Funk Head

C

Craic

Junior Member
Does anyone remember seeing the distributor or mounting fixture that was used with the Funk cylinder head? I’m not having any luck finding images of the 3 stud mount purpose. I’m assuming that was advance / retard setting.

Thank you
 

Attachments

  • 28B58AC8-4999-436A-AE06-D5F7AC3CF8E0.jpg
    28B58AC8-4999-436A-AE06-D5F7AC3CF8E0.jpg
    91.3 KB · Views: 121
  • 843C90BE-A056-4055-AD3A-723099ABA151.jpg
    843C90BE-A056-4055-AD3A-723099ABA151.jpg
    52.9 KB · Views: 87
Funk Brothers Aircraft head for Model B.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/115805524925


MORE:

http://www.airbum.com/pireps/PirepFunk.html

Says engine was installed upside down!!

The four-cylinder B engine was an upgrade of the earlier A engine in that it had a pressurized oil system rather than relying on splash lubrication.

The Funk brothers took the engine, turned it upside down — obviously modifying the sump to allow it to work in the inverted situation — and hung a prop on the front. This configuration supposedly turned out 63 hp at 2125 rpm and could pump out as much as 70 hp at 2450 rpm for takeoff. The drawbacks to the engine were obvious: It was heavy and required a cooling system. By the same token, in 1934 there was no such thing as a commonly available low horsepower four-cylinder aircooled engine of similar horsepower.
 
Last edited:
Thanks Benson. I haven’t seen a single plug version before. I’ve seen info on their Ford V8 tractor conversion but very little on their aircraft accessories
 
Interesting stuff. Another purpose added to the long list of Model A and Model B engines (cars, farm implements, marine applications, generators, water irrigation pumps, etc.) I have seen the Funk tractor conversions to 6 and 8 cylinders in the 1950's for the Ford tractors, but never would have believed an upside-down airplane engine. I would like to see how they did the oil sump, and why invert the engine in the first place? Water cooled too? Seems like they would want to make it light as possible. I wonder if it had a crank in the front? Oh yea, that was the prop. LOL :)

Edit: After looking at the Funk (almost did a typo) airplane, I guess the reason to invert the engine was to get the propeller up high for draught over wings. Still a lot of re-designing to invert. I wonder if the aluminum heads would do anything for a model "A"?
 
Last edited:
Craic said:
Does anyone remember seeing the distributor or mounting fixture that was used with the Funk cylinder head? I’m not having any luck finding images of the 3 stud mount purpose. I’m assuming that was advance / retard setting.

Thank you
Click to expand...

The head used a WICO Model X mag that was mounted on the inverted engine. The top-mount Model X was different than the more common side-drive Model X mags because it used a lower section that was similar to the stock Model-A distributor. Because of that, the 3 studs held the mag from falling out due to being mounted inverted.

I recently sold my Funk head at Chickasha. Is this the same head??
 
stickshift said:
Interesting stuff. Another purpose added to the long list of Model A and Model B engines (cars, farm implements, marine applications, generators, water irrigation pumps, etc.) I have seen the Funk tractor conversions to 6 and 8 cylinders in the 1950's for the Ford tractors, but never would have believed an upside-down airplane engine. I would like to see how they did the oil sump, and why invert the engine in the first place? Water cooled too? Seems like they would want to make it light as possible. I wonder if it had a crank in the front? Oh yea, that was the prop. LOL :)
Click to expand...

Same company ...basically. From memory, two brothers named Funk originally built airplanes in Ohio during the Model-A era. This head above was from the late 30s era. Sometime in the 1940s, the Funk Airplane Company went bankrupt and moved to Coffeyville, Kansas due to a couple of other brothers who were their new investors. There was another friend of the Funk brothers who was the brains behind the 8N/9N/Ferguson 6 cylinder conversions. I think they only used their manufacturing skills and their engineering know-how to make those under the Funk name. My Grandfather had one of the 6 cylinder conversions on a '49 8N and Dad always said the tractor was dangerous and feeble. The 8N tractor engine had about 30 horse (maybe 25 on the drawbar) whereas the 6 cylinder was rated at like 90 horsepower and so the transmission and rear axles could not handle the extra torque. Dad said that if they were plowing and hit a hard place in the ground, it would shell the teeth off of the transmission cluster or break an axle. Because of this, they never ran wheel weights or suitcase weights, and so the tractor was unpredictable if it were put into a bind. As far as Funk is concerned, I think they are still in business today and are owned by some tractor manufacturer (-cant remember which one though :()


To answer your second question, the inverted engine allowed for the crankshaft to spin a larger length propeller. This kept from having to run higher RPMs.
 
Hi Brent

Yes I did buy this from you at Chickasha. Thank you very much for the answer on the mount and the additional information.

Jerry
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top