[Steve Hoog]

Tom

Everyone I have talked to that knew Smokey, had respect for the man. I don't know much about him myself, but would probably draw the same conclusion as you had I known him.

[azbirds]

Which HPP had the turbo manifold pic's in it. I don't want to dig through 20 years of magazines to find it.

[Tom Vaught]

It was in Pontiac Enthusiast Magazine NOT HPP!

Tom V.

[Dragncar]

I just talked to my contacts wife agine.He just got out of the hospital yesterday and is going to take the rest of the week off.Hopefuly I can talk to him next week.But on Smokey:Whittmore new the guy and had some interesting insights.He flew the B-26 in WWII,the one with the new wing design at the time.I had a reputation as being difficult to to fly at first but ended up being a great medium bomber,better than the B-25 Mitchell.A lot of Smokeys ideas came from aircraft engine designs of WWII era planes.Singal and double over head cams,turbo charging,super charging,fuel injection had been used in the aircraft industry for years.So why not incorperate the technology in automobile engines was one of Smokeys things.He tried to do so with the Pontiac engine.I wish it could have worked out for production vehicles.

[Dragncar]

I just talked to the guy,he is out of the hospital and taking it slow.And it looks like it is true.We had a short discussion and he told me the engine is a carburated vertion in a 69 Firebird.I asked specific questions and the engine is a 427 with SOHC HEMI heads with spark plugs right down the middle of the valve covers,AND large studs going down the OUTSIDE of the block from the heads down to the main caps/main girdle.He said the car was in a Pontiac magazine at some point and there was a picture layout.Also the guy that owns the bird says he knows of another guy with the fuel injected vertion brand new still in a crate.In my earlyer post I mentioned a broken cam follower,turns out the cam follower was broken durring a dyno pull.He told me to call him back in about 3 weeks and that he would try and get a picture layout and post them on his website.Doing the best I can to doccument it,you just have to hope it all turns out to be true.Wouldnt that be great.

[Jack Gifford]

All info is appreciated- I hope you can follow up with more- pictures, whatever.

[johnta1]

I think it would be fantastic if you could get more info.

[Dragncar]

I would like to see the pictures that were in whatever Pontiac magazine did the article on it at least.I mean he acted like it was not a big secret or anything.I think he said the article had a pic of the broken cam follower and that the engine realy screamed.It is just hard to push him right now.Thing is with all of this talk about building new RAV heads and all of this stuff,this engine would be the way to go.If someone was to invest a bunch of money in a new project the SOHC HEMI would be the way to go I think.I do not know if a head with a tube going down the middle of the intake would ever be the answer to making big power.Get rid of the tube,pushrod and go high tech.And the best part of it is that it is our herritage(Pontiac) it is not like we canted the valves on some new head and made it like a BBC head.That engine was a real Pontiac engine.

[Jack Gifford]

Do you have the Oct'70 Hot Rod Magazine? If not, I could try scanning the photos from it and posting them here. I never saw a Pontiac magazine article on the 427 SOHC, but I didn't subscribe to PE or HPP before the early '90's.

[Steve Hoog]

All this time I knew I had seen this motor too, while looking for some intake stuff guess what I found. I hope this is the long lost motor everyone is talking about in this thread.

[Steve Hoog]

More:

[Jack Gifford]

A Brabham SOHC Pontiac is a new one on me.

[Steve Hoog]

And more:

[Steve Hoog]

And the last:

[NHRASuperStock455SD]

If you ever are in Indy, you can stop and go through the Allison Engine Powerama. It has a copy of all of those early WWII engines, including new engines. It is in Speedway just a block down from the entrance gate of the Indy 500.

James Allison was one of the originators of the Indy 500, whose company was eventually bought by GM. That plant is now a transmission plant for such famous vehicles as the M-1 turbine tank, etc. My father worked there from 1950 to 1980. He retired at 49 years old and is now 75.

The Engine plant was moved a couple of miles south and is now owned as of about 3 or so years ago by Rolls Royce.

Lynn

[63gpstanley]

My old boss was involved with Brabham in '80s to build Eastern Ck. Raceway so I might be able to see if he can pump him for info on this.
This stuff is fascinating.

Dave.

[Steve Hoog]

Tom V

Anxiously awaiting your evaluation on this material.

[Dragncar]

I have heard of this engine long time ago(303SOHC) and it it is not the one in question as far as I know.I understand Pontiac still has one(303) somewhere.I have seen that article that steved400 has posted in HHP a long time ago.The engine I am talking about is a whole differant animal.Modular,Hemi,distributor in the front and sideways,and 9/16 bolts on the OUTSIDE of the block going from the heads to the main caps/main girdle.WAY ahead of its time.My contact did mention Mr Brabhams name,but he also mentioned the bolts on the outside of the block and being a Hemi and huge wide valve covers.It will be interesting in the end to find out the real deal.There were around a dozen(or less) of the parts to make an engine built.I just believe somewhere somehow the people involved in this way back when found a way to make a few of them live.Pontiac Jack,I do have a copy of that 1970 article,that and a conversation is where this whole thing started.

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

Way to go Steve ! Thats some really neat stuff you dug up on this SOHC set-up. Wonder if all that chain hurt the dyno numbers any ? Super wicked looking stuff. Would like to hear Tom V's take on this engineering as well. That engine would have been one He|| of a "in your face" dropped into an Astre parked next to a Cosworth Vega.


*Off-Topic* Still - this isn't the porcupine hemi head tunnel port that John from Goatfinder mentioned being in the 70 Tin Indian at one time. I am more interested in finding out about that set-up way more than this chain driven nightmare. (oops) Anyone out there able to shed any light towards a splayed valve Tunnel Port Hemi head ? The M/T hemi heads were not Tunnel Port that I have seen, so something else must be out there somewhere.

[Steve Hoog]

So I have to keep looking, GEEZ Baron!!!!!