Willys was famous for sleeve valve engines, which was pretty neat in an era where most cars needed a valve job regularly. I have always heard that sleeve valve engines ran well, but I have also heard that they tended to trail blue smoke down the road. They would probably work better today with our modern engine oils and tighter manufacturing tolerances, but I don't think it would be good with high compression. The concept is just a curiosity today. Just think; these had to be imagined and then drawn on paper by draftsmen before any parts could be made.
I never heard of a sleeve valve engine. Now I know a bit more than I did before. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI suspect the reputation as smooth running had quite a lot to do with the lack of chattering pushrods and tappets.
ReplyDeleteI have to say that with modern materials and oils these might do quite well under high compression. What would probably do the design in nowadays is the preference for small displacement, high revving engines. These have a whole lot of reciprocating mass and I bet that would start to bog things down quickly as the speed went up.