1949 T28 Trojan Airplane becomes a car

I just looked up the TH425 transmission. I wonder how hard it would be to put a normal th400 tail shaft on the Toronado transmission. If that can be done, then that is the way to go.

 

If you turn the axle upside down it will drive the "car" in the right direction.

 

Yes it would, but the caster ,camber angle would be thrown way off on the wheels. I also think the pinion bearings might be starved for oil then too.


I need this front suspension to be as wide as legally possible for the aircraft wide bulldog-like stance. One issue with a 4x4 front axle is the pumpkin sets way off to the left side with one long leg and one short leg. I would like the pumpkin to be closer to the center that way it can be hidden up inside the belly of the plane. My thought is to have the short leg cut off and have a longer axle welded in on that side to make the axle super wide and to get the pumpkin closer to the center line. While that is being done, it probably wouldn't be that much more difficult to have the pumpkin cut loose entirely and to weld it back in upside down in order to reverse the input shaft direction of rotation. This would allow me to run the 454 engine and trans in the ch***is backwards. Maybe some sort of oil slinger catch trough could be placed into the axle to run gear oil over the oil starved pinion bearings.

I plan on widening the axle one way or the other, so this might be a real solution to the engine/trans directional rotation issue.

 

Why not run the big block backwards? I mean reverse rotation like they do on some marine engines.

My 2¢

.bjb

 

Then the transmission wouldn't work.

 

How about tossing the 454 in front of an olds TH425, and mounting the ***embly in the back? Another option would be to get the entire Olds drive train out of a Toronado and mount it in the rear of the fuse. (Can you say "hidden, blown, 455"?) Make it rear drive, with a bit narrower front steering axle?

I hesitate accepting the rear steer idea. You might want to "interview" a few taildragger pilots and have them fill you in on "ground loops".

Roger

 

That sounds like it might work. You axles will be stock parts. Depending on the weight involved, you might want a 1 ton setup. Aren't the tubes pressed into the center section and plug welded in? I think there are pumps available but you might get by with some fins on the ring gear bolts to sling the oil around.

 

Have any HAMB artists drawn any sketches of this project? Bob

 

It won't be a rear steer. The 4x4 front end steers like a normal car. It would just have a very heavy duty tail wheel. Basically a huge non steerable wheel with motor cycle style suspension/swing arms. If the car is kept low to the ground and is about 8ft wide in the front, it should be fairly stable. It would be a huge front wheel drive reverse trike.

I had the idea of making it tail steer a while back, but that is far to tricky and unstable to drive.

 

The plane in flight looks different than the one on the trailer. It looks like the wings are set higher on the fuselage and the canopy structure is different. Is that just the difference between a trainer and the warplane or is it a carrier version?

 

Might not be the prettiest, but the simplest thing to do could be to plop it on an older LWB Isuzu NPR? ch***is. They are made to haul weight, can be found with small block Chevies and have pretty skinny rails. You should be able to move the engine back more if needed and if you want a narrow rear track you could probably leave the outer duals off.

 

The one on the trailer is a 1949 North American T28 Trojan. North American is the company that built the P51-Mustang, AT6 Texan and B25 Mitchell bomber. The blue/gray plane in the picture is a Grumman TBM Avenger torpedo bomber from WWII. The Avenger was a totally different plane, but I hated the plastic canopy that Trojans used and I love the looks of the Avenger. If I modify the canopy of this Trojan to look more like the Avenger and add the gun turret, then the Trojan should look more like an Avenger. Since the wings are no longer load bearing, it doesn't take much effort to move them up the side of the fuselage and re attach the stubs of wings where ever I need to. It is kind of like chopping the top in a car, except as hard as it is to believe, this kind of work isn't that hard to do.
My goal here is to turn a t28 Trojan into a slightly scaled down TBM Avenger and then to turn that pile into a driveable car. Pretty standard stuff.

 

Here I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me.

 

That's how I'm thinking. The ring gear carries oil up. Use a s****er on the edge/back side to pull the oil off and a trough to carry the oil into the bearings.

Found a thread with some pictures. I think your front will need to be modded like his rear diff, starting at post #7.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=395927

 

That appears to be the solution to oiling issues.

 

I'm sitting here biting my tongue on what I'd like to tell you on this project...but I will say that I'll send you a gross of screw drivers to thghten all your loose screws...LOL

 

Sends some screws too. I'm missing a few

 

Here are some rough draft sketches of my idea. I want this thing to look like it hit hard and the landing gear wadded up inside the wing. It might be kind of neat to make front fenders out of small drop tanks or bombs.There is a little under 3ft of space from the belly to the bottom of the floor boards currently. That should give me plenty of room for a frame, engine installation, cargo space or maybe even seating

 

I would have left the engine together,..put it on a stand, and had a *****in' wind machine !! All sorts of aviation parts are available thru vendors in "Trade A Plane" magazine...... Worth looking into for gauges .

4TTRUK

 

I had strongly considered making the engine run on a stand. But it was filled with water and had severe corrosion in the supercharger and accessory case. After I tore it apart, I found out the pistons weren't stuck at all. It was just the super charger that was keeping it from rotating.Oh well.

 

Okay, I'm unsubscribing until work begins. Too many critics, I'll be back when you've proved 'em wrong.

 

The gearbox part of the 400 and the 425 are the same.

I've heard that one of the old tricks was to use the 425 guts in a 400 because they were better or stronger.

But the 425 turns in the opposite direction.

Here is a pic of a 425 with a regular tailshaft on it.

 

Guess this new cl*** of rods could be called "Buzzard Rods"

 

I would say if you are going to build a bonafide Bonneville car out of this mess it would fit in here on the HAMB. I am surprised metalshapes has let this thread go this far. I would say this project falls into the catergory of "Art Car". Somehow I fail to see the resemblence to either a hotrod of a custom. I pretty much see a dreamer and a trainwreck.

 

I think you meant planewreck....

 

It's too bizarre not to dig this project! Thank you for instantly making all of my weird project ideas seem completely normal.

Plane on!

 

If it wasn't for dreamers there would never have been hot rods! There were always curmudgeons who doubted them back then too. Let's face it, practical people would just buy a car and drive it.

 

What is practical about buying a new car and driving it? I have less money in 5 old cars vs 1 new.

 

send me a piston & rod or two,

 

I think we should have a party and all go together to DMV when he goes for registration.. We will take mini avenger with us and park it in the parking lot.
All those ladies inside would have a cow!