Nothing seems to escape the long arm of the BangShifter knowledge vault. Last week I posted a bunch of photos that I shot at Custom Auto Machine in Weymouth, Massachusetts of an old block and challenged YOU, the vast BangShift readership to identify it. Well, guess what? Two guys nailed it. One dude nabbed the answer and he was backed up with authority by knower of things Hemi Joel Nystrom right here:
And the answer is….
These guys are correct! The block is in fact a Dodge “Fast Four” which was produced in 1927 and briefly in 1928. The engine was a pretty neat piece with five main bearings, some pretty huge valves (for the time), a really robust crank, semi-pressurized oiling, and five cam bearings. It displaced just over 200ci and was rated at 44hp. The engines were not necessarily favorites with hot rodders back in the day but guys have certainly used them at Bonneville (look up the Montana Dodge Boys for the craziest iteration we have seen) and other places to go fast the old fashioned way.
The plan for this engine was going to be rebuilding and modifying it for a car that was to compete at the cool Race of Gentleman in New Jersey but unfortunately the block proved to be nothing more than an iron paperweight when we were there after being magnafluxed. Lots of hairline and some larger cracks were found on an area of the block where repairs had been made. When I left the boys were going to call the owner with the bad news.
We’ll be back later this week with another test of your gearhead knowledge and you better be paying attention to this one because it is full on screwball!
I pretty much say this on a monthly basis, but I love this site!
It looks like Dana Hard will have to get into porno movies after all!
Flat plane crank too!
I bet it was a buzzy engine.