked* like aluminum. BTW, a very approachable George Follmer standing next to his car in the garage eagerly answered my questions. Ahh, such fond memories.

Andy

[BigD9146gt]

Sammy, now that makes sence to pressurize the tubes and have a gauge like Andy just mentioned. If a crack developed, then the pressure would leak out and the gauge would reviel that problem.

But just pressurizing a chassis isnn't going to make it lighter. They used helium because it was lighter than air, not because it made the chassis lighter.

Thanks for the input Andy (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/wavey.gif) , I wish i was alive when all this racing went down... truly and era of fast Gods and the ability to stand 5 ft from them while doing 200+mph.