924Board.org

[Richard]

Gee, the engine swap section has been a little boring lately now that the barbarian hordes have been driven from the gates. I have an idea! A Packard built V-1650-7 Merlin engine (as found in the P-51D Mustang). It's a little whimpy, I suppose, with only 1695 H.P., but then again, it beat the piss out of the "superior" German engines of it's time. I think it's already supercharged so not much fun for you tinkerers out there. I guess you would need about a six inch thick driveshaft so expect a bigger hump in the middle. It's worth about 200 grand, so people on a budget stay home! Sigh, now that is a engine!!!. If the torque alone doesn't flip the car over I would expect to see 0-60 in about .75 seconds and the quater mile at around 375 mph. Now we'll show them 5.0's what's for dinner!

[bacook]

How about electric power? Stuff a whole bunch of Nickle Metal Hydride batteries in the floor and a pair of electric motors to power the rear wheels. You can keep you 50/50 balance if you place the batteries properly and a very low center of gravity.
Braking and turning for a now 5000lb car may be a little tough, though. Plus you will need a vacuum pump for the brake booster.

[wdb]

do you mean like this 78 924
http://khs.sandi.net/programs/ec/e_c.html

[Cbass]

How about Ballard Power Systems new 1500 watt fuel cell? Only weighs 30 lbs! Lets say, 10 of those... 15 kw, use a pair of 7 kw motors.. You'd still have a 1000 watts to power a hair dryer!

[John H]

The aero engine sounds good - only problem on those is the life expectance of the wartime engines was only about 20 hours before a rebuild.

[ This Message was edited by: John H on 2002-04-15 15:38 ]

[Cbass]

You can get rotary plants that make 300-1200 hp for aircraft. They last about 15000 hours.

[TonyMechanic]

What about an Air Impact. Some of those can make 300 ft/lbs of torque constantly, just pop in an air compressor too and your set!

[cakemakerman]

i like the fuel cell idea, but with the requirement of a fuel reformer to convert the gasoline to hydrogen the proposition sounds troublesome. Unless somone has the property to lay out solar panels and wind mills to produce the electricity to split water into H2 and O. Hmm, actualy that might be a nice picture. I could build a road around the solar panels and charge people to see the first environmentaly friendly race track. Yall are invited as soon as I get the project done.

[Cbass]

Up here in BC, we have a lot of hydroelectric dams. These are perfect for making hydrogen, megawatts of power, near limitless quantities of water.

check out http://www.ballard.com