MEMZ is a brand of vehicle engines related to Melitopol Engine Factory ( uk, Мелітопольський моторний завод; literally "Melitopol Motor Plant" ), which is located in

Melitopol Melitopol ( uk, Меліто́поль, translit=Melitópol’, ; russian: Мелитополь; based on el, Μελιτόπολις - "honey city") is a city and municipality in Zaporizhzhia Oblast in southeastern Ukraine. Melitopol has been ...

Zaporizhzhia Oblast Zaporizhzhia Oblast ( uk, Запорі́зька о́бласть, translit=Zaporizka oblast), also referred to as Zaporizhzhia ( uk, Запорі́жжя, links=no), is an oblast (province) of southeast Ukraine. Its capital is Zaporizhzhia. Th ...

and it is a part of

AvtoZAZ AvtoZAZ ( uk, АвтоЗАЗ) is an automotive manufacturing company in Ukraine. It was founded in 1975 as Industrial Association, а holding that incorporated ZAZ, MeMZ, Illichivsk Automobile Parts Plant ( uk, Іллічівський завод ...

motor vehicle manufacturer out of

Zaporizhzhia Zaporizhzhia ( uk, Запоріжжя) or Zaporozhye (russian: Запорожье) is a city in southeast Ukraine, situated on the banks of the Dnieper River. It is the administrative centre of Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Zaporizhzhia has a popula ...

. The factory was founded in 1908 by a Ukrainian

Mennonite Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Ra ...

entrepreneur Izrail Davidovich Zaferman, intending to build

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...

s. After the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mome ...

, it was nationalized, and until 1925 operated as the Russian Second Soviet Factory. It was renamed into the ''

artel An artel (russian: арте́ль) was any of several types of cooperative associations and (later) corporate enterprises in the Tsardom of Russia, the Russian Empire, and the Soviet Union. They began centuries ago but were especially prevalent ...

'' ''Pobeda'' (Victory) in 1925 and was focused mainly on diesel engine for applications in agricultural and construction machinery, and for fishing boats. In 1931, the factory was included to the state owned '' combinat'' ''Soyuzdiesel'', focusing on engines for fishing boats. In 1936, it was again renamed, to Mikoyan Diesel-Building Factory. It was evacuated prior to the

German invasion German invasion may refer to: Pre-1900s * German invasion of Hungary (1063) World War I * German invasion of Belgium (1914) * German invasion of Luxembourg (1914) World War II * Invasion of Poland * German invasion of Belgium (1940) ...

, and rebuilt, restarting production in 1944. In 1958, the name was changed again, to Melitopol Motor Plant (MeMZ), when it was refitted for production of automobile engines.

Post-war

The large industrial city of

was freed from Nazi occupation in 1944, at which time the National Committee of USSR ordered the factory to resume operations. In 1958 the factory was renamed MeMZ and started developing

micro car Microcar is a term often used for the smallest size of cars, with three or four wheels and often an engine smaller than . Specific types of microcars include bubble cars, cycle cars, invacar, quadricycles and voiturettes. Microcars are ofte ...

engines for

ZAZ ZAZ or Zaporizhzhia Automobile Building Plant ( uk, ЗАЗ, Запорізький автомобілебудівний завод, ''Zaporiz'kyi avtomobilebudivnyi zavod'' or ''Zaporiz'kyi avtozavod'') is the main automobile manufacturer of Ukr ...

. In 1960, MeMZ released its first

gasoline Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic ...

engine, the V4 MeMZ-965, which had been designed for the

LuAZ-967 The LuAZ-967 ('' uk, ЛуАЗ-967'') was the Transporter of the Front Line, a small Soviet four-wheel drive amphibious vehicle. Light enough to be air transportable, it had a payload over most terrain. History The design originated after the Kor ...

. The original engine had a peak power output of , and was selected for use in the

ZAZ-965 ZAZ Zaporozhets ( uk, Запоро́жець) was a series of rear-wheel-drive superminis (city cars in their first generation) designed and built from 1958 at the ZAZ factory in Soviet Ukraine. Different models of the Zaporozhets, all of which ...

. It had a magnesium block, oil cooler on the rear of the engine, and accessories mounted high on the engine.Thompson, p.90. Despite being small, the engine produced a great deal of heat, all of which could not be effectively dissipated by an air-cooling system. In 1963 the initial design saw some improvements and the new MeMZ-966 model was released into mass production. The factory was incorporated into

holding in 1975.

MeMZ-966 engine

The MeMZ-966 was an economy model; underpowered, but quite cheap to produce. As a result, it was implemented in what the Soviet government hoped would be the first "National" vehicle; the

(often referred to as

Zaporozhets ZAZ Zaporozhets ( uk, Запоро́жець) was a series of rear-wheel-drive superminis (city cars in their first generation) designed and built from 1958 at the ZAZ factory in Soviet Ukraine. Different models of the Zaporozhets, all of whi ...

) - short for Zaporozhia Automotive Factory. The ZAZ model-line cars were intended to be affordable; therefore they were neither safe nor reliable; nevertheless they were a success since people would rather have some means of transportation as opposed to none at all. MeMZ continued to upgrade its engines, which eventually found uses in other vehicles. The engine looks a bit like the VW air-cooled boxer four, except that the two cylinder banks are at a 90-degree angle. As Soviet car owners were expected to do much of the servicing themselves, and auto workshops were in short supply anyway, this layout was more practical.

Merger

With the establishment of AutoZAZ-Daewoo in 1998, the factory was renamed AutoZAZ-Motor, and then incorporated into the

in 2002.

Engine models

MeMZ 307/3071 are

fuel injected Fuel injection is the introduction of fuel in an internal combustion engine, most commonly automotive engines, by the means of an injector. This article focuses on fuel injection in reciprocating piston and Wankel rotary engines. All com ...

versions of 301/3011

References

External links