C.I.H. engine

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Ratu
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C.I.H. engine

Post by Ratu »

Many years ago my mother purchased an Australian built sedan. It was unusual in that it was powered by a German built engine. The engine was a four cylinder Opel CIH (cam-in-head). The Opel CIH was a family of four and six-cylinder engines. In this Ozzie application the engine was a four cylinder of 1.9 litres IIRC. The largest four-cylinder version came in at ~2.4 litres but that version did not make it to the Great Southern Land as far as I know- well not in a Holden anyway.

“CIH” referred to a feature of the design. The camshaft was located in the cylinder head, which indeed it was- inside the head. This engine had the cam located by bearings which were found within a cam tunnel within the head structure proper. The cam drove lifters up and down analogously to the cam and lifter system in a conventional cam in block engine. There were no caps.

In the Opel CIH the lifters acted directly on the rockers. There were no pushrods intermediating (none were needed). In effect the system was exactly like a OHV system, only without the pushrods. The CIH system was good enough for a reliable 11,000rpm in sports and rally versions of the engine. Not too bad for an old cast iron non-crossflow two-valve design!

It does appear that the design was motivated (certainly influenced) in part by a desire to re-use as many existing components as possible and to minimise new tooling as far as possible. Thus costs could be kept in check. For example, the same rockers, followers, valves and springs etc. could be kept, possibly even the cam could be the same blank as in the previous engine family. I do not know this for certain though, it is supposition on my part.

Does anyone know about this four and six-cylinder engine family? Were these engines available in the USA, Canada, Central or South America? Has any manufacturer done something similar with crossflow?

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Ken
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Re: C.I.H. engine

Post by Ken »

The Opel Manta,GT,and Kadett were sold in the US,many with the 1.9 l. CIH engine. They were sold through Buick dealerships.
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Re: C.I.H. engine

Post by Jarmo »

Only original crossflow head for those is very rare 16 valve version from ascona and manta "400" race homologation models.
People is cutting last 2 cylinders off from 3000cc 6 cylinder 24v head and adapting it to fit.
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Re: C.I.H. engine

Post by chevyfreak »

Hi. I myself have a 2800 and 3000 6cyl engines. This engine was used in south africa as well. Many sizes. There were a 1700.1900. 2000.2200 and the 2400cc on the 4s. We had the middel 3 mainly on rwd cars. The inline 6cyl was 2100 for one year only and 2500.2600.2800.3000 and there were a 3600 as well that irsmsher assisted opel and in 12 and 24valve heads mainly racing but a couple of irsmsher built street models came with it. The 16v heads were made by shortening a 24v head and cam was changed. Irmsher even made their own engine based on the inline 6 but at 4000cc and some with twin turbo. The cih was replaced by the ohc desig on the 4 in late 80s to early 90s but the 6 went on for longer and only replaced by the ohc v6 engines in later 90s. Very good motors and for its time they made good power and were tuned by german tuners profusely,
steinmetz, irmsher, risse to name a few and with good results. There is a green kadett c that runs the hill climbs in europe with a 2500 16v and is one of the top competitors. Wil see if i got a link to the clip on youtube.

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Re: C.I.H. engine

Post by chevyfreak »

https://youtu.be/VxbMkv5oxZc

Kadett c hillclimb.

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Re: C.I.H. engine

Post by Ratu »

Wow! That is a great drive! That car handles well. Exciting when he nearly lost it. Thanks for this video.

Chevyfreak, you mention that German tuners were hugely involved with working the CIH. Which ones were they?
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Re: C.I.H. engine

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Ratu wrote: Wed Aug 15, 2018 2:51 pm Chevyfreak, you mention that German tuners were hugely involved with working the CIH. Which ones were they?
Steinmetz. Irmsher. They were the main tuners but there were others as well. Will have to look up a bit.
Risse motorsports sells some performance parts as well. https://www.risse-motorsport.de/

Check up on the manta b crowd. Especially the manta 400 and ascona 400 which were the rally tuned versions. They mostly had the 2.4 16v motors.
Also, google " opel cih tuning " lots of info.

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Re: C.I.H. engine

Post by peejay »

Valvetrain sounds very similar to the Ford CVH engine. (Which of course came much later than the CIH)
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Re: C.I.H. engine

Post by pdq67 »

Is this the 1.9 L 4-banger engine that was in my Buddy's new, (Buick), Opal GT??

Dam two-stage carb on it wasn't worth a hoot so after the second one, I talked him into letting me install the middle carb off a 3x2 GTO engine.

Now you talk about waking the little engine up, but the only problem was that butterfly's wouldn't seal tight enough so when you let off so that it would idle, it took forever for it to come down..

His dad got in it one Sat. morning and the 2-barrel came right off and another stock POS one installed on it..

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Re: C.I.H. engine

Post by chevyfreak »

pdq67 wrote: Sun Aug 19, 2018 1:05 am Is this the 1.9 L 4-banger engine that was in my Buddy's new, (Buick), Opal GT??

Dam two-stage carb on it wasn't worth a hoot so after the second one, I talked him into letting me install the middle carb off a 3x2 GTO engine.

Now you talk about waking the little engine up, but the only problem was that butterfly's wouldn't seal tight enough so when you let off so that it would idle, it took forever for it to come down..

His dad got in it one Sat. morning and the 2-barrel came right off and another stock POS one installed on it..

pdq67
Yes, was sold under buick name, and the manta as well, dont know what other models were availible in the usa.
Thats most probably the solex. As they were used on those motors. Heard many stories of people having issues with those carbs.
The later 2.0L carb was the varajet. And mine hade one at some stage, also changed to a weber.
The varajet is Suppose to be based on a half a quadrajet , primary and airvalve secondary. And not really responding like a quadrajet. Not even close to anything on a quadrajet. The moment they started acting up they were swapped for webers. And very few people actually tried to fix them, adapter plate fitted and then weber conversion.
The 36dcd is a very good unit as the internal venturi is changeable, so can make it for economy or performance or a balance between them. 32/36dgv or dgas were used as well and some even went 38/38dgv units with a tweaked motor. And the weber were a direct bolt on replacement with the solex intake, base were the same.
As for the solex, dont know them that well but wont use them either, my 2.8 motor had the 4a solex which is a 4barrel looking close to a quadrajet but smaller. Base is a tad smaller than the qjet. And not very economic, heavier on fuel than my 327sbc. Changed it to a 38 weber and pulls better and way better on fuel consumption.
From what i gathered over the years is the germans used solex and later went fuel injection,
Carb heads were different from fuel injection heads as the ports on fi heads were higher up and intakes dont just bolt up. Had to change dowel pins to line up, redrilling or remove pins and space intake up from exhaust. Some engine sizes only came with fuel injection

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Re: C.I.H. engine

Post by Morgo »

I would´t touch the CIH with a long stick! But it's just my opinion..
The 16 valve version a way different case.But they are rare.
"when uncomptent order unwilling to do unnecsessary the probablity of failure is high"
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Re: C.I.H. engine

Post by midnightbluS10 »

chevyfreak wrote: Wed Aug 15, 2018 3:20 am https://youtu.be/VxbMkv5oxZc

Kadett c hillclimb.

Chevyfreak.
Wow! Thanks for posting. Love hearing it wind out. I'd drive the hell out of that car....just like they are! Lol!
JC -

bigjoe1 wrote:By the way, I had a long talk with Harold(Brookshire) last year at the PRI show. We met at the airport and he told me everything he knew about everything.It was a nice visit. JOE SHERMAN RACING
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