Page 82 – Key Publishing

Graham Adlam

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February 15, 2007 at 6:37 pm in reply to: Anyone Tempted? #1301044

Graham Adlam
Participant

Spit U/C and other bits

Spitfire U/C indicators, why are they so rare, its strange really when you consider that 20,000 plus were made. When i started collecting about 15 years ago they sold for about £85 saying that there still werent allot around. I manage to buy 1 or 2 a year even now but obviously i have to pay through the nose for them. There must be quite a few still out there??? Trim gauges are even rarer it seems, I have never bought an original although i have been promised one from a Spit rebuild that i have been waiting patiently for the last 3 years+. Why i wonder are the trim gauges even harder to find they must have been made in the same numbers. I used to buy parts from an aircraft breaker, he told me that 40 years ago they would have paid me to remove all the spit instruments and controls as they were a pain to dispose of prior to scrapping!!!!!!!! Spitfire’s. They also used to smash 0 timed Merlins with sledge hammers, if only i had a time machine.:dev2:

February 12, 2007 at 9:15 pm in reply to: Another Airborne Army Tank Part on eBay! #1304468

Graham Adlam
Participant

It`s okay mate, I was vaguely aware of the differences between them, but that`s about all! What you are saying does make sense.
The Merlin only uses the two coolant outlets at the front of the blocks, although one rear one feeds through a small-bore pipe to heat the carb intake and the other can feed a cabin heater, they do not have to go anywhere to make the system work.
I wonder if you just block off everything at the front of the heated manifolds and use the two front outlets to feed a header tank, relying on convection to give some heat to the manifolds from the rear outlets? Just a thought.
I take it the manifolds do need to be heated a certain amount. I don`t use a coolant feed through the Merlin XX back end, and in low ambient temps you get frost on the supercharger intake which could ultimately result in the carb jets freezing?

Merlin installations that use a thermostat have it fitted on the header tank outlet, before the radiator. Some just rely on radiator shutters. I do use one on the Merlin XX, but just to get it to warm up quicker, the Morris rad is so efficient that they never overheat.
None of our other engines use a thermostat.

Stuart, I checked with Retro about grinding, and you are dead right. I may be wrong about a Meteor crank actually flying. the chap who mentioned it to me said he was going to use one, but whether he actually did I am not so sure. :confused: Retro certainly did not know about it. Besides, he could have easily reground it first! (the person I`m talking about is well capable of most such jobs!)

Pete

It would solve alot of problems for me to blank off the manifold completely if thats ok? it just looks like a lot of coolant goes through it. Would I need to put a small header tank above the block outlets or can i route pipe’s straight back to the large header tank in the tail. I am going to have a 10 to 15 gallon header tank in the tail and have detachable fittings to rads in the wings. I am hoping I can run it for 10 to 15 minutes on tick over without the wing rads before it over heats?
I have mounted the oil tank just behind the firewall on the floor, it fits perfectly and is close to the oil pumps so thats one problem solved.

February 12, 2007 at 5:38 pm in reply to: Another Airborne Army Tank Part on eBay! #1304848

Graham Adlam
Participant

Yes, we blanked off the header completely and swapped the branch on the header for the one from a Meteor 3. This is the part that takes coolant from the banks into the header. On the Mk 3 it has an extra pipe oulet in the centre facing backward. If you look at the other end in the Centurion layout, there is a hex head bung screwed in, imagine that as a pipe outlet. This allows coolant out of the banks into the header tank. I’m saying all this from memory, I’ll check tonight and post a scan of the Comet layout tomorrow if needed.

Adrian

I understand what you mean, the 4b has the fitting for the temp sender there.What are the chances of getting a meteor III branch, does anyone have a spare? If I can get one will have to fabricate one.

February 12, 2007 at 4:42 pm in reply to: Another Airborne Army Tank Part on eBay! #1304903

Graham Adlam
Participant

Not trying to answer for Pete, he knows far more about it than I, but when we put a 4B in a Comet, we simply removed the thermostat housing and blanked off the header. In Cromwell and Comet, the thermostat is in the header tank and it all worked fine.

do you mean you blanked off the entire outlet that the thermostat sits in? if so how does the coolant return to the rad, please see the drawing pete posted. This shows that outlet as the only pipe carrying hot coolant to the rad.

February 12, 2007 at 3:32 pm in reply to: Another Airborne Army Tank Part on eBay! #1305039

Graham Adlam
Participant

Pete

I want to do away with the big outlet pipe because it hits the top of the cowling. Do you think the return pipe from the thermostat would provide enouth flow if it went straight to the rad, or will it build up too much pressure in the block? I have removed the thermostat.

Thanks

Graham

February 12, 2007 at 2:56 pm in reply to: Another Airborne Army Tank Part on eBay! #1305071

Graham Adlam
Participant

Thanks Pete

Thats a great help

Graham

February 11, 2007 at 1:14 pm in reply to: Spitfire drop tank parts from ebay #1306123

Graham Adlam
Participant

Well It would make sense for them to be fitted to a PR Spit as I assume they needed drop tanks.? The trouble is it doesnt tie up with where i found the parts, I dug up a dozen plus, I have the full operational history of Culmhead and there is no record of PR Spits operating from there. The only documented history of drop tank use was 234 sdr training with 90 gallon tanks fitted to one wing only on MKVs prior to deployment to the far East. apparently no fun at all to Land with. Dave Glaser told me standing orders were to ditch the aircraft if the tank failed to jetison. He disobayed this order on one occasion after the tank release jammed. He didnt want to loose his personal Spit. The other documented use was by Seafire’s on D Day escorting heavy Tiffys, so why the 300 number?????:confused:

February 11, 2007 at 1:05 pm in reply to: Another Airborne Army Tank Part on eBay! #1306132

Graham Adlam
Participant

Apparently some Merlin parts were used in early Meteors, not sure how many or which ones.I am interested to know why the Meteor uses roller cams. I am also a bit confused by the cooling system, what does the big water connection on the top of the block connect too? is it water in or water out? It is so much bigger than the water pump connections. Would be great to see a get a drawing of the cooling system.

February 11, 2007 at 11:52 am in reply to: Spitfire drop tank parts from ebay #1306177

Graham Adlam
Participant

I also didnt think the Mk1 was fitted with a drop tank? a bit of a mystery this part.:confused:

February 5, 2007 at 9:22 pm in reply to: Here is a list of part numbers you may find useful in identifying parts #1311686

Graham Adlam
Participant

Quality stamps

Does anyone know about the inspectors quality stamps? This must be the best way to ID the manufacturer??

February 4, 2007 at 1:38 pm in reply to: Here is a list of part numbers you may find useful in identifying parts #1312831

Graham Adlam
Participant

Part numbers

Thats great I am sure all of us can add something and it helps us all out, here are some stamps that have been giving me trouble for a while, I have a load of bits all starting with 65, they look wartime.

BE Could this be Fulmer? on the quality stamp. 26BE – Fulmar

February 3, 2007 at 6:15 pm in reply to: Replica MkVIII Spitfire and a Meteor engine #1313522

Graham Adlam
Participant

more pictures

more pictures:)

February 3, 2007 at 9:43 am in reply to: Replica MkVIII Spitfire and a Meteor engine #1313688

Graham Adlam
Participant

I like the idea of placing radiators behind the engine, seems a good bet?
Yes, you need to use two-piece Merlin bits, but both these and Griffons are fully removeable with the blocks in position. The reason for the mod was to access the flame traps, and both the manifolds and induction trunk are fitted with bolts, not studs, to allow removal.
I have also had Meteors with the carbs and the big centre casting already removed, just leaving the small manifolds on the blocks, which are easy to get at, so I would have thought the job could be done in situ? I am also pretty sure we stripped all this from a Meteor that Robin had once, without disturbing the blocks.

I know one thing, access to the inboard plugs on Merlins is a bit of a task, I can change them in about 2 hours, however, the same job on a Meteor is an absolute Ba$#A*D, and then some, so I know which set of manifolds I would go for 😀

I know what you mean about the plugs, I changed a set on my first meteor, the inner plugs were an absolute pig to get out out:( , had some very strange angles on the socket extensions:eek: . I know this engine runs OK so i am leaving them well alone. The problem is finding the Merlin part i need.

February 3, 2007 at 7:25 am in reply to: Replica MkVIII Spitfire and a Meteor engine #1313817

Graham Adlam
Participant

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.

You have got that right Stuart, I don’t to do much more than move at walking pace, tail up’s are definately out. I think I am going to be able to occomodate the original carbs, have a couple ideas forming, watch this space.

February 3, 2007 at 7:21 am in reply to: Replica MkVIII Spitfire and a Meteor engine #1313821

Graham Adlam
Participant

its in

The engines in, we have had to set it back about 6″ further back than it should be to allow room for the torgue hub, but its about right height wise hope it looks Ok i’ll post some more pics as we progress.

You can clearly see the Hydraulic pump on the front of the engine. Don’t be fooled by its size it can transmit allot of power.:diablo:
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