Thread: Ken Thurm...Superstar!

Tweet

Move over Steve, I've got shotgun! I never realized until I read this article that the engine in Kens truck once belonged to Lil John Buttera and is that aluminum Indy engine he was playing around with. That in itself makes this truck super special with tons of history. WOW! I bet it scoots too.

Don

Congrats Ken! That's always great to get some mag coverage for something you put a lot of work into.

Now I need to go out and find that mag,,,, say, I'll send it to you and you can scribble your sig. on the cover!!

Awesome truck. Funny how long it takes these magazines to finally put these articles into print.

Awesome truck ken
Don Jr.

Steve- Now, there is a deal I can't pass up !

Don- Your right, the accomplishments he made with that whole project are amazing. I screwed that all up by re sleeving it to 4 1/8 bore. So now it won't go 11,000 rpm anymore. but just having it is special to me, he was hard to get along with sometimes but what a machinist and designer he was.
This block is like no other small block, externally and internally. If you want I'll try and take a shot of some of the differences.

Larry- Thanks, it is very cool, I haven't ever made a cover before.

Don Jr.- Thanks, I honestly believe they are living on their inventory.
Ken

Ken, the pictures would be great, but also we'd all love to hear the story about how you came into possession of the Indy motor and a little more about the engine itself. All I know is that John made a low budget attempt (compared to most of the entries) at the Indy 500 and developed some "sbc" engines to do that. Can you fill in some of the blanks for us?

For those who may be too young to know who we are talking about, Lil John Buttera, who is now deceased (RIP), was one of the legendary machinists, car innovators, fabricators of all time. I believe he is credited with being one of the first to work with billet aluminum, and he also built some of the finest dragster and funny car chassis ever built. He ranks right up there with the other legends in this hobby like Bill Hines, Winfield, Barris, etc.

A famous quote by John was when he was asked one time how he created a car mirror out of a single piece of aluminum. His response was "You start with a block and cut away everything that doesn't look like a mirror!"

Here are some pictures of the Man and his work:

Don

Hey Don ...... you forgot Bike Builder too. He made a limited number of softails that were so innovative it wasn't funny or appreciated. I remember the detail on the swing arm brake system with internal lines ....... made out of the actual components .... he was way ahead of his time (RIP) and under appreciated.

REGS

I have just been reading an article in August 2008 Street Rodder mag about Lil John,and Boyd Coddington,and the stamp they put on the 70s/80s.I knew of Lil John and his reputation for one liners and caustic remarks,but I can see he was a brilliant builder,it must be quite something,Ken,to have an engine that was built by him..and yeah.I bet it hauls..and congrats again,will have a look this week for that magazine..

REGs- You are right, he made some awesome bikes. The swing arm you are talking about was actually made out of aluminum. He made it in four pieces then bolted it together. but what he did that was special was he machined the caliper right into the swing arm then drilled a hole the length of the lower portion all the way to the caliper so there was no brake line on the swing arm. I hope I explained this so it is understand able because it was a piece of art. Then he machine the inner half of the caliper and bolted it together, amazing.

lamin8r- Thanks, yes it's very special to me. I don't know how many were made, I never asked him.

Don-I met John in the late 70's, when he was building race cars. A friend of mine worked for him, that's how we met. He was very influential to me on how I build my cars. What I took from him was his ability to hide things. He made things that looked like they would never run or how you would take something apart. He hid bolts on somethings were you would really have to study it to figure out how in the world he put it together. He had more talent in his little finger than I do in my whole body. If I had two body's.
John raced Indy 3 times, I think the first race they qualified 8th, unbelievable to even qualify, and finish 28th.
He was the first to build a billet wheels, Boyd took the idea and ran with it. Boyd died 4 days before John.
I could go on for a long time, but I think you get the point I had nothing but the highest respect for him, and is dearly missed.
The block was sitting at a machine shop, and was given to me.
As you can see on the side of the block he beefed up the area around the cylinders. He is a real problem with the rpm thy turn so he had four extra outlets that you could use to circulate more direct water. I'm using the front two to go threw a automatic transmission cooler because my radiator is 5" shorter. All these extra outlets are O ringed.

Ken