Yes, I am really glad that I’ve offered an opinion , I can see now, why others that I know to be well qualified to answer technical questions, on this forum ,choose not to.

It is my understanding that welding high tensile material (such as 531 tubing) causes it to become brittle, and this is not acceptable in any form of load bearing structure.

The speed at which the metal cools can be controlled by burying it in sand (much like some contributors on this forum do with their heads) but it is not an exact science, and impractical for large structures, (unless you are repairing a Hurricane in the desert)

Therefore whilst it may be possible to weld this type of metal (as I have done in the past), it severely weakens the structure; this was the response given initially, as to why the tubing on the Hurricane wasn’t welded.

Theres going to be hundreds out there better qualified than me to say , but they’re all busy! , my guess is that the tube was something like reynolds 531 and it can’t be welded (only brazed or bronze welded); either that wasn’t deemed strong enough, or else it was mr Camm’s insistance that it was squared off and bolted together with stainless plates because “we’ve always done it that way”

Ref stagnation its because most museums ‘careerites’ wear Tweed and smell of wee… 🙂

TT

I think you might have something there, back at the “museum that shall not be mentioned” our single “employee”,was the sort of man that , if you had to assemble a photofit picture of him, you would start with a tweed jacket, then add the leather arm patches,and maybe then move on to his bodily features! he was on £20k ,4 years ago; didn’t ever see him do anything mind you…..a true professional!

This ain’t snow , its just a tribute! the worst /best snow I can remember was about 84/85, the main road off which I lived ,was boundaried by big open fields and the wind caused drifts that were so deep that cars were completely covered, at its deepest it was 6ft (measured on a telegraph pole).

In those days I was less worldly (yes it is possible), and had no comunication with the outside world for 5 days; I thought the whole of Essex was the same , but it turns out almost every road was cleared within 24 hrs, so basically it was just me! at its worst one of the central heating pipes burst, (although it didn’t leak until it thawed), and all the crockery in the washing up bowl was frozen solid….. but we were happy!

single 40 dcoe webers have trouble supplying enough fuel/air for a well tuned mini, so will not provide nearly enough for a meteor even to idle i’d have thought!
it won’t be the fueling side of things, but the fact that choke size is so small it will strangle the engine and not let enough air in to run anywhere near efficiently. just look at some of the 50’s/60’s/70’s italian exotic cars, they often have a twin choke carb per cylinder.

Although reading my post thoroughly, it does say a “pair of dcoe 40’s” and a single dcoe48; when I was tuning mini cooper s’s in the late 70’s I never had any trouble with dcoe 40’s,and it was perfectly possible to get 120 bhp from a full race 1275 with a single 1 3/4 SU.

Its worth bearing in mind that on the webbers the choke tubes are interchangeable, as well as the jets, “Dodds’s car ran a single 4 barrell holley and they are designed for engines in the 5-7 litre range.

Super cars are trying to extract the maximum power from a relatively small engine, Reno racer type Merlins are knocking out in excess of 3000bhp, the meteor on the other hand develops about 600.

Another thing to bear in mind is that these engines only run at 2700-3000rpm, flat out ,I wouldn’t imagine that Graham was going to give it its head down a 60 yr old runway.

Graham, you could put quite a large radiator behind the engine mount , as you have no super charger to get in the way, it could be cooled with an electric fan ,and the carb intake in the btm cowling could be opened up to duct prop wash to the rad; the advantage of this location is that it is only just forward of the CofG, and a short pipe run would help reduce airlocks in the coolant system.

The carb situation could be over come by using Merlin intake manifolds and induction tube, and fixing a plate on the end of the induction tube (at the back) to which you could mount either a pair of dcoe 40, webber side draught carbs or 1 single dcoe48 webber, again the advantage, is that a wide variation of jets and choke tubes are available for these carbs.

Another thought, (having examined the photos) is that there doesn’t appear to be any oleo leg travel ,i.e a rigid length of box section down to the axle; this will exacerbate the torque reaction from the prop.

Is it possible to convert a Meteor engine into a Merlin? I mean fitting a Merlin reduction gear to drive the propeller etc.?

Cheers

Cees

Not unless your names are Peter & Robin.