> As far as the coventry Climax I was told a number of years
> ago by a Lotus
> freak that this engine came out of WW2 as a fire pump engine that was
> designed to be HAND CARRIED past collapsed building / rubble
> to help put out
> fires. This required a light weight high output engine. I
> have no clue if
> this is true, can anyone confirm?
> Rick Ewald
Rick:
A friend in Santa Cruz has one of the hand carry pump assemblies in
his garage. He purchased it at an industrial selloff for a pittance. He
wanted the Climax engine for his Lotus 7 (currently flat head Ford powered).
I have begged him to leave the assembly intact as it is a beautyful piece of
automotive history. The engine and pump assembly is about 3'6" long by 2'
built into a carry frame.
When I worked in Colorado, our vintage race company purchased a
batch of 3 Coventry Climax outboard motor assemblies. This was another use
for the lightweight powerplant. The engines were mounted vertically. The
crankshaft was unique, but there was a company manufacturing conversion
parts to reconfigure the motor to horizontal/in-line use in racecars. Again
this was a cheap source of Coventry Climax power units.
Kelvin.
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