Been thinking about these for a little while. It would be cool to build one to put in a custom made body/chassis. Maybe one made to look similar to an old Bugatti looking race car. I wonder what the speed record for steam is? Gary
Students used to build simple little desktop ones. For something bigger, I would check e-bay. something that would power a car pops up frequently.
Damn, man -- I know gas is getting pricey -- but WTF happens when firewood prices go up? And, just as '65 is the upper limit on "traditional", I'm sure there's also a lower limit, to keep out the buckboard, stagecoach and chuckwagon types.
Thats the thing around here, we're having a pine beetle epidemic. They speculate that 95% of the mature trees will die. You can't give away firewood right now. Gary
It's funny you mentioned the speed record for steam vehicles. Stanley Steamer's were actually one of the fastest vehicles available at that time. I think I read they were tested at close to 70mph. And that was back in the teens and twenties.
hahaha funny, I just was talking about it at cruise night tonight that if gas gets much highter I was going to build a steam powered hot rod.
Fred Marriott did 127MPH in a Stanley in 1906. The remains of the wreck are in the Smithsonian.http://www.steamcar.co.uk/Challenge/Stanley_Steamer.htm
I wonder if you could convert a motor to steam? maybe a new cam with double lobes or something. I guess the valves couldn't hold back the pressire from the steam in the intake, considering you could get gaskets to hold. 250-1000 psi is alot. Gary
A steamer soudns like a good project, but why not an electric? Not like the modern ones, but like the old Detroit Electric style?
Its a good link, a little above my head since I really have littlle idea how a steam engine works. Gary
It's not practial to convert a gas motor over to steam because in a standard steam engine, you need pressure on BOTH sides of the piston for it to run efficiently. The only way around that would be to use the power stroke of one cylinder for the exhaust stroke of another. Actually, now that I think about it, that might work out ok, if not overly efficiently. Like you said, you'd need a cam with extra lobes to open the valved every time the piston comes up. either that, or you could rework the cam drive so it was 1:1 instead of 1:2. anyway, here's a link as to how bacis steam engines work: http://travel.howstuffworks.com/steam1.htm
Anyone know what the range is on a Stanly Steamer? I mean, to work and back is fine, but how about for longer trips. Would I need a tender trailer?
Well - found this on the Stanley steamers site. Did the 1/8" in 10.6... http://www.stanleysteamers.com/danville.htm
Problem is, you have to light the boiler 45 min. before you plan to leave. LOOOONG warming up time. But Stanleys run real well. I had the same idea oddly enuff.
Doble steamers (1920's) had the best design, they don't use a burner like early steamers, but use a gasoline fuel/air mixture fired by a single spark plug to produce a lot of heat fast under the flash boiler. 75% of combustion is heat anyway, so it was actually a much more efficient way to use the gas, and the big 4000 pound cars could get 50 mpg on a tank of fuel. One car was reported to have been driven 600,000 miles with only regular oil changes and a patch to the boiler, and the average Doble ran for at least 200,000 miles. Fast cars too.
Steam cars..... Ask Leno I saw one blow-up on him one day He was giving an demo on how they start when it belched JP4 The resulting flash fire ball burned most of his eyebrows off Come to think of it I've around for two Leno car fires Thank God he survived both!!! Wonder how many others he's had when I wasn't arround
This is sounding better and better. How cool would it be to have a steam powered car that could run off both Gasoline and Wood. You probably would just burn Gas most of the time because were all lazy that way, but if you did run out wood would be available. This could turn into a very expensive way to try and save money. But, if we could other sources to make steam, like they suggest on the british steam car site, well it would be something I wouldn't sell. Pretty quick too. Gary
Bluto, I'm begining to think that you and Jay Leno are one and the same. Has anyone here sen you two at the same time and place? The Doble is what you want to look at for advanced steam car design far exceeding the Stanley. A friend, who is a professional, restored a Doble a few years back. Part of this project involved recasting boiler parts. He had original plans courtesy of the car's owner who apparantly had worked at Doble years ago. I don't know what the availabilty of such plans and tech info is but it's worth exploring. Just be prepared to learn some new and different things. Also get used to the idea that an 8500 lb car will be able to roll right along making no noise but the hum of the tires against the pavement. It is quite possible to make inattentive pedestrians jump straight in the air as their hearts momentarily stop. Anyone who has has a giant silent electric city bus suddenly appear in their periferal vision knows this. Doble didn't go out of business when they stopped building cars. They continued with steam plant business for years afterward.
No Leno has different junk that I have AND he OWN'S his buildings Photos together??...... In March I went to the show and there was a shot of me wavin at him does that count? No Leno is in makeup right now I lent him my steam tractor once in hope that tryin' to run it would keep him away from all that crap... He brought em anyway BTW Leno is a really good guy........
This is a question for the UK guys. Have they ever run side by side Foden Steam Traction Engine races over there? There is only one over her that I know of, Austin Clark and Bill Wilock once owned it, "The vehicle SO BIG it took two guys to own it", that was an Autie quote. It is alive and running well in Vermont now.
check out the engines these guys have plans for. The biggest one is 200hp and 1050 lbs torque, only weighs 2800 lbs. and redlines at 1000 rpm. I want one. http://www.casco.net/~carlich/RSE/RSEhome.html Gary
The unofficial steam record was set at Bonneville in 1985 at 145.607. Check out this site-,mentioned in post #10. I wonder whatever happened? http://www.steamcar.co.uk/
I think that you have to be a certified boiler operator to use a Steam engine, at least thats what I have heard about folks at the thrasher shows. Jay
i think that is correct... in 1986 i built a 1930 model a ford roadster and put an engine from a Stanley Steamer in it.. it worked pretty good ,and would go like hell , but the water tank only held 30 gallons of water , so you would run out of water long before you used up the 10 gallons of kerosene in the stock tank the car was featured in and issue of Street Rodder in about December 1987..had alll the normal stuff , `40 ford brakes , vega steering , 4-bar front with ladder bar rear and coilover shocks...i wish i had some pictures to post the problem was i built the boiler , and even though it was hydrostat tested to 2000 PSI (operating pressure was about 600 psi)...the state wouldn't license the boiler and i didn't have an operator's license..and hassled me about it..so i sold it to a guy in kansas considering today's gas prices , i now wish i would have kept it and converted to burn coal
sounds cool, any pics? as far as licensing, around here you could get away with it by the don't ask/don't tell policy. Gary
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