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I was looking through some old flyers online and found this rather odd one.
Spitfire engines were indeed made under licence in the USA... but by Packard not Chrysler. Back in the 1960s I did actually know a man who put a Spitfire Merlin engine into a car, of all things... a Rolls Royce. It always annoyed me that Rolls Royce made him remove the company badge from the car because it wasn't a standard model, yet it was 100% Rolls Royce.

coppinpr wrote: ↑Sat Apr 04, 2020 8:45 am Back in the 1960s I did actually know a man who put a Spitfire Merlin engine into a car, of all things... a Rolls Royce. It always annoyed me that Rolls Royce made him remove the company badge from the car because it wasn't a standard model, yet it was 100% Rolls Royce.

John Dodd. He still has the car now, apparently he brings it over from Spain every year, to have it MOT'd!
https://www.classicdriver.com/en/articl ... iRn1TeboJ8

Long live British eccentricity.

From the sound of it, he achieves a slow enough tick over to be able to engage drive at standstill by knocking one bank out. You'd only need to kill one magneto.
Then you get all that rattling and clonking.
I guess without the superchargers it's a RR Griffon. Very impressive though and I do remember the story from the 70s.
It's good to see it's still about and with John Dodd too.

BP

badpenny wrote: ↑Sat Apr 04, 2020 9:17 pmFrom the sound of it, he achieves a slow enough tick over to be able to engage drive at standstill by knocking one bank out. You'd only need to kill one magneto.

Ignition system.
The ignition system comprises two magnetos, which are attached to the wheel case, one on the left, and one on the right. Attached to these are the high-tension wiring harnesses for the spark plugs, which are metal screened and serve a dual purpose by acting as a collector for the induced field around the high tension wires and returning the resulting electrical current to earth, and also preventing radio interference. Each cylinder has two spark plugs - one magneto provides the spark for the inlet-side plugs and the other for the exhaust-side plugs. This ensures that if one magneto fails, the engine will still run using the other.

This one is nice but its a Meteor engine (Marlin derivative)


This one is nicer and is a Merlin


and this is just crazy

livinginthepast wrote: ↑Sun Apr 05, 2020 8:32 am Ignition system
The ignition system comprises two magnetos, which are attached to the wheel case, one on the left, and one on the right. Attached to these are the high-tension wiring harnesses for the spark plugs, which are metal screened and serve a dual purpose by acting as a collector for the induced field around the high tension wires and returning the resulting electrical current to earth, and also preventing radio interference. Each cylinder has two spark plugs - one magneto provides the spark for the inlet-side plugs and the other for the exhaust-side plugs. This ensures that if one magneto fails, the engine will still run using the other.

That's interesting, thanks for posting.
He might have wired it differently, but who knows? I was working on the fact that, although I can't find what RPM they ticked over at, it seems too fast for an automatic gearbox to be engaged at. Likewise in gear and stationary at a junction. What do you reckon all that rattling and clonking is in the video?

BP

Idle speed seems to be 800 rpm max revs 3.000

I also see it's mounted backwards so the power take off is where the propeller was. I seem to recall originally there was gearbox at that end, so I guess a reduction box if needed would be easy to install.
I've watched two vids on it now, one from a few years back and another nearer 20 years ago. And on both of them there is still an awful racket at tick over and stationary.
Perhaps "watlingman" could advise, he knows a lot about exotic infernal combustion engines.
BP