Bill Tenney's Class C Alky Twin Engine Couplers??

[John (Taylor) Gabrowski]

That is what the methanol version was? I am staring at the Amal Monoblock round slide carbs on it, where conversion Vacturi A0500s were put to use on As and Bs??? Did the Amal monblocks stay on it or were the Vacuris substituted later on this twin? They, the Amals I just don't have and would mean raiding the local British bike store for a suitable couple of side drafts but off of what British bike.

The block orientations are what others described but you would think that the whole top end would have been mounted on the earlier Anzani wide clamp tower as opposed to the newer standard narrow width version which are not as heavy duty as the earlier wide clamp version. The torque down tube and silver arrow LU/Gearcase are the same.

I don't see any pipes??? In the picture?? and I have about half a dozen variations of megs that are standard looking for one twin set streaming rearward and two other sets that would mount pointing spectator wise on a pass. What can you remember???

It all looks compact enough together but without weighing everything yet the motor probably exceeded 180 lbs in weight??? Groan!! I can see that only the biggest and fitest could start the behemouth all rite. I used to see real big guys rope Merc/Quincy padded block alks and almost have heart attacks after 6 tries. The Anzanis started off real fast as an A or B but firing a twin set at 90 degrees of ignition would have been not bad but heavy but at 180 degrees where a pair were firing???? Ouch!

So other than megaphone exhaust choice and not having 2 side draft Amal monobloc carbs are the only impediments to complete assembly.

I did have a weird idea that there were Vacturis on there with remote DelOrto fuel bowls??? Did that ever happen or did something else simpler develop?? I was told that the original gasoline Amal Monoblocks were with rejetting not a good carb for alky running, so the Vacturis.

That picture sure does give me major orientation though. Thanks Tim!

[John (Taylor) Gabrowski]

Like most, you kind of wonder what if and if that life would have been spared in Dave Berg's case, if anyone would have done something different. I think in all cases, when the Lord calls your number doing what ever you were doing doesn't mean a thing and would change nothing. He was a nice guy and real good driver and it happened to him as it happened to racers after him and some again in the past month. There was nothing anyone could do different otherwise we could control fate and that we know, we can not do that, we are not capable of it. I think of what he did do and the tragic situation when his time and number were up, he would want to be remembered the way he was, a nice guy and dedicated racer.

[Tim Chance]

I only saw one stock Anzani and that was in the display room of Supreme Motors in Minneapolis. It had the stock Amals and a manifold that routed the exhaust down to water level. The C that Floyd drove was a full alcohol conversion with Vactuuri carb and the remote float bowl with standard Anzani pipes. Larry Swor ran an A Anzani on a Dubinski hydro where Bill set up both a set of expansion chambers and open exhaust. It was similar to sliding pipes today. The elbows had a butterfly valve and Larry would come through and out of the corner on the megaphones and then swith to the expansion chambers for the straightaway.

[jrome]

Tim,Glad you are with us here at BRF to tell us the stories and history of the past. I can not wait for you to break out the photos. Good job

[John (Taylor) Gabrowski]

Tim:

That pure stock B Anzani was in sections with its wooden box covered with greased cloth. It was cleaned up. It had never been fired but kept well lubed in storage. It was cleaned up, re-assembled and sat on display in my recroom for about 5 years before it sold and there were at least enough parts for 6 more engines at that point. I never fired it and it probably was the last new Anzani left worldwide unfired/new and still may be. It is pictured on this site in the Anzani section. It had a distinct lower compression gasoline oriented head on it where Alkys had cast and machined high compression heads. I still have one un-machined high compression racing head casting.

As for the butterfly pipe setup. That is also pictured in the Anzani section on this website. I never knew nor did anyone say, until your clarified it, if it was to mount 2 megs of two different lengths or was some precursor of using megs to some effect on the racecourse with some other kind of new pipe or expansion chamber where the butterfly system switched back and forth between the types of pipes?? I have one section of what looks like the beginnings of developing expansion chambers plus a welded steel frame to hold/support lengthy pipes. That is a real heavy assembly.

I have since done computerized versions of expansion chambers for Anzani which also change with block/port timing specs etc. as you develop the pipe to turn on at a desired rpm. Back then it was slide rule, trig, cut and paste, now its TSR formulas on your Pentium computer. Those buterfly pipes still look awsome with the short meg and I slide on the longer tapered megs exemplified from other Anzanis I already had. I imagine the weight overhang on the aluminum towers got pretty fierce once you added the support frames, that butterfly valve elbo system and early type expansion chambers being that the block is cast iron to begin with. I have one neck snapped torque/engine mount tube fatigued from weight overhang and operating vibrations.

This stuff all still exists here but your the first one clarifying/demystifying things as we go along as we have with this thread. Your memory on this stuff is amazing.

What really burned into me when those engines first appeared was how frighteninlgy fast they started with rpms running away as the starting crews sort of dropped and threw the boat forward as the engine reved up. To me there was nothing close to their fast rev up then, or now in example from some other engine. They sounded like they were ready to rev to explode on drop and I remember many an anxious face when this was going on with the starting crews and drivers too fearing the engines might scatter themselves with a bang. So far I have only ever seen one do that and it was catastrophic, throwing shrap all over the place. Its block I still have (pictures are on this website) with some of its ports the block being cast iron, ripped out from the inside only, crankcase, crank, rods and pistons snapped and blown up and fragged. It was the nitro load in the fuel that flooded the engine that led to ignition/explosion that saw people in a radius of 30 feet get hit with the fragged metals. Crazy when they ran and downright dangerous on engine failure.

[John (Taylor) Gabrowski]

I bought my first Anzani 350 from Gene (Pappy) Strain from Calgary, Alberta around 1977 or 78 and it was his second one that was built to twin carb specs much like Roger Wendt's (Montana) but almost all Anzani that blew up. Gene sold it to me for major parts, the exploded powerhead or what was left of it afterward was a freebee!

[Tim Chance]

John - Where do I find the Anzani site, Thanks,Tim

[Mark75H]

The Anzani site can be found here: http://www.britishanzani.co.uk/HISTORY3.htmWhen you are finished with that page click on "Next" at the bottom of the page for a little more on page 4

[Tim Chance]

Thanks, Sam for the route to the Anzani site. I have to say something right now. I'm in the printing industry, or if you want to get fancy the "Graphic Arts". Some years ago I was working at a place and I noticed that the control box for the light integrator on the big copy camera (20"x24" piece of film) had stampped on the serial plate "British Anzani". I called everyone over and told the story about boat racing, Anzani motors, Bill Tenney et.all... They all nodded politely, and I'm sure thought and still think - nutcase. Anyhow, John, my Mother lives in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and in a month or so, I'm coming north for a visit. Selkirk is only about 5 hours extra and I would love to come up and take a look at your collection and visit with you if it would be ok. In November, how do I get there: Dog sled, snowmobile, or you can't get there from here in the dead of winter. Also I have a photo of Larry Swor driving the Dubinski with the A Anzani ( only megaphones, no butterfly valve, no chambers) I'll post it.

[John (Taylor) Gabrowski]

This fall is not a good time to visit and best be left till next spring. There is a new bathroom with heavy renovations happening to do so plus a new room being added to the front of the house making it all bigger still that was supposed to be finished last year but an accident and resulting medical problems damned near killed me and I mean just that so everything is backed up and with my writing/publishing schedules, tinkering with these engines for now is it otherwise my wife will chain me to renovations that need to be completed sans addition at least by Christmas! Sorry I can not be more accomodating but that is the present scene and not amenable to visitors until I am done with this house crap that I hate! It will have to be next spring some time but if my time off writing allows for more than renovations and that means tinkering I will picture and post here anyway until then.

Sam indicated a website to you concerning Anzani in the UK. There was a huge section done on British Anzani by me a couple of years ago, so Sam should be able to give you precise website directions to see the over 30 pages of that here. Give him the precise directions Sam. There is way more here than on the Anzani UK site because when it comes to it all, North America became the Anzani outboard racing hotbed. See them both. Play it all Sam?