What is???

[Mudrat]

What is an Allison and/or Merlin engine?
I know Allison diesel tractors, but something with a 5.7" bore in a V-12 config ought to have the guts to pull Mt Everest over ARIAS is making pistons for these beasts and just curious what one looks like - the motor, not the piston MC

Mudrat
"Yes dear, I have too much time on my hands, but only because the shop is freezing."

[pyagid]

they are both Rolls Royce engines

Allison



Merlin


both airplane i believe

[Mudrat]

Daing! ! Would have to really stretch the CJ frame a bit wouldn't I

Thanks
Mudrat

[pyagid]

Yeah but think of the power. It could make you FLY

Paul

[J4GRAND]

pyagid wrote:

they are both Rolls Royce engines

I don't think so. The Allison V-1710 (1710 C.I.) was a completely different engine from the Rolls-Royce Merlin. The V-1710 was on of the first American liquid-cooled V12s mass-produced. It powered such planes as the P-40 Tomahawk/Kittyhawk, P-38 Lightnings, and early A-36 Apache/P-51 Mustang models. Early versions were non-supercharged (in the P-40 and A-36/P-51A) thus having good power output but dropping off above 20,000'. In later versions the V1710 was supercharged, capable of 1600 HP and could propel a P-38 to 420 MPH at 25,000'.

The Rolls-Royce Merlin V-1650 was the premier liquid-cooled V12 produced in the late 30s and 40s. It powered numerous British fighters (Hurricane and Spitfire) and was even used on the Lancaster 4-engine bomber. When mated to the P-51 Mustang airframe, the combo led to the best all-around fighter of WWII. Speed of the -51 was boosted from 390 to 440 MPH, the 440 MPH being acheived at 30,000'. The Merlin was built under license by Packard in the U.S. during the war.

After the war, surplus Allisons and Merlins could be bought for $500. Art Arfons used Merlins in his "Green Monster" dragster in the late 50s and other had 4 of the beasts coupled for land-speed records at Bonneville Salt Flats.

[401 Pacer]

Forgive me for bringing this long dead thread back to life, but thought I'd add some more pertinent (although useless) info.

The majority of the Merlin engines were built by Packard here in the good ol' USA. Packard was known as the Master Engine Builders back then and built a car superior to Cadillac...think: Mass produced Rolls Royce.

Anywho, no one else would or could tackle such a complicated, and up till then, hand built engine in large quantities. Packard totally redesigned and re-engineered this powerplant for not only automated/mass production, but in the process increased the power, reliability, economy (fuel AND oil consumption) but also made them cheaper as well.

Reason I mention this is that Packard seldom gets the credit they so sorely deserve. IMHO they did a much harder job than Rolls did in designing this in the first place. Packard also had to reverse engineer with worthless Whitworth fasteners from scratch as no documentation was available at the time!!

This isn't the first time Packard got screwed out of recognition for a wartime place engine....they were the driving force behind the Liberty engines of WWI.

Sorry to have clogged up your brains with this LOL

[AMX69PHATTY]

A couple Merlin Engine pics

[Goose]

It makes me proud to know we have so many here who know thier history.. just a side note on the P-51, the main improvement in this airframe was a laminar flow airfoil.. this minimized turbulence along the wing surface thus lowering drag while providing the same amount of lift.. Also a bit of useless trivia the P-51 and the P-38 were the first instances of "compressability" When an aircraft approaches the speed of sound the air around the leading edges "compresses" creating a buffet and then a locking of the control surfaces.

Anyway I have always wanted to see what the Curtis P-40 could have done with a packard merlin in it instead of the Allison..(Mainly cause I Like the looks of it !!)

[J4GRAND]

There were some versions of the P-40 that got5 Packard Merlins. Here is a link:

http://www.p40warhawk.com/Variants/P-40F.htm

It doesn't give a speed at higher altitudes but I looked at other sources and 365mph is given as top speed for this model. The P-40 wasn't as clean a design as the Mustang thus couldn't take advantage of the Merlin.

[Goose]

True, But there is just something sexy about the p-40..