32 Valve Race Boat Engine

[RICHARD TILL]

This weekend i went to a dragboat race nearby Calvert City, Kentucky. While walking around in the pits i noticed a 19 ft. picklefork hydro with a motor that looked just like an LT5. After talking to the owner/driver i found that it was a nascar aurora double overhead camed, 32 valve engine that did in fact look just like ours. (i`ve never hear of such an animal) It had 2 carbs and twin turbos. He said it was 270 c.i.d. and was turning it 10,000 rpm`s. This guy has been working on this project for about 3 years. Other racers said that when he first atarted showing up at races it did`nt run very well but today he got some respect. He was running in the 9 sec. bracket, ran 8.83/123 m.p.h. and lost because he broke out of the class. Next time i see the guy i`ll find out more but has anyone ever heard of a nascar aurora engine of this type?

[flyin ryan]

Originally Posted by RICHARD TILL

i found that it was a nascar aurora double overhead camed, 32 valve engine that did in fact look just like ours.

Not sure if the guy told you wrong or you posted it wrong but either way you guys mean IRL, not Nascar. Yes they do have similar trait's to our LT-5's. I have a factory manual on race build procedures for them. Some interesting stuff in it. I'll post a picture of it.

[RedSled]

I thought they also had an IMSA engine at the time.

[Wide_One]

Originally Posted by flyin ryan

Not sure if the guy told you wrong or you posted it wrong but either way you guys mean IRL, not Nascar. Yes they do have similar trait's to our LT-5's. I have a factory manual on race build procedures for them. Some interesting stuff in it. I'll post a picture of it.

http://www.falconerengines.com/bio/bio_irl.php
Probably this one...

[flyin ryan]

Book I have 'Is' for the IMSA spec engine as it turns out, haven't cracked it open for a while .

[John Boothby]

The Oldsmobile Aurora 4.0 liter 32 valve V8 was a decendant of the LT5 along with the Cadillac Northstar. I also believe that Mercury Marine built some LT5's for marine use. I do not know how many, but very few.

[LGAFF]

http://www.landracing.com/forum/index.php?topic=3446.0

[RICHARD TILL]

you guys are right on. i do believe thats the motor he had. it also had two holley carbs with float bowls i`d never seen before. the ends had big glass windows in them. i wish i could of asked the guy more questions. i was on a borrowed golf cart and never got off it. at present i`m on crutches with a broken fibula. i got ran off the road on the harley and hit the ground about 40 mph. back to the boat. since the motor was lighter than a traditional big block chevy he had to weigh the rear of the hydro down with sandbags. about 3/4 track it got out of shape and he should of got out of it but did`nt. at the next race if see him i`ll get the name and not have to refer to him as he and the guy. maybe i can get pictures and send them to someone who knows how to post them on here. thanks for the replies.

[RICHARD TILL]

I`ve got some more info about the 32 valve engine. I asked who the boatowner was on a dragboat forum and heres the reply i got. Kinda explaines a few things. "His name is Bill DeVille (sp?). He bought that hydro about three years ago in Livermore, Ky. The boat was the old John Hass Jr. boat that ran the 7 sec. class. He has had his struggles but has stuck with it and running very nice passes now. First he had too much gear and clutch problems. The engine makes 1000 hrosepower but no torque. He has reinvented the wheel. The engine is an old Aurora Indy car engine. They were obselete in Indy cars or outlawed for some reason. He works for Menard Motorsports (yes the Menard) so i bet he had some help from them. It is kick *** when he pours the fuel to it to get the boost up at the starting line. You hear some pops, then he leaves the line and it is quiet. It starts hauling ***." I`m thinking the name, Menard answered some of my questions. This was`nt a Mickey Mouse operation at all. Evidently Menard stirs with a big stick?

[Aurora40]

Just FYI, there were both IMSA as well as IRL versions of the Aurora V8. The Aurora V8 is a 4.0L version of the 4.6L Northstar motor. Olds pulled out of NHRA racing the late 80's or early 90's to focus on road racing, which I guess was more in line with their new direction?

They started in IMSA and 1996 was their big year. They won both the World SportsCar championship, and the GTS-1 championship (the predecessor to the C6.R's GT1 class). The engines were different for WSC vs GTS-1, but both were I believe based off the production blocks.

In 1997 Olds moved into IRL racing. The Aurora IRL motor was basically a clean-sheet design. It had nothing other than a few specs and dimensions in common with the production Aurora V8. They were limited by the series to just under 11,000 rpm and ran on methanol. They were a 4.0L engine, though eventually reduced to 3.5L. In the last year or two they introduced a flat crank for the 3.5L version which not everyone used. Supposedly it was good for about another 30hp.

When Olds was killed in 2001, it became the Chevrolet IRL V8, though was just a badge change. It was redesigned by GM for one season as it became less competitive to the new high-dollar Honda and Toyota entries. GM then turned to Cosworth, who designed a brand new engine which they then threw a Chevy badge on. Though I believe this isn't far off how a lot of other top manufacturers "design" engines. Still it was a little disappointing.

The Aurora IRL V8 managed to win Indy 5 times though from 1997 to 2001. That's awesome that someone is keeping one alive and kicking ***, even if it's in a boat.

Oh, Cadillac turned to the Aurora IRL V8 when they decided to go racing at LeMans. The Cadillac LMP900 used an Aurora IRL V8 adapted to run twin turbos. As far as I know the engine was quite reliable, they tended to have chassis problems and such that kept them from reaching their goals, I'd never heard anything about them having a lack of power or reliability from the engines. Though I was a casual follower of ALMS at the time.