back in the 60's a lot of coal trucks where gas jobs.the 534's and 549's would out pull the big deisel of that time,the 238 detroit and the 673 macks.

ever 366 and 427 i have drove will pull its ass off we have a 79 chevy c70 gravel truck it has the 366 in it and it goes just fine 5speed 2speed rearend. a friend of mine has a newer gmc dump truck with a diesel in it and mine will pass his on a up hill pull both loaded.

Ford GAA Tank Engine
 

To: Admiral Turbo. In one of your posts, you were looking for some info on the Ford GAA Tank Engine. I have a lot of good info on them, in fact I have enough parts to build two of them at present, plus "mucho" spare parts. My ultimate goal is to put one of them into a 1984 Ford F350 truck street machine. The first engine is just about all together, with 3 Demon 4-bbls and dual MSD distributors. The engine is all aluminum, DOHC, 32valve, has a 5.4" bore and 6.0" stroke. It is built on a 60-degree V, thus is only 33.25" wide overall including headers. It will fit into my '84 F-350 without even having to relocate the vacuum tank, but will require taking out the heater. And the firewal will have to be recessed somewhat. I have all the manuals, one of which includes the dyno sheet. In 1945, using 80-octane gas, two Stromberg 2-bbl carbs and 7.5 compression, it put out about 1000 lbs of torque at 1000 rpms, peaked at 1050 lbs torque at 2200 rpms, and ended up at 975 lbs torque @ 2800 rpms. Peak power in 1945 was 525 HP. It had dual ignition, one magneto for each cylinder bank due to the fact that it is a 60-degree V with a 180-degree (flat) crank and thus an uneven firing pattern. It was originally designed as a V-12 liquid cooled aircraft engine to compete with the Allison V12. Hence the 60-degree V and being all aluminum. After Henry Ford ordered all the machinery and foundry cores to make a 12, the Army told him that they didn't need an aircraft V12, but they did need a tank V8. Since all the tooling, etc was for an aluminum 12, they kept it as-is and made it into an 8. This is probably the biggest aluminum water cooled V8 ever made. Some people say it is a derivitive of the Merlin V-12, but I don't think so. For one, it uses a one-piece block, said to be the largest ever made to that time. The Merlin and the Allison use split blocks. The block is of short-skirt design, like a modern V8, side-oiler and with 4-bolt mains with a double splay bolt layout. Sound familiar? There is a heavy reinforcing rail at the bottom of the block. What else..? I don't know. If you would like more info, let me know. I live for the day when I go to a car show or a drive-in on some friday night and the guy in the truck next to me says that he's got a GM 502 crate motor in his Chevy, and I can tell him, "good...if you had 48 more cubic inches you'd be half as big as my Ford." Or the Dodge guy with his V-10...my GAA is as big as two V-10s plus an additional PT Cruiser 4.
Have A Day

...Welcome to Ford Truck Enthusiasts!

See you on the boards.:-X22 ….

To: Bobsok
 

Bobsok, This sounds like it would be a real interesting topic in the general auto forum? It's interesting just readin bout that huge thing. I think we would all agree that we need pictures of your creation. Also, since you opened your mouth, well nto really your mouth but..., a write-up of this beast would be awsome.:-X04

TO: JGC2521.
If you could give me an address, I have a number of pics that I could send you. I'm at: bobsaok@yahoo.com. One frustrating thing about working on this engine is that it already has so much torque that there's almost nothing else worth doing to hop it up, you couldn't apply the power. In 1945 it had more torque from 1000-1200 rpm than the biggest factory Cummins 855 turbodiesel has today. Already, there's almost no Allison transmission that can handle the power other than the 3000-series 6-speed with a loose converter and then a lockup. A manual trans is out of the question for street use, you couldn't control the torque. Its going to be a hell of a lot of fun to drive. I'm projecting that the changeover from (2) 2-bbl Strombergs to (3) 4-bbl Demons, plus going from two low-output magnetos to 2-MSD distributors, plus 9-11 points more octane of gas will add at least 150 lbs torque, or to more than 1200 lbs all the way from 1000 to 3000 rpms. That will give me 750 hp minimum, all at the low end, and really no stress on the motor.
Anyway, send me an address, and if you have some more thoughts, let me know.

The 366 an 427 chevys are tall deck motors that were designed for truck service with small valves and low compression. other than the taller deck they are the same as there light duty bretheren.

Bobsok, Why not create a gallery here and post your pictures of this beast :)

Hi All
 

I have a C850 Fire Truck with a 534 in it I would like to know if anyone has a manual for the beast that maybe I could get a copy of
Thanks

I keep thinking of a 534, a bunch of nitrous, and an aftermarket ignition box with a rev limiter set really low to keep from overevving it. I wonder how much torque that would make? You know, put it in something not tremendously heavy, with the numerically lowest gear you can get...

Keep thinking.....

You guys are also forgetting of the 429 and 460 industrial motors as well, we have a 429 in a f700 grain truck on our farm and its a lot nicer of a motor than the 534 we have in our f800 tandem grain truck, but the 534 has the torque for the heavy load in the soft fields that the 429 doesn't, more or less the 429/460 industrial motors are better on the road than the 534 (of which we have a fresh rebuilt 534 monster sitting in our shop, broke the oil pump shaft and the resulting carnage 2 rods seazed on the crank and snapped it in half, we'll be putting the motor back in the truck pretty soon, i'll snap a couple pictures next time i go down).

As far as the chev 427-366's go they aren't a bad motor for the highway compared to the other big gassers (we have a c70 grain truck with a 366, but our 429 pulls better though), but again if i had a choice i'd go with the ford motors.

I know dodge also used the early hemis (the 354 or whatever they were desoto's i believe they were) in the medium duty trucks, as our neighbor had one in a grain truck, it wasn't the greatest of motors, lol.

Was the monster ford engine (1000+ cube)you're talking about a side valve or overhead valve? I know that domestically, ford kept the side valve in smaller trucks until 1953. As for the tank engine, this is all of the second post that I've ever read on it. I too would love to hear more about it.

I Googled that Ford GAA and god a decent picture;that thing is awesome.It certainly would be neat to own one.One of these low revving tow motors would be excellent in some kind of tracked skidder that uses hydraulic motors to drive the tracks.All the engine would have to do is run a pump/would last forever.

TO: Mo52Merc
 

Regarding the GAA engine, it is a 32-valve, double overhead cam engine, 4 valves per cylinder. Bore is 5.402" and stroke is 6.0". The engine is all aluminum (block and heads) and is a 60-degree V (as opposed to most V8s, which are 90-degree V-s). The engine is 33.25" wide, which is only 3.25" wider than the 4.6 litre V8s in Mustangs. The engine is 41" long, which is only 3" longer than a 300" straight 6. It fits in pre-97 Ford trucks with only a mild rework of the firewall. Regarding weight, "light" is relative. "Light" equals about 900 lbs ready to go including 24-v starter and 100-lb flywheel, which is not "light" in the way of thinking of most auto enthusiasts. This is why its only practical for trucks, not cars. In 1945, with only 2 2-bbl Stromberg carbs, low output distributors and 80-octane gas it had (according to Ford's dyno sheets) a little less than 1000 lbs of torque @ 1000 rpms, went over 1000 lbs @ 1050 rpm, maintained over 1000 lbs throughout the rpm range to 2800 rpms, where it dropped to 975 lbs torque. Now I've got 3 Demon 4-bbls, 89 octane ethanol and dual MSD distributors. The army governed the engine at 2800. However many tank crews disconnected the governor and its reported to have gone up to 3800 rpms. The limiting factor is the valve springs, which have only an outer and a damper, and are relatively light. I've been told by those using the engine in tractor pulling that they can get 48-5200 rpms with stiffer springs. The pistons are 2280 grams and the rods are another 2800 grams, total of 5000+ grams per cylinder reciprocating weight. So it ain't gonna rev too much higher than that. So what the engine is, is a truck engine. When the stoplight turns green and you goose the throttle you've immediately got enough torque to rip the living guts out of just about anybody's transmission and drivetrain if you're not careful. Which is the whole purpose of hot rodding, isn't it?