This 1955 Buick Roadmaster, owned by Jay Leno, is powered by a 620-horsepower 572-cubic-inch big-block GM crate motor, available from GM Performance Parts. Nice looking car to bad its Chevy powered :af:
Jay's a hotrod guy, though. He does more than just pay big bucks for his toys, he wrenches them too. Ever see his Rolls Royce powered by a Rolls Royce Merlin V12 from a Spitfire? :Brow: At altitude it's an engine that was rated at 1800 hp. On the ground it's probably still over a grand, easy:TU: factory supercharged, two speed/2 stage...of course one speed is for over say 10,000 feet, lol
Aside from the fact we'd all like to see a Buick power plant under that hood......I wouldn't feel TOO sorry for anyone with a 572" under their hood!!:Brow: :Brow: Even a Chevy!!:grin: :grin:
Leno also owns a 6 cylinder Buick . Listen to him saying that in this video: http://www.buickpower.com/Videos/gn on leno.mpg
max hp on the ground would torque roll the airplane. Besides, that's what the 2 speed/2 stage supercharger is for:grin:
HP decreases with altitude. Simple as that. The two stage supercharger was used to keep that power level up as the aircraft got higher. It would make 1800hp (depending on the models, they ranged all over the map during WWII) at sea level and the supercharger(s) would keep the power levels on as the aircraft climbed, dual stage supercharging allowed more boost within the technology of the times. No pilot with a brain would firewall that (or any other high powered piston engine) from a dead roll. those old machien take some real skill to fly, they are truly monsters. Its also interesting that the germans were one of the first to use nitrous oxide (notably on the BMW801 powered FW 190) and fuel injection, whch gave them an advantage in negative G moves unlike the carbs used on early allied aircraft. later Tim
i like th time he was sayin that he wouldnt want to go back in time like most people, he likes livin today because of things like what happened to him on th way to work .....on the gridlocked rushhour freeway and ran out of fuel. he used his cellfone to call his wife to bring him more coal .... he was drivin a stanley steamer or somethin. what a goof.
Oh, agreed. I just can't find a ref source that lists hp on the test stand. Even the info I got once from Bud Wheeler at Allison Competition Engines for a comparable engine (an Allison V12 of course, but with many improvements. Bud's a nice guy, sent me a dyno pull sheet via e-mail) only lists hp at manifold pressure and hp ratings you'd never see on the runway, so I have to say "at altitude" because I really can't give a number for test stand results.
Well that doesn't really make sense as the engine is rated at a certain boost, and once you have the machine tracking straight the flight controls (rudder esp) would allow the use of full power...indeed, that is usually when you use full power, to get off the runway and up asap..the further away you are from the ground, the safer you are as you have time to recover if something should go wrong.... The only way around that would be if you had a manual supercharger that you engaged only at altitude and created more boost than at sea level (on the runway). Not usually the case as the last thing you want with a bunch of guys trying to shoot your ass is to start engaging and playing with superchargers. Some engines did have this however, with a low boost and a high boost that would be engaged either manually or automatically at a certain altitude/pressure. low boost would be used for takeoff. However, all you are trying to do with high boost is recover the lost power from the altitude....you can see this if you look at the climb rates of some aircraft. Takeoff power is almost always the most powerful setting (I'm sure you could find exceptions, as you can to anything, if you look hard enough). I would imagine all the test data is corrected to standard day conditions. later Tim
Well, I don't know what to say. I never finished my aeronautical degree because I don't have the money, and I can only present the info that I have.
W.E.P. War Emergency Power - Form mustang information..... War Emergency Operations Emergency ratings are available for use in combat for absolute maximum manifold pressure. Safe limits are 7 minutes wet or 5 minutes dry. Ratings should only be utilized during emergency situations. Aircraft must be in precombat or combat area (designated by the AAF). AC LE-44, KLG RC5/3, Lodge RS5/5, or AC LE-45 spark plugs must be installed. A breakthrough seal also needs to be installed on the throttle quadrant to inform the crew chief that the engine was flown under war emergency power procedures. Other..... Special Emergency Power for aircraft such as FW-190A-8, FW-190A-9, FW-190F-8 FW-190D-9 1944 MW-50 (Water-Methanol injection) for aircraft such as FW-190D-9 1945, Bf-109G6/AS, Bf-109G-14, Bf-109G-10 and Bf-109K-4 GM-1 (High-altitude nitrous oxide injection system) for aircraft such as Bf-109E-7/Z Water injection device for cooling down engine of P-47D-10 and P-47D-27 at emergency power of engine. Supercharger Control High-altitude engines are equipped with superchargers or turbochargers of different design. While many of those are automatic, others have manual control. In this case, you have to ......to adjust the supercharger gear as the flight altitude changes. Most of the chargers are 2-stage, and only require one shift up of the gear when passing altitude at around 2500 meters. B17 story..... ...."We'll do it on three engines". Thereupon I turned the Minneapolis Honeywell controller , installed on the B-17 G models utilizing a one wheel master on the pedestal, up into the "war emergency power" range, thereby boosting power on the remaining three engines and enabling us to stay in formation. There was just one problem, the engines were not supposed to withstand war emergency power for over 20 or 30 minutes and we had at least 2 hours to go to the target. As we climbed higher, I had to continually increase the over-boost on our remaining three engines, ..... ------------------------- all that aside, I think Leno - being the gearhead he is - should do justice to that fine ride and install a TA aluminum Block, Injected and blown.....etc.etc.etc. Hey.....If i had his money I would !!
I like the fact Leno is a Car guy. But it sure would have been cool to see a built nailhead or 455 in that beautiful Buick.
That's good info, Alan. My standpoint was more from the perspective of just how the engine is coupled to the propeller, how that works at take-off, also if I remember right, how relatively rich the mixture setting must be just to allow it to run up to operating temp, and how I recall that over pressurizing the supercharger can cause serious problems. Basically, that you need to be in a speed wrong for the stage. I can easily be remembering that wrong. It is entirely possible that I also read Mr Wheeler's dyno sheet wrong. I don't question Tim's replies but I seem to recall that the engines were rated for take-off at certain manifold pressures, not power percentage of maximum, and that due to reduction gearing, mixture settings, and prop pitch, this would not allow you to use max hp on the ground without overpressurization. That's just my memory of it, it's been a long time since I seriously discussed piston aircraft engines. What I really want to say is that at full pitch, full power, the engine will be over-revving on the ground. Now, it is also possible that I am confusing the aircraft's rated hp with the engine installed, with the dyno pull, engine on the test stand, no reduction gearing, etc. A.C.E. does use a compressor stage from a large jet engine to simulate load, but whether or not that incorporates a reduction gear, I just don't know. Certainly control inputs were (and are) used to counter torque/gyro effects, and not just on the ground...I just can't expound on this more than I just did, anymore, being out of the technical end of it for so long. I'm not trying to fool anyone, this is just how I recall it works.
Old article Hi Chris, I have an old Vanity Fair magazine stashed somewhere that has a Leno article in it. He states that his first new car was a 1965 Skylark Gran Sport with a four speed. That makes him a Buick man to me.
Brian, you're making me tear up here......my first car was a '65 GS 4-speed as well.....red, hardtop.....FUN car.......sure wish I had that back.....lots of memories.....especially of Carla....:Brow:
As I said there is an exception to everything. W.E.P. was used to save your butt, and was not an regular thing to use (thus the emergency), so I discounted that. I also am not looking at modified engines. As for the supercharger, it as adjustable on some engines manually or auto but still does not make more power...it is speed related to compensate for the thinner air and to keep the power up as the aircraft climbs. The overall max power does not increase (again, there are exceptions, most notable the reno racers that are modifed for this reason). Full pitch, full power on the ground you would be loading the engine hard, but you would certainly not over rev is as the forward airflow over the prop helps "unload" it in flight, on the ground full power will always see 200-400RPM less as the prop doesn't have the "relative wind" to help unload it. Make sense?Also, if you have an adjustable propeller, it would not allow you to over rev the engine, it would keep taking a bigger "bite" to absorb the power until it ran out of travel, and at that point you would probably be fuel limited (by design) and at full power. Piston engine variable pitch turbocharged or supercharged engines are fairly complex pieces of equipment and each operates slightly differently. It is odd to have an engine at full RPM, keep feeding the throttle, and simply watch the boost gauges go up but no other indications change, although you can fell the power just how the aircraft squats..... The original satement was you could not get full power on the ground, now that has been turned into limited by boost pressures. Its much more complicated than first glance, but the overall effect is you can pull full power on the ground. T.O. power is still max rated power for most aircraft, and is usually limited in time allowed. Fun stuff, eh?:grin: later Tim Need sleep.....
I think eveyone needs to calm down and focus on whats important, BUICK'S. I don't know about a lof of people but I would say that no matter how hp acts at alt, a Rolls with an aircraft engine would be pretty cool.
