16V SOHC engines

[Scott Fisher]

Brady Moffatt writes:

> I think this thread started off the opposite way. We

> were looking for 2V DOHC engines.

Lots of examples of those, some from quite a long time
ago.  Alfa Romeo began using DOHC/2V engines in about
1910, though they were a relatively small-volume
producer of high-end vehicles at that time.  After
WW2, when they were introducing their high-volume
Giulietta range, they developed a twin-cam engine of
1290cc with two valves per cylinder, using an aluminum
block with wet iron liners and an aluminum head with a
hemispheric combustion chamber.  

This engine was enlarged three times over the next
several decades, first to 1570cc in the early Sixties,
then to 1779cc in about 1968 and finally to 1962cc in
about 1971.  It was in continuous series production
through the mid-1990s, with various induction systems
(single carburettor, dual carburettor, mechanical fuel
injection, and electronic injection) to achieve
various power, economy, and emissions goals.  

Ob.Audi.Content: in the late 1930s, Tazio Nuvolari
left the then-underfunded Alfa Romeo Grand Prix team
(technically a private team managed by none other than
Enzo Ferrari) to drive for Auto Union, and was one of
a small handful of drivers capable of victories in
these revolutionary mid-engined race cars.  The chief
engineer for Auto Union was the grandfather of
Ferdinand Piech, the man responsible for many of
Audi's technical advances and motorsport successes. 
(The "old professor" also had some success with his
own motorsport company, I seem to recall... what was
its name?  Patio, Veranda, something like that... :-)

--Scott Fisher
  Tualatin, Oregon
  couple Audis, couple Alfas, couple "Patios"
  and one funny little blue car that sprays gravel
  from all four wheels every chance I get...



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