Sage Model Engines

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I purchased the plans for the Jerry Howell V4 and studied them in great detail to determine if the engine would lend itself to being stretched to a V8. Right from the beginning my intent was to make the engine run like a Chevy Small-block so I did not simply extend the existing Howell design but rather re-worked the crank and cam timing to be like a Chevy. Extending the Howell design required designing some custom pieces for the built-up crank (now 12 pieces).

I maintained the knife and fork style connecting rods so the cylinder banks could remain un-stagggered as in the Howell design. I re-drew many of the parts to help avoid un-foreseen problems. I kept the basic design of the distributor but it needed to be enlarged to accommodate 8 spark towers so I modeled it in 3-D and worked from those drawings. Other than the items mentioned the engine parts are built to the Howell plans, albeit sometimes in double quantities.

I have always wanted a running model of a V8 engine so I started with Jerry Howell’s beautiful V4 plans and I stretched it to 8 cylinders.