O/T Silly Pipe Dream-Merlin Engine in a Car?

Yes. Jim Lytle, who built both Big Als, went goofy with Allison engined stuff:
An Allison-powered BMW 600 (like a stretch Isetta), an Allison-powered trike, and a Topolino coupe with FOUR Allisons arranged like Ivo's digger. There have also been some threads about these here on the HAMB; search Allison.

 

Here's the one I was looking for,

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=84804

 

The Blastolene Special?

Sad thing is there are unused rolls royce merlins and Contnentals engines wrapped in Vegeline, at the bottom of the pacific. They were more expensive to bring back after the war than they were worth. The ones state side could be had for a song by returning GI's. Now like a hemi or a hudson Twin H, they occupy Rarified air.

 

[SIZE=-1]The Beast in "Mark 1" guise[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]The Beast at Santa Pod - the car ran 12s, but the quarter was too short to stretch this racer[/SIZE]


The Beast II looked like nothing anyone had ever seen before. And of course it still carried the Rolls Royce grille - maybe John thought the real Merlin engine now justified this, or maybe he just didn't care!


[SIZE=-1]The Beast in "Mark 2" guise with the Rolls Royce grille still proudly displayed[/SIZE]


[SIZE=-1]Everything about this car was excessive. It looks fantastic and bizarre from every angle[/SIZE]


[SIZE=-1]27 litres of Rolls Royce Merlin engine[/SIZE]

By 1980 The Beast was back on Britain's roads and getting a lot of attention, not least from Rolls Royce once again. In 1982 John lost his legal battle, and was forced to remove the grille. After being in the press so often for so long, suddenly John and his incredible car were nowhere to be found. This dissapearance and the subsequent mystery are what make the legend of The Beast so enduring.


[SIZE=-1]The Beast some time in the 80's, now with Centerline wheels and the Rolls Royce grill removed.[/SIZE]


[SIZE=-1]John's initials were proudly displayed on the new grille.[/SIZE]

John had moved to Spain and taken The Beast with him. With a new grille bearing his initials, John used the car around his new home town of Malaga for the next ten years, until his son Paul undertook a 5-year engine rebuild to bring the car back to the UK for the 1992 Guildford Cruise. It also attended the Chelsea Cruise that year.


[SIZE=-1]Yes, that fits in there[/SIZE]

The Beast still resides in Spain with John Dodd, now in his eighties, and he is still tinkering with his creation. Some time in the late nineties the car had a full restoration inside and out - remember this car is almost 40 years old now! The Beast is still seen in England from time to time, and hopefully will be for a long time to come.


[SIZE=-1]The Beast in England again in 2000.[/SIZE]

 

As was mentioned earlier, Rover took over the building of the Merlin and the engine was used in tanks, known as the Rover Meteor.

There was also a version of this engine built with 4 of the cylinders lopped off, making it a V8 of roughly 1000cu. It was called the Rover Meteorite and was used for powering huge military trucks.

I've often wondered how a 1000cu V8 would sound!

 

how about a big diesel , (notice the guys standing on the oil pan rails)

 

might help if i attach it

 

Not a merlin but still cool....

 

There is a vast difference between an 800 dollar Merlin and one that could be re-built. If you want to do it, start searching out aircraft restoration shops for "Time out" parts. These are components that may have been used, are still good but have reached there operable life. Dosent mean the part is stuffed only means it cant be used in an aircraft anymore.
Some of the parts could be "New old stock" as aircraft components have a shelf life too.
If you wanted to buy a full unit from, say Historic Flying Co in Chicago or the Aircraft Restoration Co in Duxford UK you will be paying well in excess of 1mill!
Rod Hadfield built the "merlin" in the 55 by using a tank block and time out parts. He thinks the car owed him around 1.5 mill.

Scooter, that motor is a Prat & Whitney R-4360 series used in the F2G-1 Corsairs built by the Goodyear Aircraft Co. The earlier varients that saw service in WWII and Korea were powered by Prat & Whitney R-2800 series motor.
The R-4360 has found its way into a few Seafury air racers, most notable one being 'Dreadnaught' that often runs in Unlimited Gold at Reno.

I cant recall who it was but during the 60s two brothers ran a roadster on the salt with a Ranger air cooled aircraft engine in it, in its latter forms it ran a Potvin style crank driven blower.
I will have to get back to you on who it is, I have pics of it at home.

How many of you kney Hondas first car was a racer built with an aircraft motor?? Then again who realy gives a fuck about jap crap.

Doc.

 

Google Blastoline to see Jay Lenno's car and the other one
Regards
Petrolhead

 

The Meteor was basically a normally aspirated Merlyn. It was also the last
gasoline engine to be used in tanks - they went to diesel after that.
I worked on a boat once that had a Meteor in it. The oil tank was huge, I thought at first that it was an aux fuel tank!

 

Just my $00.02 but, I'd lean towards the Allison for a project like this. Early model Allisons that are not desirable for aircraft use are "relatively" easy to find and a whole bunch cheaper than a Merlin. And at low level, it'll put out just as much horsepower.

And at the rate Merlins were being blown up at Reno this year the price will just keep going up!