What is it?

[Joris Koning]

Kudos to whoever identifies my new piece of garage art

[Jacques Lefriant]

912 crank?

[Joris Koning]

These things are to easy for Jacques yup, that's it

[Dave Wildrick]

Cool lamp base.

[Jacques Lefriant]

Hi Joris
I edited my post had my fun lets get some over guesses.
j

[WilliamVaughan]

A mechanical marvel of the highest order.
How did they get (make) that cam drive gear in the center of the crank?

[Martin Benade]

Without counting the journals, is it a 917? I know they take power from the center of the crank so as not to twist it too many degrees end to end.

[C J Murray]

912 was the internal number used for the 917

[Wes Bender]

That's some hefty counter-balancing too. Pretty piece.

[marcsherriff]

Is it a 908/10 crank?

[C J Murray]

It's either a V16 or a flat 16 with gear driven cams.

[C J Murray]

917 PA Spyder

[C J Murray]

A mechanical marvel of the highest order.
How did they get (make) that cam drive gear in the center of the crank?

Driving the cams via gears in the center of the crank is common practice in the motorcycle world. The gear portion is machined along with the rest of the crank.

[C J Murray]

These things are to easy for Jacques yup, that's it

According to this the 912 designation was reserved for the 12 cylinder engine. Was 917 the designation for the 16 cylinder engine or only for the car model?
Surely the 12 and the 16 had different engine designation numbers. I know the 16 was not 616.

https://jalopnik.com/why-the-16-cylinde ... 1788588431

[Ron LaDow]

If it's a flat 16, it has some strange firing order. How about and end shot to see the the way the throws are arranged?
Added by edit:
OK, it's a 90* crank, but with a strange progression, so I guess it could be a flat 16.
2nd edit:
There are few 16-cyl cars, and post-war, I'm pretty sure there's only one which could use a 90* crank. Gotta be a 917/10.
UNLESS it is a wondrous creation such as Alan had at The Stable: welded up VW cranks with gears included.
BTW, for those interested, I spoke with Alan yesterday; he remains pissed he really isn't capable of wrenching anymore, but is otherwise (sort of) accepting of what he's got.