Building "Thor"

[Storer]

ARAF said:

I'm assuming that was you with the E-Z start? If so, I loved the way you skipped away after the first spray at 14s, but as that side of the intake didn't fire it back at you, you didn't bother when you sprayed the second bank.

Fantastic achievement. Maybe you should just put wheels on your test rig though.

Well done.

No, I was the fat one holding the throttle lever at the end...........

Tom was in charge of the ether... Steve the stop control (under the controls)


Paul

[Storer]

Steve_D said:

Excellent well done.

I'll go back to my earlier comment and suggest that it may run a little sweeter with some stub exhausts on. They should help the scavenge effect to get a better cylinder fill.

Love the noise.

Steve

Hi Steve

I would have loved to have a set of stub exhausts, but time and cost are an issue. As it is I calculated that the chassis has cost about £3K to build! It is amazing how the costs add up, and if I added in my labour it would probably be £3100.00 (my wife says I'm a cheapskate, so it must mean I work for next to nothing....)

If you know of a set of exhaust stubs going cheap then let me know.


Paul

[Storer]

Steve_D said:

Are the carbs easy to strip? Seem to remember you mentiond they were buried under the intake.

Steve

Steve

The two carbs are linked with an adjustable linkage and it may be as simple as giving the rear carb a little extra opening (more throttle).

At the moment I am concentrating on getting the rest of the chassis finished. Completed the modified throttle linkage, fitted the rev counter in the dash, and made the fan surround ready to fit tomorrow.

Just a few little bits to do to be ready for Wednesday.


Paul

[Storer]

Marvib said:

Epic stuff, been watching this for a while, what sort of time frame for completion you planning? How about the round door Rolls Royce for styling tips? (Not the rear view).

That car has clearly taken a long time to produce and the workmanship is first class.

However, it is not good looking. What were they thinking about with those headlights???

My own opinion and I suspect my finished product will not suit everyone........


Paul

[Storer]

mwstewart said:

Storer said:

It is an alloy version!


Paul

Interesting. Were some iron? I thought they all were to be honest...

No, none were iron. They thought about it but decided that it would not be possible/cost effective to re-tool. The gear case is cast iron, but as it is less than a foot square I don't think it makes the engine 'cast iron'.

Many of the early engines had their parts scavenged from crashed/damaged Merlins and a high proportion of parts are interchangeable. In 1942 there was a major shortage of manufacturing capacity, hence the scavenging and aircraft production took priority so it was more a case of "lets use what is available and proven".


Paul

[Storer]

Big day tomorrow.

It appears a lot of friends and acquaintances are coming to see/hear her run. So no pressure!!!!

She is still a bugger to start and is in need of tuning once running, but she does run and she makes a lot of noise! It is the theatre that I wanted and I hope that people enjoy the experience.

Time will tell.



Paul

[Storer]

If any of you out there wonder why people like me do these things............watch this video.

http://vimeo.com/82390187

I grabbed it from another thread but it illustrates why you should follow a dream if you possibly can. You never know what is round the corner to prevent you doing so in the future.

Great looking car too.


Paul

[Storer]

Don't you just love the English weather.

Our local New Year's Day Vintage Car Club meeting went ahead as planned despite the rain. It clearly put a lot of owners off getting their pride and joy out for a run, as numbers were down to about 30 hardy souls. As usual quite a few spectators and enthusiasts braved the elements aided by a beer or soup.

I had never planned to run the engine in the rain so had not tried to waterproof it, so was a little nervous if it would start. However, (I do like a 'however') she behaved herself....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJDPUT3K0a8&fea...

The noise soon drew a crowd.



Paul

[Storer]

hedgefinder said:

Storer said:

Don't you just love the English weather.

Our local New Year's Day Vintage Car Club meeting went ahead as planned despite the rain. It clearly put a lot of owners off getting their pride and joy out for a run, as numbers were down to about 30 hardy souls. As usual quite a few spectators and enthusiasts braved the elements aided by a beer or soup.

I had never planned to run the engine in the rain so had not tried to waterproof it, so was a little nervous if it would start. However, (I do like a 'however') she behaved herself....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJDPUT3K0a8&fea...

The noise soon drew a crowd.



Paul

AW FFS, I thought I had this type of stuff out of my system and was more sensible.. now starting to feel the urge to sell the ult and do something really silly..

DON'T SELL THE ULTIMA.....

You will always regret it. Find a way of doing "something really silly" without selling.

I doesn't need to be expensive, just silly.



Paul

[Storer]

I have a few small mods to do to the test chassis/buck such as coolant expansion tank and rev counter to ensure engine protection. Once these are complete then "Thor" will go on hold until I have done some 'housekeeping' to my dirty workshop with refurbishment of my guillotine and box pan folder and a reorganisation of the working space.

Following that are repairs to the rear bodywork of my Ultima (clip opened at about 25 mph grinding holes in GF) and changes to the front suspension and digital instrument display.

There are bound to be times when I get the chance to start on the refurbishment of the Phantom II axles, prior to test fitting to the chassis. However, it is likely to be at least 2 to 3 months before any real progress on Thor.

Please excuse the lack of updates but they will resume when there is something to report.



Paul

[Storer]

JonRB said:

Storer said:

Following that are repairs to the rear bodywork of my Ultima (clip opened at about 25 mph grinding holes in GF)

Blimey. I hope she's ok.

It's not too bad and the damage has to be pointed out to a casual observer. Watching Blue Peter all those years ago, when sticky backed plastic first came out, came in handy as I covered the holes with some of that and removed the top element of the wing. Went to Le Mans the next day! Decided to leave the repair until she was off the road for the winter.

There will be some GF work, gel coat crack repairs a re-spray of the rear clip and either a new wing or some mods to that too.

Hope to do it all myself (or at least most of it). Probably have a go at the painting too this time. I also have a spare front clip that I will paint too.

Also making new rear exhaust boxes to replace my quiet track day ones. These will have no silencing action, rather they will 'enhance' the engine note, as everybody tells me the car is too quiet.


Paul

[Storer]

Baron Greenback said:

Silly question GF to me means girlfriend! Which is obviously not but put smile to my face when reading text above? GF =?

Glass Fibre



Paul

[Storer]

There is no way I would admit, on a public forum, to having a girlfriend. My wife has already had my balls disconnected. She would have them for earrings if she thought I had a girlfriend.

Life is too short for that type of pain.................




Paul

It was glass fibre, honest!

[Storer]

Baron Greenback said:

Found a use for your spare engine possibly! A near Southampton company using a supercharged merlin engine have designed a boat below! Odd they chose the merlin engine.

http://www.departures-international.com/home/cars-...

Shame your engine will be a minor part of the overall cost dread to think total cost!

Great looking boat. I suspect they will only make one with a Merlin. They are like hens teeth (airworthy running engines anyway) and cost a packet. A big growling diesel would make more sense these days.


Paul

[Storer]

AlVal said:

Paul - thought you might like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnwYVHY2Xgw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UaDqRLEisg


I can't figure out exactly what engine it is

Edited by AlVal on Tuesday 7th January 19:11

Interesting mod of a Meteor (I think). Not sure how the thing on top works and what it is for. There still seems to be the water cooled manifold underneath which houses the Zenith carbs. So is it a supercharger on top? If so how is it driven?


Paul

[Storer]

Interesting video building the Meteor's big brother, the Merlin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzYxBbitP_s

Nice that these things still survive.


Paul

[Storer]

Another one.

This is the American version....very gung-ho(sp?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRVWyZf5MQk


Paul

[Storer]

johnandersen said:

A gentleman (Alan) responded to a youtube posting of my meteor powered car. He suggested that I jump into the fray regarding the use of a meteor engine in a car. My car in its current form can be seen at www.merlincar.com . The car is named merlin due to its distant lineage to the merlin engine. I had a choice of engines from a merlin, meteor, and even considered the griffon. The goal was to make the car start, run and drive like any car and it had to have an automatic transmission. The meteor mv-IVB was ideally suited as it has correct (US) rotation...that is the engine turns clockwise when viewed from the front and would be compatible with an automatic. Since the merlin and meteor are nearly identical with most parts being interchangeable, I decided to build up a meteor engine. Also since the prerequisite was a smooth running engine, I chose to not use a supercharged merlin. Those old mechanical superchargers and magnetos are no match for modern systems and did not transition well from idle to high power. One last consideration was it had to look really cool. To that end I removed all accessories including the coolant pump and starter....just too ugly and truck like. I made custom brackets that bolted automotive accessories to the front of the engine. As a nod to SPITS and Mustangs I made an oil cooler in the shape of a belly scoop and prominently mounted it to the front of the engine. I use electric coolant pumps and a large starter mounted to a caterpillar belly housing that mounts to the tranny and coupled to the motor through a steel shaft. Fun stuff, but challenges were ever present!
John

John

Thank you for taking the time to post on my little thread.
Your car is an impressive piece of engineering. I would like to know more about the Cat adaptor and Allison transmission and how you joined everything together.

My build utilises an od Rolls Royce Phantom II chassis and axles and I hope the body will be in keeping with a RR of that era albeit only a 2 seater.
I have been thinking about using fuel injection and throttle bodies on mine and changing from the magnetos to electronic ignition.

Any do's or don'ts would be very welcome.


Paul

[Storer]

Storer said:

johnandersen said:

A gentleman (Alan) responded to a youtube posting of my meteor powered car. He suggested that I jump into the fray regarding the use of a meteor engine in a car. My car in its current form can be seen at www.merlincar.com . The car is named merlin due to its distant lineage to the merlin engine. I had a choice of engines from a merlin, meteor, and even considered the griffon. The goal was to make the car start, run and drive like any car and it had to have an automatic transmission. The meteor mv-IVB was ideally suited as it has correct (US) rotation...that is the engine turns clockwise when viewed from the front and would be compatible with an automatic. Since the merlin and meteor are nearly identical with most parts being interchangeable, I decided to build up a meteor engine. Also since the prerequisite was a smooth running engine, I chose to not use a supercharged merlin. Those old mechanical superchargers and magnetos are no match for modern systems and did not transition well from idle to high power. One last consideration was it had to look really cool. To that end I removed all accessories including the coolant pump and starter....just too ugly and truck like. I made custom brackets that bolted automotive accessories to the front of the engine. As a nod to SPITS and Mustangs I made an oil cooler in the shape of a belly scoop and prominently mounted it to the front of the engine. I use electric coolant pumps and a large starter mounted to a caterpillar belly housing that mounts to the tranny and coupled to the motor through a steel shaft. Fun stuff, but challenges were ever present!
John

John

Thank you for taking the time to post on my little thread.
Your car is an impressive piece of engineering. I would like to know more about the Cat adaptor and Allison transmission and how you joined everything together.

My build utilises an od Rolls Royce Phantom II chassis and axles and I hope the body will be in keeping with a RR of that era albeit only a 2 seater.
I have been thinking about using fuel injection and throttle bodies on mine and changing from the magnetos to electronic ignition.

Any do's or don'ts would be very welcome.


Paul

Also
What sort of money is the Allison tranny and Cat adaptor. Is it a mechanical box or electronic?


Paul

[Storer]

Hi Baron

Sorry but no progress at all as I am busy sorting my workshop equipment and working spaces. Plus a few jobs for the ladies to help keep the peace. Got a muck skip to fit my JCB forklift to make soon.



That is the metal folder before I started the refurbishment.



And here is the after. Yes, I know the colour scheme is a little (Ok, very) bright and a little 'toy town'. The paints are all tractor colours. New Holland blue, MF red and JCB yellow. They dry even in this carp damp weather we are having!

I suspect it will be another 2 to 3 months before there is any progress on Thor.



Paul