Australian Belly Tank

[Reverend Hedgash]

Goggles I have no problems with you as an aluminium welder, I blame myself in fact for what must have been miscommunication on my half when I said weld together the aluminium petrol tank it must have sounded like turn it into a colander...

[Reverend Hedgash]

Some more images at the show...
Starting to look like my avatar!

View from top has muscles, which is a good thing for a muscle car...

[Reverend Hedgash]

Needs bodywork and paint...

[PJQ]

Oi,

Forgot to post one with Mr. Squiggle

[JackD]

oh , while I'm here ...more



this shot shows the engine bay with the Reverend on the left and our engine man , patron Saint and wiring whizz Colonel Grump on the right

here they are again with a photo taken in September 06

This has to be my all time favorite set of pictures that portray the true and lasting spirit of LSR better than can ever be explained to anybody else.
This is the type of shot that should be made into a brass plaque for a suitable award for the few that might deserve it.

[gazza414]

am here I'm thinking that you were only capable of scootering around on a VESPA on the salt...how wrong we are !!!!

looking good guys

[Sumner]

...............the important things are: Locate the duct in an area that has attached air flow..........................Rex

"Area that has attached air flow" is the reason I'm afraid to try a NACA duct.

Without wind tunnel time how can you be sure you are in this area??  I've noticed the great success that Mike has had with one on Ack Attack and asked him about using one.  His comment to me was that if the engine wasn't turbocharged he wouldn't run one as then the placement becomes very critical.  The turbo can suck air from about anywhere.  Mike please correct me if I misunderstood you.  I'm not saying one won't work, but how can you be positive on a NA engine you have it where it is needed and sized correctly?? Now most of the Bockscars records are un-blown, so you can't argue with sucess on their part, so I'd look to Stainless as your counselor if you go this route.

Most air inlets are very small and thus don't need to affect the aero much on a car and have been proven to work in most cases.  If a person has a lot of testing time they can try a lot of different options, but with runs so limited for most of us maybe going with something less risky might have a higher chance of a good return.

Doc there is an Air Inlet ("scoop") Size Calculator here if you decide to go that route.  Get it up 6 inches or so from the body:

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/bvillecar/bville-spreadsheet-index.html

c ya,

Sum

[Dr Goggles]

I seem to remember the Rice Vigeant car had a problem when their inlet NACA turned into an "auto-bailer"( it sucked big time) when they put it at a point where the flow would have been separating behind their screen.....

A few pages back Sum you put up some pics of a few lakesters with scoops .....what was the one I commented on with no forward facing screen and what I assume was a periscope??

[Sumner]

I seem to remember the Rice Vigeant car had a problem when their inlet NACA turned into an "auto-bailer"( it sucked big time) when they put it at a point where the flow would have been separating behind their screen

Yep that was one of the reasons I decided to not go with one and Hitz that one has a canopy similar to yours and had the inlet near where I think you want to put yours.

.............what was the one I commented on with no forward facing screen and what I assume was a periscope??

Yep a periscope:

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/bville-cars-2/449-2006.html

Sum

[vintagemxr]

oh , while I'm here ...more


here they are again with a photo taken in September 06

This has to be my all time favorite set of pictures that portray the true and lasting spirit of LSR better than can ever be explained to anybody else.
This is the type of shot that should be made into a brass plaque for a suitable award for the few that might deserve it.

Jack is right on.  If a picture is worth a thousand words, that one is worth 50 years.  Could have been taken a few weeks ago or 50 years ago.  A true classic.  Pride, ingenuity, perseverance, resourcefulness, and friendship all in one picture; all the things that make motorsports a great hobby.  I'd buy a poster for the garage if one was available.

The whole Aussie belly tank thread is one of the best reads on the whole site.

Doug

[Lynchy]

I actually have this photo on my computer as a screen background. I've done a few presentations lately and it gets a few comments. Most people like the front of the tank where it looks like it has a nose and what look to be pointy teeth in a smiling mouth - they are the non car guys. The car guys think it's cool but don't really know what it is. The guys that get it are the ones to talk to.

Lynchy

[grumm441]

I've finally worked out what it is, but not what I'm doing there
G

[PJQ]

Towing it to the car show with "The Mongrel", a load of Youffs pulled up next to me at the lights. The 98 Commodore was dropped on it's guts, 18inch wheels were scraping, the bass-kicker a bit louder than a trick exhaust.

A prerequisite peroxide-blond roughie extended from the passenger window and yells, "what the F#@k is that"  pointing at the trailer load.
 
Protruding myself from Mongrel's window I yelled back - "Salt Lake Racer" - checking Da-Boys with reverse Baseball caps in the back seat (except we don't have Baseball here, so the caps extol allegiance to Bunnings Timber, Repco Auto Parts, or Danny's Burgers).

Momentary communication, established with an alien craft, about to end with the changing of traffic lights. Da-Boys were fascinated, but looking worried at The Mongrel (it tends to clear it's own path in crowded traffic).

Da-Boys consorted excitedly a question for roughie-mouthpiece, "how fast does it go"?
"Two Hundred and Ninety Eight..."  the thick bushy eyebrows raised to edges of the caps.

"M I L E S - P E R -  H O U R"   I yelled slow and clear, knowing full-well only two of these five kids knew what a "mile" is, and would argue the rest of their journey about a conversion to Kilometres.

Green-light, old Mongrel let forth a mighty groan and a plume of diesel smoke. Fully-Sic-Mate Commodore stayed still, Da-Boys gave a thumbs-up salute, and waited. I flipped the volume back up, catching the end of a Johnny song, "I'm gunna break free. Gunna break my rusty cage...  and run".

A few seconds later there was the noise I expected, the tuned strain of a backwards fart from a waste gate, consoling Da-Boys: they are indeed "Fully-Sic-Mate". Roughie's busy inspecting her painted claws, oblivious to Da-Boys: arms rapidly point at the Belly Tank and gesticulate wildly at each other. The arguement is on.

I love suburban Australia.

[Dr Goggles]

You’re there because of your pretty face Grumm. When Grumm was asked last week what he did on the car build he replied “ they make stuff , I make it work” he’s right but he also forgot to mention his role as the devils advocate.

For those who haven’t been there my sign off on the DLRA site is “Few understand what I’m trying to do but they vastly outnumber those who understand why” it refers to those who do , and , don’t get it…..

When Lynchy says “those who “get” it “….he’s stating something that we all know well ….when  someone is checking out the car I can tell quickly by what they ask whether they’re on the inner or the outer …whether they “get it” .Early on when the Rev and I were still designing the car we’d show a photo of a P38 bellytank ( 50’s , purple not sure who’s) from the “Cox and Genat” book to people…..if they went “wow!,we knew that they got it……

I took the above photo and it always gets me too , I send it to people because it conveys the “buzz” that we get out of the whole thing….it was the night that we first took the car off the build jig and we were all pretty happy and feeling pretty pleased with ourselves…it also shows our up-to-the-minute engineering facilities .

To quote Jack ……” I think he gets it”

[Freud]

My Gawd, PJQ, that's the first time I have ever seen pussy fangs.

I don't think I'll ever turn the light on after seeing that.

Thanks for warning me.

FREUD