Ardun Engine

A

Arotarius

Junior Member
I’m assuming these don’t pop up very often but a friend has one on an engine stand.

Thought it would be an interesting picture to share as it is an original.
 

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I was just reading up on these last night after clicking on my bookmark for Monterey Speed and Sport only to find out the link was dead. Digging I found out that the owner, Don Orosco passed away recently. He apparently did a production run of some reproduction Ardun heads, making several improvements over the originals which were supposedly plagued with multiple issues. Modern dyno testing showed only 160 hp compared to the 200 hp plus claimed by the original owners of the design. I was really surprised to hear that. Still haven’t figured out what happened to Monterey Speed & Sport. They had some really nice stuff.
 
I think Don Orosco's Ardun patterns and parts were purchased by Don Ferguson who has continued their production.
 
Ziggster said:
I was just reading up on these last night after clicking on my bookmark for Monterey Speed and Sport only to find out the link was dead. Digging I found out that the owner, Don Orosco passed away recently. He apparently did a production run of some reproduction Ardun heads, making several improvements over the originals which were supposedly plagued with multiple issues. Modern dyno testing showed only 160 hp compared to the 200 hp plus claimed by the original owners of the design. I was really surprised to hear that. Still haven’t figured out what happened to Monterey Speed & Sport. They had some really nice stuff.
Click to expand...


The reproduction that Don Orosco produced many years ago was a limited run EXACT duplicate of the original ARDUN head design. That run was less than 50 sets. The original design did not have multiple issues the only issue was when they were designed in 1947 and then produced was related to the lack upper valve train oiling {easily corrected by adding oilers} and the ignition systems during that time period were inadequate for the conversion to perform well. The original advertisements for the conversion claimed an additional 50 HP over the stock engine.
My vast experience running one of the highest mileage original ARDUNs ever is how I can claim the above as fact. Tim has asked to clarify how many a few actually is the answer is over 50 including the very first set ever run and tested which will be running in August at Bonneville once again.

Heres a good video of the inner workings of the ARDUN conversion enjoy click on this link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5kqa7W0Mfk

Ronnieroadster
 
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Krylon32 said:
I guess I was wrong about Ferguson buying the Orosco patterns?
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No your correct the Ferguson reproduction is the Orosco patterns. The only changes are the rockers now include the oiling improvements the original's were lacking. Our current records have been set using the Ferguson produced heads top speed so far 229 MPH that's in a mile and a half run.
Ronnieroadster
 
Willie Glass of SC who is no longer with us had like 5 Arduns.2 were NOS.He ran one in his Model A roadster at Bonneville and turned 206.That was back around 2007? He claimed to have owned one that was bought new by Dale Earnhart (sp?) but couldn't run it for reasons I have forgot. I had a set back in 2007 but on the valve covers it said made in England.I was selling it for a widow of a collector. They were run once on a motor then pulled off and put on a shelf.Had them on EBAY and that's how I met Willie.In those days you could get sellers contact info on EBAY.Killed the auction and sold them off line.To bad I didn't save the pics.
 
Good ole' Willie Glass . . . quite the character! I have a set of aluminum rods that he had made (never used) and also a set of special Offy heads that he ran at Bonneville. I have not had time to put an Ardun together - maybe I'll finally get started on it! LOL
 
It is truly amazing that there is still a large number of
ARDUNs just tucked away in private collections.
 
Ronnieroadster said:
The reproduction that Don Orosco produced many years ago was a limited run EXACT duplicate of the original ARDUN head design. That run was less than 50 sets. The original design did not have multiple issues the only issue was when they were designed in 1947 and then produced was related to the lack upper valve train oiling {easily corrected by adding oilers} and the ignition systems during that time period were inadequate for the conversion to perform well. The original advertisements for the conversion claimed an additional 50 HP over the stock engine.
My vast experience running one of the highest mileage original ARDUNs ever is how I can claim the above as fact. Tim has asked to clarify how many a few actually is the answer is over 50 including the very first set ever run and tested which will be running in August at Bonneville once again.

Heres a good video of the inner workings of the ARDUN conversion enjoy click on this link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5kqa7W0Mfk

Ronnieroadster
Click to expand...

Thanks. I was just going from an article I read. IIRC, they mentioned pushrod design (hollow vs solid?), valve type/ use (Chevy vs Chrysler?), and something else I can’t recall exactly. Still an engineering design marvel for the time. I’ll see if I can find the article.
 
deuce lover said:
Willie Glass of SC who is no longer with us had like 5 Arduns.2 were NOS.He ran one in his Model A roadster at Bonneville and turned 206.That was back around 2007? He claimed to have owned one that was bought new by Dale Earnhart (sp?) but couldn't run it for reasons I have forgot. I had a set back in 2007 but on the valve covers it said made in England.I was selling it for a widow of a collector. They were run once on a motor then pulled off and put on a shelf.Had them on EBAY and that's how I met Willie.In those days you could get sellers contact info on EBAY.Killed the auction and sold them off line.To bad I didn't save the pics.
Click to expand...

Its my understanding the the original run of 200 were cast in England.
 
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