Author Topic: Merlin V12  (Read 39230 times)

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Offline john robson

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Offline Billy @ AHG

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Re: Merlin V12
« Reply #31 on: January 08, 2010, 02:01:34 PM »
EJ Potter had one of those twin Allisons in a pulling tractor , years ago,  I saw it run at an event in SLC,  it was a little off , latter I asked him what was wrong with it, He said it needed a valve job, BUT with 96 valves he was having a hard time getting excited about doing the job !
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Offline Dave Cox

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Re: Merlin V12
« Reply #32 on: January 08, 2010, 04:13:43 PM »
EJ Potter had one of those twin Allisons in a pulling tractor , years ago,  I saw it run at an event in SLC,  it was a little off , latter I asked him what was wrong with it, He said it needed a valve job, BUT with 96 valves he was having a hard time getting excited about doing the job !

......and people wonder why I pulled both of them out and am putting in turbines........

Offline hechtrod

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Re: Merlin V12
« Reply #33 on: January 13, 2010, 03:13:25 PM »
Merlin and Rolls Royce V12's!!!  I need to make it out to Reno to watch the Unlimiteds run!  P51's give me chills when I hear them.  There was/is a shop in Tehachapi, Ca, a Mr. Nixon, who works on these engines.  I dropped in there years ago looking for work and saw some engines on stands and sitting around.  Awesome!!!

Offline k.h.

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Re: Merlin V12
« Reply #34 on: January 13, 2010, 07:30:36 PM »
Back in school I lived up the street from Bernie Little's Miss Budweiser hydroplane shop in Seattle.  When out of town motorheads came to visit, we would walk down and ask if we could take a look in the shop.  Racks and rows of Griffens for the last piston boat.  When they went turbine, they didn't allow tours anymore.  I think unlimited hydroplane racing took a hit from the fans when they stopped being "Thunderboats." 
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.  But in practice, there is.--Jan L. A. Van de Snepscheut

Offline desotoman

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Re: Merlin V12
« Reply #35 on: January 13, 2010, 09:19:04 PM »
Years ago at Lion's Drag Strip I watched Tex Collins run a Funny car with a Allison. I thought it was strange the way he ran it, so maybe someone can comment on why he ran the car this way.

He would fire the car up, roll into staging then bring the RPM up to a given setting, then let the clutch go. Motor would never change RPM and would either accelerate or smoke the tires. It never seemed like he worked the throttle like all of the other cars with automotive motors.

Would torque be the reason? I know I have heard that a P51 could roll and crash on takeoff if full throttle was applied before there was enough air flow over the wing to compensate for the roll. 

Tom G.
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Offline Rob

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Re: Merlin V12
« Reply #36 on: January 14, 2010, 05:54:32 AM »
I used to have a mate with a Merlin, before the first start up in a while he'd lube the cams with STP as the cams were a bit "iffy". 84 bolts per cover was a chore but 27 litres of supercharged V12 was a wonderful sound. That engine at high idle drank more fuel in 30 seconds than I could almost pour from a drum in half the time. Somewhere here I have a relatively recent picture of one, multiple carbed in a small(ish) hydro.

The Meteor was the tank engine, no supercharger and reverse rotation. Everything interchanged bar the cams. The Griffon was the big brother of the Merlin and came in at 37 litres.

The common denominator seems to be the cost to keep one running, parts are readily available assuming you can afford them.

Cheers,
Rob

Offline Friday1

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Re: Merlin V12
« Reply #37 on: January 15, 2010, 10:14:42 PM »
There is a guy east of Toledo, Ohio named Tom Dombrowski. He made the Allison competitive for tractor pulling by getting rid of the huge sodium filled valves. Their weight limited engine revs and cause many engine failures when used for pulling. So he modified the heads to accept 427 Ford side oiler intake and exhaust  valves. He had a flow bench in his shop at home. I was in his shop once prolly 10 years ago and he had a gearbox off a German tractor pull tractor that had four Allisons on it. The power had torn the gearbox apart and he was fixing it. He also had a 29 Ford with a Buick Grand National turbo motor in it. He told me a story about beating a Dodge Viper while pulling a loaded trailer (it was made from the back clip off a 29 Ford) with the turbo 29.
Black bikes are faster

Offline JGMagoo

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Re: Merlin V12
« Reply #38 on: January 15, 2010, 10:27:38 PM »
This might help you get your V-12 Merlin / Allison "FIX" for the day.

Definitely with sound:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7kJF-LjosU

JGMagoo
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Offline Hooley

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Re: Merlin V12
« Reply #39 on: January 18, 2010, 10:49:35 AM »
Crosley, You were visting with Jim Lytle in our pits. He came by a couple of different years to visit. Hooley

                                               
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Offline beerbellykelly

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Re: Merlin V12
« Reply #40 on: January 20, 2010, 10:12:16 AM »
last summer we organised a 'SUPPORT THE TROOPS DAY' here in england as appears our 'leaders' would rather fund the terrorists and there worthless families than our brave men and women,anyway at the show a guy arrived with a GRIFFON engine fitted to a trailer,obviously we welcomed him into the arenea and he would fire it up every hour and was one of the most popular exibits at the event,all types of people were getting very excited by the spectacle,and we had over 40,000 visitors! i will get in touch and see if he fancies coming over with us when head to bonneville and BUB in 2012- he had fitted contra rotating propellors to keep the crank from stress and to keep the 'finest musical instrument on earth'-..on earth

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Offline oz

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Re: Merlin V12
« Reply #41 on: January 20, 2010, 01:19:18 PM »
I may have some pictures when I eventually get my hard drive back from chris ireland when is the do this year none of us can remember.
is the red barras displat team still on,

Oz
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Re: Merlin V12
« Reply #42 on: January 21, 2010, 01:09:04 PM »
Try this one. Chris Williams with his Napier W12 Bentley. He's a regular at UK races, hill-climbs and sprints. I'm told that his latest toy (not yet complete) has a supercharged 44.5litre Packard engine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry2-kDCTaEU

Cheers

Robin
« Last Edit: January 21, 2010, 01:32:59 PM by Robin UK »

Robin UK

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Re: Merlin V12
« Reply #43 on: January 21, 2010, 01:31:10 PM »
Or how about this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdfO657zHNY&feature=related

Propster Mk1  :wink: Think the chassis needs a little more work.

Cheers

Robin

Offline woz

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Re: Merlin V12
« Reply #44 on: January 21, 2010, 04:34:22 PM »
Robin,

speaking of propsters....

The Soviet GAZ-20 Aerosled is a fine looking machine

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2134/2097451492_8584621042.jpg


http://cgi.ebay.com/SOVIET-LSR-GAZ-20-AEROSLED-LAND-SPEED-RECORD-CAR-1-43_W0QQitemZ390142969804QQcmdZViewItemQQptZDiecast_Vehicles?hash=item5ad65547cc

it says "land speed record car"  what record might that be?