Allison powered semi?

[TWilkening]

My dad and I were talking and he said several years ago that he had read in a trucking magazine that a driver had put an Allison v12 (think P-51 Mustang) in his rig. I was wondering if anyone has ever seen this or has any info or pics. Dad says the guy claimed 10 MPG with it.



While I agree that a straight 6 diesel sounds good, one of them v12s would be just badass! Oo.

 

[Jong]

That would be nuts!!! I love watching Unlimited tractor pullers running 2 or 3 of the Allisons. They just sound like nothing else when the spool up.

 

[PSU-CE]

Don't know about Allisons, but the Big Rig Pulling Series guys run the V-12 Detroits. Those things scream!

 

[vegasredneck]

I think it might be the V12 detroit that TW is referring too. At one time the company used to called Det. Diesel Allison. It run good but it was to big and heavy and didn't fit a lot of the semi frame rails. Remember added weight took away from your overall payload. I remember we had a 318 with the blower and a 13 sp that would run with a 400 cat and get better fuel mi. Those DD had a unique sound that I still miss today

 

[Cummins Pilot]

I highly doubt a P-51 engine. Especially if the guy was still towing for hire with it. Aircraft engines are made to produce HP. Heck most of us on TDR have HP ratings equal to the OTR semis. Its torque that the semis have over us.



Besides the Allison (traded out for the Rolls Royce Merlin Engine since it was more powerful) only put out just over 1000hp. Not to mention the sheer size of the engine makes it fairly impratical to install in a semi.

 

[TWilkening]

Not trying to start an argument, how how is that much different than an 8v-92. They had very little in the line of bottom end torque. They were meant for wide open. While it would take a little bit of extending, I think you could make one fit. As far as horsepower, I'm sure it wasn't making 1000 hp as it would run off of pump gas, not avgas as it would in the aircraft.

 

[Cummins Pilot]

There isn't anything that can't be done if someone wants to make it work. As for not running avgas you would have to disengage the supercharger which would severly bring the HP down. Either that or you would be running a lot of ADI (Anti Detonation Injection, the same thing as the methanol snow kits).



I guess I should have said that its possible to build a semi with an Allison for show but totally impractical for hire. One other note. The engine wouldn't last very long in a semi. Aircraft engines in general don't last very long compared to other engines. 2000hrs is the general average time before overhaul on aircraft engines.