Who knows about the Mk II motor? (re: Bill Thomas)

[442w30]

A friend asked me if I knew anything about Bill Thomas' involvement with the Mark II 427 motor. A member of this site hooked me up with his son, but no dice. As the knowledge base here is rather robust, I was curious if anyone had any leads? I've read a bunch of sites and threads on the motor, but not much about a possible connection, which also may involve Mickey Thompson.

On a related note, if you know of a good site that lays out the Bill Thomas story in general, I'd love to see it - there's a lot of scattered info, almost like he's been kept behind the scenes like it seemed he was back in the day.

Thanks in advance!

[markjohnson]

There's gonna be a big story on the Mystery Motor in Hot Rod Magazine within the next couple of months including a recent dyno session of a surviving example. Mickey Thompson had two of them in the Z06 Corvettes he raced at Daytona in early '63.

[442w30]

Well, this is related to that story, although I wasn't aware that the magazine had announced this. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/grin.gif[/img]

[olredalert]

----Bob Auxier in Phoenix (the guy who does so much Cheeta stuff) knows about as much about Bill Thomas as anyone. I don't know how to reach him but someone on the sight will, I think......Bill S

[442w30]

I'll try to look him up as I'm in AZ till Tues eve....

[Verne_Frantz]

To my knowledge, I've never heard of a connection between Bill Thomas and the MK-II. I know Mickey Thompson was also in CA but I think he did his own work with a <span style="font-style: italic">little</span> help from some Chevrolet engineers.

This is a good read.
http://hotrodenginetech.com/mystery-...ell-tells-all/

Verne [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/flag.gif[/img]

[Keith Seymore]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: 442w30</div><div class="ubbcode-body">A friend asked me if I knew anything about Bill Thomas' involvement with the Mark II 427 motor. A member of this site hooked me up with his son, but no dice. As the knowledge base here is rather robust, I was curious if anyone had any leads? I've read a bunch of sites and threads on the motor, but not much about a possible connection, which also may involve Mickey Thompson.

On a related note, if you know of a good site that lays out the Bill Thomas story in general, I'd love to see it - there's a lot of scattered info, almost like he's been kept behind the scenes like it seemed he was back in the day.

Thanks in advance! </div></div>

My dad made the rocker arms, guide plates, valve covers and oil pans for the Mystery motors while he was a die maker at Chevrolet Flint Manufacturing (Pressed Metal Divsion).

The only non-GM supplier he mentioned sending parts to was Smokey.

K

[Stefano]

Not much is known publicly or written about Bill Thomas and his involvement with General Motors in the early years of performance.

It would surprise me if he was not involved with the Mark II Mystery Motor in some way.

I have traced his connection with GM /Zora Duntov back as far as the late 1950s, where he built the motor and FI (I believe) for one of Jim Jefford's Corvette Race Cars. I can't remember if it was the SR2 or the Purple People Eater MK I.

[442w30]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Verne_Frantz</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
This is a good read.
http://hotrodenginetech.com/mystery-...ell-tells-all/
</div></div>

Yeah, I had seen that article - thanks!

[Verne_Frantz]

It's entirely possible that Bill Thomas played with one of those motors, but not during the development stages. Smokey did some testing with intake manifold runner design for them, and of course, he created the extra main bearing caps (fit over the stock 2 bolt caps).
I had the pleasure of talking with Dick Keinath a few times before he died and learned a lot, mostly about the secrecy of the whole project. According to Dick, the GM top brass didn't find out about the MK-II until a reporter asked them about it at Daytona in Feb. They said, &quot;what new motor?&quot; That was when the poop hit the propeller. Anyone found working on race parts after that was immediately shown the door.
Dick told me he wanted to measure &quot;mass&quot; flow through the ports but the equipment to do that hadn't been invented yet. He was ahead of the curve as an engineer. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/flag.gif[/img]

Verne [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif[/img]