In the background I've always liked watch the aero engine European cars. Some video's here and there, articles, etc. I performed a search on there and the key word "aero" picks up mostly Willys stuff. I do have a couple of aero threads open for reading. I'm by no means am a subject matter expert and basically just getting started on seriously collecting parts. I'm looking for those in the know, opinions. First piece I'm looking at, chassis. I have come across a early 1920s Buick chassis. It's large. Anyone know these chassis and believe that it can handle the weight, torque, etc, of a future aero engine to come. I'll take any advice and direction I can get. Thank you in advance.
An aero-engine style racer ehh? If you’re going to build something like that you’ll need a very sturdy frame as aero engines are heavy ( not light weight that is) also what are your plans for the front and rear axles, suspension, etc.. . You’ll also need a body as you’re thinking euro style a special might be an option.
Aero engines be came popular post ww1 because war surplus units were cheap and plentiful. Same happened after ww2. Now it's a bit different. You are better off looking for a tank engine that is aeroengine based. These are better configured for a ground vehicle application. In Europe the RR meteor has been used as its a tank version of the merlin engine.
I do not know on axles as of yet. However the Buick chassis I'm looking is a full roller. No engine, no trans, and not body. As for a body, I think it would be better to build one to fit the car once everything is on there.
so a build era post WWI sounds good to me but like said I'd keep my options a bit flexible.. like if the aero engine doesn't happen immediately and something else like an American LaFrance fire truck engine does... unless of course the whole point is the aero engine then by all means stick to the plan
I'm definitely after an aero engine and in no rush (unless one falls in my lap) to get one. I do like the OX5 and Hispano Suiza 8.
Interest is peaked! Some of my first and still biggest automotive interests have always been old aero engine cars and just big edwardian/ brooklands era race cars. Have you thought about maybe starting with some like an American LaFrance or a 'bigger' truck chassis? Im more familiar with later 1930s buick stuff, than 1920s, and while its very stout for car stuff, i would be inclined to start looking at truck chassises if i was looking to go big meteor type engine, but something like a hispano suiza v8 aero engine, the buick chassis isnt a bad place to start Subbed!
Back in the 1970's I had a 1929 Buick. Straight 8 and alot of torque for the wooden wheels. Too much for their age and condition so it went to an old farmer for his saw mill.
Looking forward to following your build. Put GOODWOOD in front of all your searches, here is good one. https://video.search.yahoo.com/sear...=66f9325547f0d7aa5e0c7a5153c0fec6&action=view
I saw a YouTube video a while ago.. I think maybe shed racing? where he found one in France at a collector/restorer's that had lots of them, you've no doubt seen it definitely made me want to do something like that
When you get into post WW1 aircraft engines, well lets just say that its a class of engines, at this point in time, that are rare and exotic, and not easy to deal with nor adapt to a practical drive train, but don't let that discourage you, it is possible, you just have to know what to look for. I will give a couple of examples here that will be interesting to you. The Curtiss OX-5, has a few quirks about it that makes it tricky to adapt to what ever custom clutch set up you are thinking about, that is because the shaft for the propeller hub is at the front of the engine and not at the rear, for obvious reasons. ( yeah I know, the engine can be turned around ) You really have to get extremely creative to engineer a bell housing to maybe adapt to that area of the engine. The OX-5 is water cooled, and the water jackets are not the best engineered, for what your potential project might evolve into, but you will figure that out pretty quickly if you go that route. The valve train is all open and has to be greased by hand, and bare in mind, that this isn't a high RPM engine, and parts for these are getting exceedingly more hard to find, so bring a bucket of money to start with. These shots of a friend's OX-5, these pictures will give you a bit of an insight as to how exotic these engines were, for the time period they were being used, definitely not for a rookie to start with. Fair warning about the venerable V-12 Liberty engines from the time period of WW-1, these are very cool, but make no mistake, this is ancient technology, and again, the aviation crowd, for the most part, snapped these up long ago, and you don't see that many of them, that are actually being used on an aircraft, it takes leather balls to play rugby, and nerves of steel to actually entrust yourself to fly in a Liberty V-12 powered aircraft, just sayin. As you can see, its back to all open valve train, that has to be greased by hand. and again, the water jackets for cooling, can be a real pain in the ass to maintain and to repair if needed, there are not that many of us geezers left around, that can truly work on these, with any true degree of expertise. Just sayin. The Hisso V-8, same situation, hard to find, and they are sought out by the aviation crowd, and when they are found, my fellow pilot friends, can be kind of closed mouth about what they have or if they know where one is. Again, a bucket of money is a requirement. You might want to consider going the route of the very cool Fairchild Ranger, inline 6 banger, which when it was in the aircraft, it was inverted, and they were adapted to be used in sprint cars, and they were powerful. These were modified to be on their side, and were used in various sprint race cars such as this one. So don't let any of what I have posted here, discourage you in any way shape or form, just be aware, the bucket of money, and connection to older geezers that are master machinist, that savvy these rare, cool engines, are very much wise elements, that you will need, to help you adapt vintage aircraft engines, to what ever rolling chassis you decide on. Good luck from Dennis, your results may vary greatly!
We've got a couple of Aero Engine builds happening at work, 1 is an OX5 in a 1913 Wolsley the other 10L Hall Scott in a 1914 Sunbeam TT replicar Both engines are WWI era engines, in my opinion the cars look best if they are built in a similar period to the engine, Un-like a hot rod that can be built with parts from a board range of years (20's - 60's) Also most of the aero engine cars were built for racing so weren't heavy for heavy sake, if you look at the SF Edge trophy race at Goodwood, there are a wide variety of these sort of cars. https://m.youtube.com/watch?time_co...rch.yahoo.com&source_ve_path=MTM5MTE3LDIzODUx Aero engine cars are fun,
Hey @uncle buck ! That last picture, has very impressive detail of fuel lines and copper tubing forming, I would have liked to have seen some pictures of the undercarriage and details of the clutch apparatus! Thanks from Dennis for sharing those great photographs.
I know a tad about the OX5. The camshaft design/function is neat to me. I'll look into the Ranger. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and giving me another engine to research.
The car belongs to and was built by a close friend of mine with the help of another friend who is an amazing machinist. It’s got a divorced transmission and a complicated cone clutch with a whole lot of machining to adapt a flywheel to the tapered crankshaft. I don’t think I have any pictures of it on my phone and the car is currently in storage
One year at Hershey a friend showed up in the old White field (former Hershey Airport) with a pile of parts he had cleaned out of a garage. He was clueless as to what he had there an OX-5 that was totally disassembled. I often wonder if someone got all the bits and put it together.
Aero-engined specials tend to have engines from the same era as the engine. This is partly because they were both cheap when they were originally built. Another reason is that vintage racing sanctioning bodies typically require it. If you haven’t seen the aero-engined vintage racers thread, check it out. The most famous Ranger-engined hot rod was the Jot Horne-Norm Taylor 27 T. More details at Kustomrama.
I'm a fan, but it ain't easy! Duncan Pittaway in England has a couple OX-5 powered cars, a GN and a Monarch. Very cool. I saw a good useable core at Hershey in ‘22 for $20,000.
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