Eight rod engine

Keith True

Keith True

Well-known member
What is an eight rod engine? I had somebody in the garage today who had a relative that either built,or had built,an eight rod engine.This guy knows almost nothing about mechanics,and less about A's,but as a kid he remembers people in his family yelling about that jerk that spent his money on that eight rod engine instead of his family.Was it an engine with doubled up rods?Was it just some kind of terminology for his race engine?Was any such thing built? Or,could it just have been the name of a shop that built his engine? I never heard of it before but it sounds interesting.
 
A V8 would have 8 rods, or I guess you could have 2 really thin rods for each piston in a 4 cylinder.
 
In an early issue of The Restorer there was an article about a guy who built an 8 rod engine for his Leatherback 4 door. Seems his name was Klingele or something like that.
Going off memory I think that issue was in 1971 or so.
 
Yes, there was an article about Jim Klingle buildling an 8 rod in an earlier Restorer. He is or was from Yakima Washington.
 
Someone offered me an engine with 8 connecting rods, at Hershey one year... his story was that it was used for racing... he didn't have it with him...

I didn't pursue it.
 
Someone in the LA area converted an A to diesel, cast his own head, etc. He doubled up the rods for strength. I've raced B engines quite a bit, with B rods and no problems with them although in the early days of racing the A or B rod was considered the weak link.
 
Yes the eight rodder was from Yakima Washington. I have a copy of the article dated march/april 1974,contains a lot of info.E-mail me direct if you want a copy. I can scan it for you.
 
So it looks like it did exist,and wasn't just the name of a shop somewhere. The fellow that told me the story of his uncle blowing the money on the engine came from the northwest. The family was in the orchard business out there.
 
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