cost was enough deterrant,[:@] but then using such a hot engine in a plastic hull just wouldn't work. [&o]

Pzwest, all early Shermans had the 9 cyl radial engines. The A4 had the Chrysler muti bank pack with 5 truck engines in a star pattern (can you immagine keeping 30 cylinders in sync[:'(]) and A2s had diesel. M-4A3E8 used the Ford GAA 490 HP V8, but the M-4A1E8 still had the radial. The radial engines had a huge fan mounted on the clutch housing on the flywheel which dragged air in the front grilles directly behind the turret. The engine had a shroud around the entire engine with baffles aiming the air flow to the piston fins and other hot spots, so they ran fairly well when they were not "hot dogged" even though they were a bit underpowered. Radials had a bad feature in cold weather in that the crew had to hand crank the engine (supposed to have been 50 cycles) to distrubute the oil from the lower 3 cylinders and to prevent hydrostatic lock. In many cases, they cranked it up, let the huge white cloud clear, add 5 gallons of oil and moved out....if the engine didn't lock up. Didn't help in hiding your position. [&:]