British Anzani Twin Block C and D Alkys coming to BRF

[John (Taylor) Gabrowski]

The layout picture Tim Chance found in a copy of Bill Tenney's brochure on the couple twin engine is the layout used for the class C Alky that ran so sucessfully in the Midwestern USA. In the abscence of your drawing or a picture, did they set it up with the 2 engine blocks with cylinders facing 180 degrees opposite each other the way some Johnson 4-60s or Yamato 350s and 500s 4 bangers were setup?

[John (Taylor) Gabrowski]

According to a previous post in the other Anzani thread Floyd Harris, the first year his monster twin block Alky C ran was 1960 and he is talking about getting some pictures posted on it soon. I wished there were some west coast pictures of the class D Anzani twin block they were working on, it could sure add a lot to the thread on these little monsters of the NOA era show up here to make some historical info.

[John (Taylor) Gabrowski]

Back in the days when Floyd Harris ran the twin block Alky C Anzani known props were all 2 blade and they worked well considering everyone was on the cutting edge of prop technology virtually from one race to the next each season. Two blade props for class A and B Alky by example made by Smith, Oakland-Johnson or Michigan Wheel and opthers, many in brass and later in stainless steel seemed small but they spun them into the 9,000 rpm range and they set records with them time after time. To date no one has come up with any representation/picture of a prop that was run on this twin C Anzani nor would they have looked much different from what everyone else commonly ran though each time had all their custom mades anyway.

Having this in mind a 3 Anzani props of which one is a McKean Marine stamped version one of each 3 and 4 blade custom props were made using the McKean as the sample with basic ear, pitch and diameter used as the sample to construct each prop. There is no doubt they will both work, the only question is how well considering the Anzani twin will only see methanol fueling without any nitromethane. This is relying on Bill Tenney's early published specs that indicated that the motor would run well on methanol fuel and caster oil as the lubricant. When the props get thinned and polished this spring they will be pictured here on this thread upon being finished. We are going to be hopefull they might work good enough for a representation without the nitro.

[John (Taylor) Gabrowski]

According to UK's Twister another twin blocked Anzani "Sport Twin" coupled twin blocked engine has turned up in New Zealand. The pictures Bill Tenney used to advertise these twin blocked engines featured Amal monoblock carbs that were fed gasoline/oil from a pressure feed tank that were not used in the USA with the engines going full race Alky with Vacturi A0-500 single carb on each powerhead and open bell pipes for exhausts.

We know that Floyd Harris ran the Tenney built twin block C Alky successfuly in runabout in the USA in the early 1960s. There is no information on the other versions at this point in terms of running or racing success in either UK or NZ but hopefully some information might turn up from overseas readers seeing this latest post.

[John (Taylor) Gabrowski]

With the discovery that the Bill Tenney Anzani works of the day (in the later 1960s) were also in the throws of a little bit more than just conceptually looking at a vertically integrated in line (4 cylinder) twin crankcased and twin blocked alternate firing verticle coupled block 4 cylinder engine for either C or D class. An inventory has been carried out that has found that there is enough basic parts to go to mockup of a verticle in-line 4 cylinder C or D Anzani or alternatively a horizonatlly setup C-Alky transmission coupled but in a class D displacement (2 class B Anzani blocks) that was a product of North Western USA doing. This other concept where a vertically integrated alternate firing in line 4 cylinder in either class C or D displacement can be built too but the problem is not enough parts to build both formats of engines unless more crankcase parts etc. come to exist here. What a horrible choice to have to make as transformation parts exist for a transmission coupled horizontal twin blocked D or the vertically integrated twin block C or D to build one now exists but not near enough to build the two whole units.

Any more British Anzani spare parts out there anywhere to be had that I haven't heard anything about? Into checking on dusty shelves or under workbenches in dusty boxes anyone to help restore some more history?