27 LITRES....

[Stef]

WOW! Truly brilliant!!
I wouldn't be surprised if Leno invites you on his show If he gets wind of this.

 

[soroush]

so you can do wiring, paint and body, welding, fit and finish, engine work, make your own exhaust, interior work, install everything and make everything sing together but cant upload a video? hahahah my kind of guy.... love it.

 

[GT@50]

And make, I'm guessing, a good living.

 

[Button]

Absolutely amazing! Your neighbors either love you or hate you.

 

[Biginch Blake]

Beautiful Dave. Very impressive, what an experience it must be. A labor of love.

 

[texas mongrel]

Well, one benefit of the pandemic is that we haven't been anywhere, so I finished my Merlin project way sooner than planned! All that's left now is to figure out how we can strap it on a chassis dyno so we can tune the horrible Webers. Oh, and figure out how to title and register it. Per my track record, no doubt I'll get bored in a few months and sell it, although it would be awesome to get it on Jay Leno's show and maybe drag race his version.

 

[Simon]

I think you should call it "The Pandemic"

 

[Specracer]

WOW!!!!!! That came out amazing!!!! That is a MAJOR accomplishment. MAJOR.

 

[DakotaGT]

Unreal. So impressive that you fabricated all of that. It sure came out terrific! How does it drive? What is the acceleration like?

 

[texas mongrel]

Unreal. So impressive that you fabricated all of that. It sure came out terrific! How does it drive? What is the acceleration like?

Just tooled around the neighborhood so far. The carbs have a massive flat spot ( hence putting it on a dyno to try and fix that), but when the carbs clear themselves, engine rpms skyrocket with no change in acceleration or speed - the tyres just spin, 1650ft lbs of torque will do that!

 

[spartan]

Absolutely amazing. You should be very proud to complete such a large undertaking.

 

[dshears]

A brilliant work of art!

 

[jr66]

You should be very proud of your accomplishment.

 

[GTJack]

Dave, you have mad skills. I do hope Leno gets wind of it unless he has already and pays you a visit. Would love to see you and Roz all gussied up Brit style and tooling around Houston. Happy New Year!

 

[Blue Moose]

Absolutely beautiful Dave.
Now may we please have some audio from right behind those huge smokestacks.

 

[texas mongrel]

Absolutely beautiful Dave.
Now may we please have some audio from right behind those huge smokestacks.

I’ll shoot a video when it’s on the dyno

 

[shesgotlegs]

And you also squeezed in the writing of a book???

 

[roketman]

Gentlemen,

Some of our members know I have an interest in aviation and this project has had my attention since I first heard about it. But when I finally walked into Dave's garage and saw the scope and magnitude of what he was doing I was gobsmacked. Who on God's green earth can do this BY HIMSELF IN HIS HOME GARAGE!!!! Even assembling a team of people in specialized shops that could do this would be a real challenge. I literally can't get over this car. The two most beautiful aircraft ever built (Supermarine Spitfire and North American P-51D Mustang) used the Rolls Royce Merlin engine and a ton of them were built but, as Dave mentioned a lot of them were melted down for their aluminum and most of the survivors were blown up in hydroplane Thunderboat races. Parts are so hard to find today that Jack Roush has started producing new components to keep his own P-51D flying.

So I start asking Dave questions.

Where did that frame come from?........"I built it myself" (Well, OK)
Who designed the car?......."I did" (Seriously?)
Who is making the body panels and welding them together?......"I am" (WTF!!!!)
Where did you get these exhaust manifolds?........."I hand-cast them myself" (Who the hell does that?!!)
Electrical system?........"Did it all myself" (You're shitting me?!!!)

You are designing, fabricating, welding, metalworking sheet steel into body panels, wiring, and assembling an entire car you conceived from scratch by yourself in your home garage as well as engineering and modifying a Rolls Royce Merlin aircraft engine to power it?......."Yes"

Ah......OK. I literally didn't know what to say. I was blown away, and that's an understatement.

The engineering and design problems involved in getting a fuel injected, supercharged aviation engine designed to turn a propeller at a constant RPM of 2200 to 2650 RPM and converting it to a normally aspirated auto engine that can be operated from idle to redline are immense. Everything about getting a Merlin to work in a car is bitchy hard. I know it's been done a few times before but like Leno's car the motor is usually put into an existing chassis modified to accept it. But that would be too easy for Dave.

I know many really talented aircraft engine techs, great designers, body men, welders, electrical engineers, fabricators, and so on. Becoming proficient in any one of those disciplines is impressive. But I've never met anybody that had all of those skills and the tools necessary to tackle this alone and at home, until now. Unreal.

So yeah I bludgeoned him to start this thread.

Chip

That is unbelievable!
He is obviously as smart as he looks!

 

[Tiago]

very impressive!

 

[digman1]

Dave, I have really enjoyed watching you hand build and fabricate this amazing car. Between it, and the GT350 build, you have set yourself apart from the regular gear head tinkerers, like most of us. Well done, and can't wait until the next one.