Specific photo needed of the R5 Due Cento engine

[mbstude]

Someone recently posted some photos of Greg Cone's R5 engine block. The block was busted by a rod at Bonneville and the photos showed the repair that Greg had made. Anybody know where those pics are???

Or am I hallucinating?

[shifter4]

Photo not there .

[8E45E]

Or am I hallucinating?

No Matt, you're NOT! http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.c...highlight=cone

Craig

[mbstude]

That's the one. Thanks!!

[unimogjohn]

Here are a couple of more pics that Greg sent me of the just repaired block.

[mbstude]

Thanks John. A friend and I are chasing a wild goose, and I needed to know where the rod went through. Thanks again.

[r5duecento]

It is well documented that there were not any problems with the engines run by the Granatelli's at Bonneville and there was certainly not a rod thrown in one.

[stupak]

I'm confused! If there was NOT a rod thrown in any of Granatelli's Bonneville engines, why was the R5 block repaired????? stupak

[r5duecento]

This is not the R5 block. Greg has the sheet metal induction parts, blower brackets and pulleys from the R5 and is building an R5 clone using a block that either came from an R3 or R4.

[stupak]

r5: Thanks for clearing that up. I 'assume' that the R3 or R4 block was not one run by Granatelli at Bonneville. Does anyone know if the original R5 block is still in existance and it's whereabouts/condition?

shifter4: Where did the picture get to? stupak

[r5duecento]

Specific photo of the original R5 Due Cento engine

The whereabouts of the original R5 or it's existance is unkown. Information from the Granatelli's is that the engine was disassembled after the Bonneville run. The fuel injection unit was borrowed from the Indy Novi car and was returned. The pistons were used to assemble supposedly the last R3 engine put together as no stock pistons were available and it was sold to George Krem. The block and heads were probably taken from the shelf to make other R3 engines which would have been sold by Paxton or they may have even been scrapped. Unfortunately the "B" number and EX number were not recorded according to the Granatellis so even if it was used to build another engine by Paxton it unfortunately cannot be traced. It would be virtually impossible to find all of the parts of this engine and even if it had remained in tact it could not be made to run and drive the car on the street as it was made for full throttle operation only with the design of the fuel injection and magneto used. It also would not idle.
I do have original photos of the R5 engine and will have them with me at the AOA 50th Anniversary/SDC meet at South Bend.

[Green 53]

Glad you will be at the South Bend meet Richard. I took George over to meet Vince Granatelli last week and we talked about his engine with the R5 pistons.

Denny L

[53k]

This is not the R5 block. Greg has the sheet metal induction parts, blower brackets and pulleys from the R5 and is building an R5 clone using a block that either came from an R3 or R4.

I quizzed Greg about this question. His response-

"Paul,
I can't verify the ancestry of the block. When I accumulated the R-5 parts from Paxton I was overseas and doing it by mail order, having the parts sent to friends or my home address. This includes a blown R-4 from a guy in Detroit, but less the block. (I've always regretted that I didn't get the B number from him).
When I resumed the project I was shocked to find that I also had stored an unnumbered Paxton block with battle damage.
I can only assume that it came with the Paxton pile since I had begun a search for one for my R-3 for the black Avanti.
In tracking the R-5 I was told that the engine was removed from the Due Cento and installed in a customer car for the street (setup with two fours) without success and it was returned and replaced with an R-3.
In a subsequent conversation with Andy Granatelli I mentioned that I had a block with no serial number and he said that being experimental it wouldn't have one.

I can only guess that it came with the Paxton shipment.

The only Bonneville engine failure that I've heard of was mentioned by Dick. You might check with him to refresh my memory.

GREG."

[stupak]

My replies/questions on this thread are my curiosity and by no means demean the efforts of Greg to reproduce one of Studebakers greatest engines. His efforts appear to be a life long quest to complete his R5 engine and I applaud him for doing so. Wouldn't it be great to have it on display at South Bend this year?

Paul: I don't know if Greg frequents this forum. If not, how about putting a bug in his ear. South Bend would certainly be the 'show case' for his engine. AND....a temporary loan to the Studebaker Museum would certainly be fitting, if he so desired.

stupak

[R3 challenger]

When I got R3 B-109 from Paxton Products in 1969, Joe Granatelli told me they could assemble one more genuine R3 using some R5 parts. Among those parts were the R5 pistons. I bought the engine and several years later when I did a valve job, I noticed the pistons were indeed the R5 bi-level design instead of stock R3 flat top pistons.

It's possible-but not very likely- that the block that came with those pistons was the original R5 block. As others have said, there's no way to tell for sure.....Paxton did not keep detailed records. The cam that came with it from Paxton was so wild that I didn't enjoy driving it on the street, so I replaced the cam with a stock one. That engine and the '63 Avanti I put it in is now owned by Ed George. Ed is doing some "freshening up" on the car and engine....it's a very nice car. BTW, I bought that car, Avanti R-3371, from Mary Ann Harbit in 1966 before she became Mrs. Harbit. It was an R1/4-speed at the time.

George