Racing Engine Info Wanted

[Mustang1957]

just wondering if anybody knows where I can find detailed info on the racing engines used for reno unlimiteds.for example,what is done to boost the HP on a stock merlin from 1600 hp to 3,000 hp and so on.

[jarrodeu]

Re: Racing Engine Info Wanted

This has always been interesting.

http://www.supercoolprops.com/articles/gwhitegearheads.php

Jarrod

[Mustang1957]

Re: Racing Engine Info Wanted

thanks jarrod.alot of info in that article.

[ChrisMX105]

Re: Racing Engine Info Wanted

Cramming shovelfuls of $100 bills into the intake as fast as possible is a good start.......................

Making any WWII era motor go fast is an art,
I recall hearing a quote attributed to Tiger, "When I start the engine I light a fuse that goes under the seat, I have no idea how long it is, It's not a matter of if but when" or something along that line.

[Mustang1957]

Re: Racing Engine Info Wanted

I always thought it was close to the same way you modifiy car engines by boring out the cylinder heads,etc.

[ChrisMX105]

Re: Racing Engine Info Wanted

One of the biggest things to get more power is to spin the engine faster, thus driving the blower faster and generating higher manifold pressure, Getting info on how high these numbers go is not far from the security at Los Alamos in the 40's........ I am sure that there are mysterious magical happenings internally that only a select few mad scientists can explain or understand............ At race power they are waaay outside the original design envelope and that they even hold together at all is a testament to the original designers as well as those who have taken the time to take the designs to the next level.

[Sparrow]

Re: Racing Engine Info Wanted

Remove the boost control, put in a differant set of stock reduction gears and blower gears. You can get up to 150" MAP by doing this, then the rest of it starts.

Sparrow

[Smee Again]

Re: Racing Engine Info Wanted

Remove the boost control, put in a differant set of stock reduction gears and blower gears. You can get up to 150" MAP by doing this, then the rest of it starts.

Sparrow

Oh, what the hell do you know????

Hello, Balls!!!!!

SA

[Sparrow]

Re: Racing Engine Info Wanted

Nuttin'

[luscombe]

Re: Racing Engine Info Wanted

Remove the boost control, put in a differant set of stock reduction gears and blower gears. You can get up to 150" MAP by doing this, then the rest of it starts.

Sparrow

Thanks for the info sparrow always wondered how they got the over boost happening

[h34race]

Re: Racing Engine Info Wanted

throttle too the firewall all gauges in the red and your shoes are melting too the floor,or you see god which ever comes first saw dago blow the crank out the oil pan split the block in half longways very inpressive way to spend 1 million bucks +

[Big_Jim]

Re: Racing Engine Info Wanted

throttle too the firewall all gauges in the red and your shoes are melting too the floor,or you see god which ever comes first saw dago blow the crank out the oil pan split the block in half longways very inpressive way to spend 1 million bucks +

Maybe the new owners of Dago can buy the Merlin off that Mustang in the barn, eh?

[FuryFan]

Re: Racing Engine Info Wanted

OUCH!

[AirDOGGe]

Re: Racing Engine Info Wanted

throttle too the firewall all gauges in the red and your shoes are melting too the floor,or you see god which ever comes first saw dago blow the crank out the oil pan split the block in half longways very inpressive way to spend 1 million bucks +

Wow. Reminds me of '84 with Rick Brickert at the stick. I remember that event well, as was the day when Dago's flame-job was REAL!

Here's a small write-up of the moment from another website:

During the 1984 race, a piston rod suddenly burst through the side of his engine, crippling the aircraft as he maneuvered dangerously close to the ground. In a superb feat of airmanship, Brickert skillfully made an emergency landing as fire streamed into the cockpit. Although disappointed with the final result, he managed to "ride it in" and walk away with only a sooty flight suit and a melted helmet visor.

I use to have a photo I shot in the pits of the holes in both sides of the block you could push a brick through, punched out by a broken connecting rod and I think the block was nearly split in half VERTICALLY too. Some of the airframe up front was melted from the resulting fire as well.

[440_Magnum]

Re: Racing Engine Info Wanted

I always thought it was close to the same way you modifiy car engines by boring out the cylinder heads,etc.

Interestingly, that's hardly true at all. My understanding is that VERY few of the gains that have been made on Merlins come in the usual "hot rod" ways. Its just all very different on engines built the way Merlin's are. Blocks aren't really "blocks" of metal as on a car engine, you can't bore them willy-nilly. Cranks and the complex "fork-and-blade" connecting rods can't easily be built from billet stock the way car connecting rods can.

AFAIK, there have been some gains made with changes in cam profile, but not nearly to the extent you see with a radical cam in a car engine. Its just a different world.

Now Sparrow can tell me exactly how I'm all wet and should go back and wrench on my Mopar instead of making ign'ernt comments here... :-p