I have just been to the Haynes ( of workshop manuals fame) Museum at Sparkford in the UK. It has a great range of road cars witha surprising number of US ones.
One of the more offbeat exhibits was left hand drive Ford Fiesta with this three cylnder two stroke engine and a pilot build chassis number.
http://img704.images.../i/1007259.jpg/
The car is apparently from Australia despite the left hand drive. Is this the famous Aussie Orbital two stroke engine or something Purely Ford develpoed? The installation looked very "OEM" in neatness.
Is this the famous Australian Orbital engine?
Started by
mariner
, Feb 27 2010 14:25
6 replies to this topic
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#2
Terry Walker
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Posted 27 February 2010 - 15:01
The Sarich Orbital was shaped rather like a Wankel, so this is not it; but Orbital did go on to develop related technology. Three cylinder two-stroke? Sounds like an early Diahatsu. These days Sarich is in the real estate development business, which is, as far as I can tell, where he started out. Got millions in subsidies from Australian Governments before the project died.
#3
cheapracer
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Posted 27 February 2010 - 16:53
Can't see it but yes, it's the Sarich Orbital Engine Companies 2 stroke engine.
I think Greg has actually driven one?
I think Greg has actually driven one?
#4
Greg Locock
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Posted 28 February 2010 - 00:12
Yes I did, they built an evaluation fleet of 200 Fiestas which were leased to various organisations, to get real world exposure. It was very torquey, NVH was a bit of a problem (mounting 3 cylinder engines is tricky, though Daihatsu have figured it out). Orbital are still up and running, in fact they are working with at least one OEM, which given their expertise with direct injection is not very surprising.
#5
malbear
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Posted 28 February 2010 - 00:43
When I was in Detroit the engineers expressed dissapointment at the durability. Being a total loss oil system, in an effort to reduce consumption to acceptable levels and reduce smoke,
The supply was reduced and a small non return valve added to the botom of the compression sump to drain off the excess that accumulated during periods of long idle. the big drawback was engine life . It only lasted about 30% of normally expected engine life. In outboard marine engines the smoke is hidden and it does not matter so much about engine life .
the answer is to progress to a wet sump supercharged version , but that dramaticly increases the cost of production
Cheers Malbeare
The supply was reduced and a small non return valve added to the botom of the compression sump to drain off the excess that accumulated during periods of long idle. the big drawback was engine life . It only lasted about 30% of normally expected engine life. In outboard marine engines the smoke is hidden and it does not matter so much about engine life .
the answer is to progress to a wet sump supercharged version , but that dramaticly increases the cost of production
Cheers Malbeare
#6
cheapracer
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Posted 28 February 2010 - 01:06
Orbital do work for a couple of Chinese OEM's at the moment but they don't come cheap.
Mal I found that 2 stroke stuff on my computer (it has a wetsump), try to get it up and explain this week for you.
Mal I found that 2 stroke stuff on my computer (it has a wetsump), try to get it up and explain this week for you.
#7
gruntguru
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Posted 28 February 2010 - 02:33
When I was in Detroit the engineers expressed dissapointment at the durability. Being a total loss oil system, in an effort to reduce consumption to acceptable levels and reduce smoke,
The supply was reduced and a small non return valve added to the botom of the compression sump to drain off the excess that accumulated during periods of long idle. the big drawback was engine life . It only lasted about 30% of normally expected engine life. In outboard marine engines the smoke is hidden and it does not matter so much about engine life .
the answer is to progress to a wet sump supercharged version , but that dramaticly increases the cost of production
Cheers Malbeare
From memory (it was a long time ago) Orbital were claiming oil consumption comparable to current 4 stroke engines! No wonder the durability was poor. They did produce some roots-scavenged prototype engines - V6 I think. The point of difference in their DI technology was/is pneumatic atomisation.
Greg - are you referring to the Lotus collaboration Omnivore thread or something/someone else?
