Engine Type 547/0 Serial P90009

[Andrew Hosking]

Hi Tim,

These are the cars that raced, #72 could be a possibility...

550-0017 - Car #68 , finished 8th and 5th in the Index of Performance, driven by von Hanstein/Herbert Linge in 1500cc

550-04 - Car #61, finished 11th driven by Robert Davis/Candy Poole in 1500cc

550-09 - Car #81, finished 23rd (1st in class) driven by Paul O'Shea/Fritz Koster, in 1100 so can be likely ruled out

550-03 - Car #67, finished 42nd (10th in class) driven by Evans Hunt/ Howard Hanna in 1500cc

Car # 72, finished 48th (DNF) driven by Norman Christianson/Don McNought in 1500cc

There was also Car #70 a blue spyder which finished 5th driven by Ed Crawford/John Urbus in 1500cc

As these engines were swapped around a lot, this is why there are not many matching cars, so it could have been in any of these!

Andrew

[Jacques Lefriant]

Hi Mike
It looks like a late 82mm roller crank engine case 547/3 or later. BWT two early Carrera Speedsters had Spyder engines 90056 and 90061.
FCF
jacques

[Mike Hoynck van Papendrecht]

Hello Jacques,

You won, not only because you were the only entry but because it's probably a scan on a 547/3 engine. I am not 100 % sure as this was a reproduction engine case that I came across that was made about 20 years ago and has now found it's way to a new owner on your side of the pond. ( see picture )

We have scanned and produced a 904 gearbox ( see picture ) by sandcasting some time ago and we are now in the process of doing the same for the 547 engine. We will obviously start out with an original case however.

For now we are working on the conversion-kit for the cam driven distributors to the small V crank driven distributors. We have scanned and sandcasted the base-plate and will have the other parts done in about a month or so.

From the other 2 engine # that you provide , it seems likely that my '55 engine came out of a coupe or speedster, rather then a Spyder, another dream shattered

Thanks also to Michael and Andrew by responding to my pm.

Mike

[Jacques Lefriant]

Hi Mike
I guessed wrong i should have known since that very case was sent to me for assembly(and for me to reverse engineer it). it is machined for either a 692 or 587 crank. what fooled me is that the thru bolts have the late 547 and 587/3 904 spacing but would not be proper for the 904 vee drive. I beleive they were done by Mr Pohl? Porsche cases would have the type no on them the early 587 cases would have the 692 no but the replacement cases made in the late 60s would have provisions for all configurations and have the 587 no.
FCF
jacques
BTW
i need some of those transmission cases

[Mike Hoynck van Papendrecht]

Hello Jacques,

That's right, Mr. Pohl had those cases done way back then.

Story goes that Porsche heard about these new castings and bought them all up. This one fell of the wagon just in time Don't know if the story is true, but I will visit Mr. Pohl shortly and get to hear all the good stuff.

Send me a pm on the 904 transes, we are about to do another run,

Thanks,

Mike

[Jacques Lefriant]

Hi Mike
It is a shame that Porsche did not support Pohl's effort to make parts available. i understand that heads were done also. Now Capricorn and Porsche control the replacement market and we are left to fend for ourselves if we don't like it.
FCF
jacques

[Mike Hoynck van Papendrecht]

Yes, that's right.

I do still have a set of heads from Pohl.

Capricorn isn't doing much in salesnumbers here in Europe, don't know about the US. I don't know any European 4 Cam specialist that deals with Capricorn at this moment and questions are raised about the alloycasting they are using. And they are quite expensive.

But it leaves a nice gap to fill in ..................

Thanks,

Mike

[Jacques Lefriant]

Hi Mike
I correscponded with Herr Kuhlman at Capricorn and he was most helpful. They sent me this picture.
Cheers
jacques

[Jack Walter]

i received this information about the 1955 Sebring entrants via Steve Hendricks and his network:

550-0022 was at Sebring 1955, Norman Christenson and Donald McKnought, start nr. 72. DNF – Brakes.

P90009 is now in Brescia, Italy being reunited with Spyder 550-0022 - I'll fill in the details once everything settles down - its been an interesting few months. I'll be receiving a fresh 1600 GT 4-cam engine in partial exchange. The Porsche Karma gods should be happy.

[Andrew Hosking]

That is excellent news Jack - I am glad you were able to come to an agreement

Andrew

[Jack Walter]

That is excellent news Jack - I am glad you were able to come to an agreement

Andrew

Thanks - it was very important to me to see that the engine returned to its rightful place - since all of us are only temporary custodians of these cars it's pretty special to be involved with the incredible Porsches that I've been lucky enough to have a connection to.

I just wish I had one of my grandfather's 1932 Miller race cars.....

[Tim Herman]

Years ago..........who printed up the dark blue shirts with an image of a 4-cam moter and the saying: "Real Carreras have 4 cams@"? I'd like to find another.

CW

Stephen Dean
He is still around and on this forum from time to time. I was a member of the 4-Cam Registry which Stephen started and it was a great special interest group.

The reason for the T-shirt was that we were all (4-Cammers) outraged when Porsche brought back the Carrera name badging. 911 Upstart Pretenders! Blasphemy!

[Charlie White]

Tim,

I've had one of those original "4-cam" shirts for as long as I can remember, going back to the late 70's or early 80's, don't remember exactly when I first got one. It has always been my favorite "Porsche" shirt! I've worn it for years and to a point where it was becoming a rag. Unfortunately, I could never find another one. So I decided to do one myself. Hence you see the result.

Regards,

Charlie White

[Andrew Hosking]

It is very noble of you to make this decision Jack. Do you have another quad cam to replace it for your 356?

[Jack Walter]

The owner of the Spyder has a 1600cc 4-cam that he is sending to me - it supposedly came from a 1957 or 58 Carrera GT and only has 3000 km on it since a rebuild. When he bought his Spyder back in 1975 it had a pushrod engine in it. He acquired this 4-cam a few years ago and has only run it in the Mille Miglia. I've seen a video of it running in the Spyder and it sounds great!

My engine needed pistons and some other work and rather than have two cars with incorrect engine numbers we worked out a deal where he gets his original engine back and I get a running motor and a moderate consideration. It will accelerate the time frame where my car will be back on the road with a 4-cam powerplant and I figured that having a non-matching number isn't as important for my car (although if someone has P90684 we should talk).