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Old September 17th, 2017, 03:35 AM
10Thumbs 10Thumbs is offline
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Default Re: Toro-Flow- G.M. vs. Cummins

[QUOTE=POWERSTROKE;67153]I'm surprised they kept coming back to the Chevy 348 V8 for comparison and the Ford D172 tractor engine.

The "409 may have been fine" according to the Beach Boys but CJ Baker really hated it, and the 348 was the 409s weak little sister. The slant top pistons but unusual bending forces on the conn rods, Lots of added surface area in the combustion chamber to bleed off heat to kill efficiency and make it tough to build compression, no quench in the chamber. Hence it's short life in the market place before being replaced with the RAT motor.

The little Ford tractor engine was better than a flat head gasoline engine and possibly as good as most other little diesel engines built at the time. Wasn't till 1968 that Ford finally bought a decent diesel to the market. Their Commander 6000 chased most customers to other brands quickly. In '68 their 8000 with the 401 engine started getting some respect.[/QUOTE

Interesting anecdotal story about the 348-409 engines: when they first came out, the head of the Chevy division asked NASCAR engine guru Smokey Yunick what he thought of them. Smokey's reply was "they were the dumbest, stupidest engine design he'd ever seen. He then enumerated a large number of reasons why he thought this, some of which are contained in this thread. The head of Chevrolet division never spoke to Smokey again, because this man had been one of the main instigators for the design chosen.
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