I see these things every week. The fab shop on the end of my street builds dragster and tractor pull headers. LOTS of these things on tractors right now. Some with several. There is an unlimited hydroplane with one and a spare on the floor up near Ft. Wayne. They aren't that uncommon to find. I think they are neat but THIRSTY and huge and spendy.
All the unlimiteds used to them and the Rolls what do they run now? Tractor pullers are going to the military junk yard in Nortern Wyoming. I saw a Tank engine in Jay Leno's Olds it's huge also. To much weight for the power to drag race after the early 60's but the old cars setting around were super neat to see. A D11 cat isn't going to win any races.
FYI. Awhile back I heard of a plea from the Warbird rescue guys about stopping the use of these motors in pulling tractors, etc. After the war they were cheap and plentiful, still in crates but not today. I don't tell folks what to do with their stuff, just pass on information. One group of Warbirders is the Commemorative Air Force in Midland, Texas pacemaker
I saw ones of those or similar built into what looked like a pre war Rolls Royce, it sounded awsome. I think that car is over here in the States now. Was in an industrial unit and I was working on some computers in the next unit. When it fired up I had to run outside to see what it was. This one was just ouside of Reigate, Surrey, UK.
Cool, good to see the stuff come out of the woodworks. If your interested, I machine different WWII aircraft parts, Hone the allisons, line bore the rolls royce, etc. I know quiet a few guys that might be interested in buying if your selling. Jimmy
Then there was an Australian guy that cut two cylinders off the end of a Merlin, and fitted it to his motorbike.
Lucky Kayser. He races on the salt. That engine is for sale if you are adventurous.... it idles at 100MPH. Plus it's blown . I used to know lucky quite well a long time ago and there is a few interesting stories to that engine and his adventures with it
At the end of WW2 there were many thousands of Aircraft engines dumped all over the place. These two pictures show a truck load of NEW Merlins being loaded for dumping in the ocean off South Africa.
So, Tindall, whatever became of this engine? It has been a year and a half since you posted. Is it tearing up the quarter mile or slicing through the wild blue yonder (Although more likely sitting static). Inquiring minds want to know.
Myself, I buy and sell warbird engines on occasion. They really aren't worth what most people assume that that they are. As for someone actually putting that engine shown in an actual airworthy warbird, that is extremely unlikely. For example, the average price of an airworthy P-51 is about $3 million today. Anyone who has that type of dough is going to buy a well logged and maintained engine from a respected builder, and very unlikely to risk a multi million dollar airframe on something that has been sitting in a barn and/or been used in a boat, tractor puller or whatever. Engines and parts for american warbird are rare, but they are out there. The REALLY ($$$$$$$$$$$$) rare warbird parts are the German and Japanese bits. If that were an engine from a Zero, FW-190, ME-109, etc..., you might be talking retirement money. From the appearance, I guessing that log books are non existant. Also, one huge problem on old warbird engines is the ID tag. Unfortunaletly, people have always had a nasty habit removing the ID tags from old warbird engines, to keep as souveneers. If the tag is missing, it can be all but impossible to figure out exactly what model and dash number you have, and it reduces the value most significantly. Myself, I'd clean it up, gather as much info as possible, and auction it on ebay. These days, when it comes to warbird stuff, overseas buyers seem to have the deepest pockets, and its always best to get them bidding against one another.
I was reading an article in Rod & Custom years back about Big AL, Jim Lytles 34 sedan. In the article Jim said somthing about there being 2 different rotations on the Allison V-12, one clockwise and one counterclockwise. Like in the P-38 with 2 engines, they would have them counter rotate to make the airframe more stable. Jim was saying one of engines was more disireable than the other because it rotated the same way as a normal car engine, but he also said a-lot of guys got past that by flipping the axle over or upside down to reverse it. I wonder which engine you have?
flathead4t,...you're right,...the Arfons folks did use Allisons..... In a variety of machines. Another Allison powered "toy" is a 56 ft. wood HackerCraft boat, which resides at Lake Tahoe. It was once owned by the late Bill Harrah. 4TTRUK
Most Allisons are originally set up for the wrong rotation in automotive use. Only the P-38 had a left-hand rotation engine. However, they are designed to be easily reversed. The crank is swapped end for end, and a different accessory/cam drive idler gear installed. Change to the correct rotation starter.