Allison V-12 with the heart of a Cummins

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Yeah yeah, this gasser shouldn't be discussed in the Diesel forum, but it has some worthy Cummins-esque attributes that qualify it for this forum.



Every July the big event of the year in my hometown is the unlimited hydroplane races. Not a well known or highly popular sport, but the local media would have you thinking it was the biggest event in the nation Anyway I do enjoy watching large boats screaming in circles on the Columbia River at up to 200mph, especially when they flip and crash (well not really) (OK OK, it is a little exciting).



Starting in the mid '80s, racing teams starting trading in their V12 Allisons and V12 Rolls Royce Merlins for helicopter turbine engines for greater speed and reliability, and less weight. The competition is great, but the wonderful thunder of the belching, popping WW2 aircraft engines is no longer around.



Except for one team, who has stuck with Allison power. They show up every year and race with the big boys, although their 8800lb boat isn't much of a threat to the 6800 lb turbine boats. But the sound of an unmuffled V12 is nothing short of awesome! This afternoon I went to the pits and took a close look at one of their back up engines set up beside the boat.



This is one sweet motor. This 1940s vintage piece is 1710cid and sports 2 massive Holsett turbos (not sure of model, outlet is 5-5. 5" diameter). I was able to talk with the engine builder for a minute, and he told me they run the wastegates set to 45-50psi . For a gasser that is quite astronomical. Even more so for a motor running a lot of 55-60 year old parts! He said EGTs average 1700F for the entire run, which is 10 miles I believe. They try to keep it under 2000F or else the turbo parts and pistons start to go soft. Doh! I noticed a big Cummins sticker on the side of their rig. The builder uses Cummins piston rings (must be why the boost can be run so high, LOL ).



The exhaust has 2 outlet pipes per cylinder and each intake pipe is about 3" inside diameter for EACH cylinder. Fuel lines per cylinder are about the same as a single stock fuel line on a stock Dodge/Cummins. It has 2 huge mallory distributors to light off 2 spark plugs per cylinder. There is a maze of Aeroquip hoses all over this thing, most of them in the -12 -18AN category. In the HP category this motor has the turbines beat, runs approximately 3000hp. But the turbines are fast due to the light weight.



Can't wait to see this thing thunder around the river tomorrow



Vaughn

 

[Texas Diesel]

Repeat after me: I will take my camera, I will take my camera, I will take my camera, I will take my camera. WE WANT PICTURES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Here ya go (not my photo work, my Nikon FA 'tis broke ) This is the U3 Cooper Express. Commonly sponsored by Master Tire or Vacationville.com.



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[Texas Diesel]

Thanks for the picures. They are amazing engines, most people dont realize the kind of advanced technology that went into WW2 airplanes. The Germans had some sort of mechanical fuel injection system for the FW-190 as I recall. I would love be there and see the show, I agree with you that piston engines in those boats are almost extinct. You might consider videotaping the race. Have fun tomorrow.

 

[tgbol]

Besides a bombed Cummins there not a sweeter sounding engine than an Allison or RR Merlin putting the ponies down. At an indoor tractor pull in Long Beach (mid 70's) there was a tractor called Double Ugly two Allisons side by side. About at half pull the ceiling tiles came down.

 

[Andy Perreault]

Oh, MAN!! Wouldn't you love to just have one of those engines sitting on a stand in your garage, just to look at?!

My dad talks about the days after WWII in L. A. , there was a huge war surplus outlet on Alameda Street, south of downtown that had stacks of brand new V-12 RR/Packard Merlin P-51 engines for sale for $150!! Row after row of them!

Now your gettin' me all "gear-heady" again! Sheesh, the drag races are this weekend in Seattle and I'm not going!

Andy

 

[klenger]

Another sound that will become history is the round airplane engine. They sound so sweet. My grandkids may never hear it though.

 

[Shovelhead]

Round airplane engines

About 40 miles outside of D. C. there is a little airfield in Bealton, VA. It's home of the "Flying Circus Aerodrome"

They put on a really good 1-2 hour long airshow featuring old

bi-planes, with alot of aerobatics and such.

For $60 (as of a few years ago) they will take you up in an old Stearman biplane and perform several manuvers, hammerheads, inverted flying, dives, etc.

That was the most enjoyable flight I've ever had.



They warn you before you take off that the carburator will uncover the jets while inverted so the engine will stall , as soon as the pilot rights the aircraft, he puts the nose down to gain speed to restart the engine.

Man I gotta go back again

 

[Dr.Evil]

There's a few Pro Modified NTPA tractors still running ALlisons and Merlins, or Packards (Licensed Builder in the US for R-R. ) About 10 Yrs ago they finally figures outhow to tune them so they could go from 800 RPM and no load to 4000 RPM and 2500 HP, they were originally designed to run 2600 RPM and about 1200-1400 HP depending. The Merlins or Packards were MORE High Tech Yet, The throws on the crankshafts were hollow to save weight, 2490 CID, 4-valve heads, 2-speed super chargers, and capable of 2000 HP.

I have heard that after WWII and Korea, that Scrap dealers would buy those $150 crate engines for scrap. The main and Rod bearing inserts were very high in silver content, and the silver was worth more than the selling price of the engines. They would remove the bearing inserts with a Gas wrench, sledge hammer or whatever..... Also, on the Allison engines, there are 2 types, A clock-wise and Counter-Clock-Wise rotating engine, used in the P-38's. Also in PT boats too I think.

What I like to think about is "How Far ahead of Where we're at Now would We be in the automotive industry if Aviation had never invented the jet engine or turbo-prop engine? Most of the New High-Tech features We're seen in car/truck engines in the last 10-20 yrs were used in airplanes 50+ yrs ago. The V-1710 Allison engine was actually designed in the early 1930's!

DENNY... ... ... ... ... ... ...

 

[JohnE]

These technological marvels also used water injection, knock sensors, etc.



They had a harmonic problem zone in the engine that worked to the advantage for unlimited hydroplane racing. Aircraft worked best under the 3,000 RPM realm whereas hydros could transition the problem area and run much higher. Surface skipping props love the high rpms. .



Weight isn't the only advantage that gas turbines have gassers. The stators rotate to control power turbine output and that is a very quick repsonse system.



I lived in both Seattle & Evansville, IN that host hydro races. Evansville was called "Thunder on the Ohio". Maybe they should call it "Turbo on the Ohion"?



I see rotary powered aircraft near everyday. They are the powerplant in Ag-King crop dusters.



Many PT boats used counter rotating Jimmy diesel engines. My brother figured that out after his partner bought a couple from surplus and they hooked one up to run a sawmill. For some reason the blade spun backwards... .



John

 

[Joe G.]

I can remember going to the drags on Saturday night at Lyon's in Long Beach in the '50s. There were a few dragsters running Allisons. AWESOME!! One was Art Arfon's Green Monster. I think it had 16 cylinders. Of course, it's been a while so my memory may be a little fuzzy about the details. Great fun, especially if a friend was running something and I got to join the pit crew.

 

[illflem]

Wow Joe, someone else who went to Lyon's!!! I was there in the 60's when a later version of Green Monster, think it had a jet engine, turned close to 300 in the quarter. Same rig was hitting 600 at Bonneville. Problem was he couldn't stop at the end of the strip, went though all the traps, up the side embankment of the Long Beach Fwy, sailed over eight lanes of traffic and landed on the other side unhurt. Times I spent there were in the period when Don Garletts was just breaking the 200 mph barrier. Great fun, too bad they had to shut Lyon's down, town folk said it made too much noise and stink.

 

[Joe G.]

Amazing!! I was a bit earlier, the army got me in Jan '61. However, I WAS there the first time the Don Garlits ran at that strip! That may have been the first time he ran in SoCal since it was on Saturday night and the other strips ran on Sunday. I saw some of the real crazy things. The Chrisman brothers had a twin engine Chevy machine that had pretty good streamlineing. It was a piece of plywood clamped to the tie rod. They just flopped it over on the ground in front to work on the engines. Then they ran it, greasy hand prints on the plywood and all. They got so many laughs with that that they made a fiberglass replacement. Compare that thing to the Budwieser King that Kenny B. runs now!!!

 

[Breck]

Don’t laugh, but I think our little I-6’s, when working, sound some what like V-12’s: Maybe I am wishful thinking too much?

 

[SlyBones]

I used to love to travel to the tri-cities for the hydro races, back in the good ole days. They used to let you float out in the water while the races were running. On the columbia river this means the boats were flying by in lanes 1-5 and we were floating in lane 8. -- You think they sound cool. The vibration in the water, was awsome. The turbines just dont have that same trill.

 

[BCFAST]

Art Arfons

You fellas just kicked my memory... . in the very early 90's, Art Arfons was under the Federal eye for the theft of an F-16 motor! Crazy bugger put it in a brand new hydro of his own design and in an attempt to break the world water-speed record, killed himself (I believe on purpose) on Lake Jackson in Sebring, FL. Sorry. but I cant remember the exact year.

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Slybones, that is what I really miss about hydro racing, when it was all piston power. Sure the boats were a lot slower, but the thunder was priceless. I'll never forget the first race I went to, SeaFair 1983 or '84, when there was only 1 turbine powered boat. I still remember the final heat, with 6 Allison & Merlin powered hydros lined up at the start and the green flag waved. . . OMG. . . those guys tromped the throttle simultaneously and 6 unmuffled 3000hp V12s let out a thunderous fury that I'll never forget It was very intense, the air crackled and the leaves in the trees even rustled to the vibes of those mighty V12s. The Merlins were the loudest, since they were supercharged and had NOTHING to muffle the exhaust, however the quieter Turboed Allisons were hard to keep up with.



This past weekend the Allison-Powered U3 Vacationville.com put on a great show. In 2 of the heats it had either lane 5 or 6, so it was VERY close to shore as it shot by at WOT several times. It stayed close with the slower boats but never overtook any, but I swear that boat has more fans than any other out there. It ran smooth and hard, and still managed to run 120-125mph speeds in the rough water the other boats kicked up. If all the other boats were ballasted to the weight of the U3, it would beat them easily. It has a full 2100lb disadvantage to the other hydros, it weighs in at 8800lbs and the others at 6700 or so.



If this team still had their old boat, they would be very competitive. The last year they ran it (1996) they turned a lap at 149mph, which is right up there with the fastest boats this last weekend. They consistently were in the 140s. They have never gotten their new boat to those speeds, but they did manage 137 this weekend.



It has been about 8 years since any other piston-powered hydro entered the races besides the U3. The good thing is, the owner is as fanatical about Allisons and thunder as many of the fans are, so this boat will hopefully stick around a few more years. With the sport in decline, there is talk of returning to all piston power. That would be very cool!



Vaughn

 

[TomGolden]

Back at the end of April this year, I attended an event in Half Moon Bay, CA called the Dream Machines, kind of a old car/boat/airplane/motorcycle/whatever show. Giant event, at the airport in HMB (near HVAC's house). I went mainly because of the truck/tractor pull, where I got to see some of our boys do their thing. Anyway, there were two "tractors" with Allison V-12's, if I remember right, they were both sponsored by California State Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo. They brought great smiles and delight to most of us there when they ran.



There is just something about an engine so powerful and bad@ss that you can feel it through the air and the ground, as much as hear it roar!



Tom

 

[weber1048]

Drags

Growing up in St. Petersburg in the late 50's and early 60's we would go to Oldsmar, Florida and see Garlits run. He could only run 1/8th mile because the shut down area was to short. He would run against Chris Karamacides (sp), Tommy Ivo's 4 engine Buick powered dragster.



Just outside Ocala, Fl. he has a museum which has most of his "Swamp Rats" as well as many others. Lots of old pictures from the early day. I am in one of the pictures from Oldsmar taken about 1960. It sure brings back memories to visit it when I go to visit.



Doug

 

[Alaskdave]

This may sound like a tale but: Once upon a time I tore down Allisons just to recover the nosegear sump gearboxes to fuel Hydro gearboxes in the boats.



I worked with the Wahoo in the mid 50's. I was a teenager and needed to learn a bunch of things... ... ... ... it was tough. The boats were the Gospel according to Stan Sayers. I was a believer.



It was a gentleman's game then. Now it is Advertising. It Sux.



I met some wonderful folks who were sportsman, they are gone and replaced by the salesmen who sell beer and soap and sex.



Some say the sport is unchanged, I only ask you to judge for your self. I have my opinion! Alaskdave