Locoblade

[Ipelm]

Does any other PH member run a Stuart Taylor (now owned by Aries motorsport) Locoblade and how have they found it.

Mine doesnt have a reverse box and therefore has a very odd propshaft arrangement, with a short front section and a very long rear section, looks very heath robinson, unbalanced(?) has yours been reliable? Generally the cars cheap but great fun and I have grown really fond of it. It maybe no caterfield, design and quality wise, but such fun for little money.

Can put photo up but dont know how you do this?????

Edited by Ipelm on Thursday 1st May 23:06

[Jon Ison]

No need for a photo, what you have is a two piece prop this is the norm on BEC's with no reverse box, a one piece prop would self distruct and take your legs with it.

[Noger]

Ian is top guy, knows his stuff. Have one of his prop installations in my Seven. The only changes were to go for a Torque Resiliant Tube on the rear section (cushions the gear change somewhat) and put in a bit of tunnel protection in the rear - if the UJ fails I didn't want the rear section of the prop pole vaulting me !

[Ipelm]

Thanks for the info guys

[spyder dryver]

Jon Ison said:

..... a one piece prop would self distruct.....

I hope this isn't the case, Jon. Our FuryBlade had a one piece prop along with most of the breed! Yikes!

[Jon Ison]

I would have a look on the Yahoo BEC group, guys that know far better than me suggest a 1 piece prop is not good on a BEC for no other reason than the length required, I don't understand or claim to understand the physics or science behind it, I really would do a little research though.

[LocoBlade]

Ive never seen a front engine'd BEC with the engine in a conventional position in a Locaterfield engine bay that has a 1 piece prop, certainly the vast majority of the breed have 2 piece with a centre bearing generally about 1/3 the way down the transmission tunnel. The only one I know of that had a single piece prop running the length of the tunnel was a Fury about 6-7 years back, where the driver was lucky to avoid injury when it let go.

From what I understand, to run a single straight through prop the full length of a Locaterfield transmission tunnel, the tube would need to be about 6" diameter in order for its resonant freqency (where it's only a matter of time before it will fail) to be outside the realms of the RPM it will need to sustain.

Edited by LocoBlade on Sunday 4th May 21:00

[LocoBlade]

BTW, here's a pic of the prop in my Locost BEC, which is a prop I actually sourced from Stuart Taylor about 6 years ago so probably very similar if not identical to yours Ipelm. You can see the centre bearing and joint at the start of the tapered section of the tunnel.

Edited by LocoBlade on Sunday 4th May 21:08

[Noger]

This is mine. The unequal length of front and rear prop sections also helps keep the vibrations down IIRC.