<VV> Fiction or...

[Dave Keillor]

It's no coincidence that there are similarities since Bob Benzinger, the
chief engineer on the Corvair engineer was also the lead on the Chevy
small block.

Dave Keillor
 

-----Original Message-----
From: virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org
[mailto:virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org] On Behalf Of Mel Francis
Sent: Wednesday, October 14, 2009 1:40 PM
To: virtualvairs at corvair.org
Cc: mhicks130 at cox.net
Subject: Re: <VV> Fiction or...

Total agreement here. The design of the Corvair valvetrain is the real
clue 
to it's origin.

The geometry of the valve train in the head is almost identical to that
of 
the 1955 Chevy V8, including the use of
Chevy's own patented one-piece stamped valve rockers, with the same 
hydraulic lifter adjustment routine as the larger V8.
No other company (in the world) had a valvetrain with that design in the

mid-'50s.

Any talk of Briggs & Stratton's involvement is actually quite silly,
since 
B&S had no experience with
overhead valve engine production in the late '50s, only arriving at that

point in the late '70s. If B&S
had built any engine prototypes for GM in the fifties, they would have
been 
flatheads with mechanical lifters!

Mel