R3 or R4 Engine!

[mfg]

The R3 engine which is/was under the hood of Avanti R5482 was previously under the hood of the ‘Studependous’ drag race Lark….. That R3 engine (B300) started life as an R4 Avanti engine…… True?

[mfg]

Thoughts?… Guesses??

[DWR46]

My records show B300 was produced by Paxton as an R3 "engine only". It was a 299 cu. in. engine with High Output Pulleys. It was installed and raced in a 1960 Lark by Jim Bergner. Installed in Avanti R5482 in about 1986 by Ventris. As of 2002, owned by Null in CA. Any corrections or additions are welcome.

[mfg]

1 hour ago, DWR46 said:

My records show B300 was produced by Paxton as an R3 "engine only". It was a 299 cu. in. engine with High Output Pulleys. It was installed and raced in a 1960 Lark by Jim Bergner. Installed in Avanti R5482 in about 1986 by Ventris. As of 2002, owned by Null in CA. Any corrections or additions are welcome.

Very interesting!!

What I have is the ‘for sale’ ad which Mr. Bergener ran in 1982,  in  which he stated that B300 started life as a 12.5 compression R4… and he was offering it, (with it having three cracked pistons) and throwing in a complete Avanti R2 engine for $4,000… The twin four manifold and an R3 type carb air box, and a few other parts came with the deal.

Once again….INTERESTING INDEED!!

[mfg]

As an aside…. The Studependous Lark (with this R4? engine) ran like a rocket on rails! The car was written up in a period HOT ROD magazine, with photos.

One of the photos was an overhead shot of this engine with the R4 dual quad manifold installed on it AND a Paxton supercharger. The supercharger boost was split to the carburetors with a custom made ‘Y’ adapter.

Now, Mr. Bergener was selling this engine with three cracked pistons… and I’m wondering (and it’s only a guess) if he was running the 12.5 compression pistons and that Paxton blower… which would account for the Lark’s fast times?

[DWR46]

MFG: Thank you for the additional information. I will add this to the R3/R4 Engine Roster. As the years pass, all this "history" becomes more murky and confusing. That is why I began to accumulate and sort out all the earlier R3 Registers/Rosters, in order to try to make some sense of all this before more time goes by.

[regnalbob]

2 hours ago, mfg said:

As an aside…. The Studependous Lark (with this R4? engine) ran like a rocket on rails! The car was written up in a period HOT ROD magazine, with photos.

Now, Mr. Bergener was selling this engine with three cracked pistons… and I’m wondering (and it’s only a guess) if he was running the 12.5 compression pistons and that Paxton blower… which would account for the Lark’s fast times?

The article on R 5482 doesn't mention damaged pistons. According to the article Jim Bergener's car was called the Lethal Lark.

Mike Salamunovich raced the Studependous.

Is it the same car with different names and owners?

 

[regnalbob]

DRW46,

Here is the ad from the Fall 0f 1982 if it will help.