The Pipe – An Exceptional Motor Car Made in Belgium: After the post earlier in the week that covered resilient wheels and the Pipe Bus with Compound Suspension, we were curious to learn a bit more about the cars that the company built. What we found was info and photos about a very impressive car that you can learn all about @ http://theoldmotor.com/?p=109058
I look at that engine picture and marvel at the valve linkage, longing to see it in actual operation, knowing it would be mesmerizing. Then there are the ones who would say that the valve train is hopelessly outdated and needs to be replaced with a dual overhead cam so it will be dependable in today's traffic....and if you leave the hood closed, no one will know......and since they don't do shows, only tours, they set it up for touring.......and it's their car, they will do what they want to with it.......and.........so on..............and..........so on..........Go figure.
Now THAT is a cool looking engine! It'd be super cool to see all of the push-rods bouncing and the rockers dancing while the engine was running.
The polished magnets on the high-tension mag are neat. I always thought it would be be really cool to have the magnets on mine brass plated, though I'm not sure how/if that would work and not mess them up.
Question: does anyone know what's going on with the chain in the back? I can't decided if it's connected to the crankshaft or the exhaust camshaft, but either way it runs to a gear that is mounted on the firewall . . . for what?
The chain comes off the camshaft and drives the jack shaft that the magneto bolts to.
Damn, that car is ugly.
"Question: does anyone know what's going on with the chain in the back? I can't decided if it's connected to the crankshaft or the exhaust camshaft, but either way it runs to a gear that is mounted on the firewall . . . for what?"
My guess is that it was connected to the exhaust cam and may have driven a mechanical oiler as you can see on this 1906 Fiat from the Larz Anderson Museum. Instead of a silent chain many early cars used a spring belt as this Fiat does. More more info about the Fiat @ http://theoldmotor.com/?p=51960
Hey Royce, look at the picture some more: the magneto is driven from the front of the engine probably by a gear meshed with the cam gear, similarly to a T engine. Still not sure what the gear on the firewall is doing.
Also, I think the car is very attractive all over, except for that ridiculous windshield. If it just a flat windshield that came up vertically at the base of the current one, and the driver's door was a full rectangle, it wouldn't look nearly as crazy.
Sorry David, was typing my post same time as yours. An oiler makes sense. Pretty wild that it looks like the entire transmission assembly is back up under the driver.
Seth:
Brass plating your magnets would very likely not affect them since brass is not magnetic and the magnets are not "rare earth" type which are affected by high temperatures and such. You probably would want to recharge the magnets as a final step but it should work OK. The only thing that will NOT work is replacing the magnets with solid brass ones
'Seth:
Brass plating your magnets would very likely not affect them since brass is not magnetic and the magnets are not "rare earth" type which are affected by high temperatures and such. You probably would want to recharge the magnets as a final step but it should work OK. The only thing that will NOT work is replacing the magnets with solid brass ones "
I believe John is correct, I have recharged nickel-plated Bosch magnets and they took a charge and worked just fine.
There is another interesting feature on this car: 6 valve stems per wheel. I noticed the same set up on a 1906 Packard in the Henry Ford museum in October. Presumably, the tube is segmented, or there are 6 tubes of which each inflate a sixth of the tire. Can anyone provide more information about this set-up? Are these tubes available today?
Correction: 5 valve stems per wheel. The 1906 Packard had 6.
Why is one valve stem on each wheel larger than the other four?
Are you sure the smaller are not rim locks?? Bud.
only one is a valve stem. The other four are chaplets. chaplets are wedges inside the tire, when you tighten the nut (the part that loks like valve stem) it draws the wedge tight against the rim and wedges the bead in the clincher part of the rim. chaplets were discontinued around 1908-09.