SD1 Merlin

[Jon R]

I spotted this SD1 at a local rally last year.
I did,nt get to speak to the owner but I can tell you it had a Merlin up front, either aircraft or marine.
It took up plenty of room and extended into the cab, you can see that the drivers seat is well back.
It has an exhaust down each side, the windscreen being perspex cut around the engine.
Through the tailgate can be seen some pressurised cylinders and an ally tank.
Sorry I have'nt any more info, you may have already seen it, but if not I know you all enjoy a pic or two, as I do.
Bet It has some serious grunt !

Regards
Jon R

[Richard Moss]

LPG, I see! It's actually a RR Meteor I think (the tank engine version of the Merlin). My Dad used to work on them when he was in the army 50 years ago.

There are some videos of this on YouTube if you search Merlin (and Meteor)

[BlueRover]

That's been a long time coming, glad to see it's finally doing the rounds. The engine is from a tank and not a plane. I believe it's 27 litres in capacity.

[LeeLee]

Indeed it is.... Its a 27 litre Meteor Tank engine

[Jon R]

You're right, just had a look on You Tube, what a project.

[Richard Moss]

Merlins were supercharged, Meteors were not. 1500bhp or so from a Merlin, 600bhp or so from a Meteor.

Most Meteors were built by Rover or Morris so it's an appropriate choice.

[Jon R]

You learn something everyday here, glad I posted it.

Jon

[Nuts4my827]

Awesome. Seen this online over time. Glad it's on the road now.

[scoobyh123]

Hmmm.

27 litres supercharged = 1500bhp
27 litres n/aspirated = 600bhp
2.7 litres Honda C27A = 170bhp ish.

In that company the 2.7 lump does well on a pro rata basis! I must be getting old but i'd rather have the cabin space these days but what an awesome SD1!! Would love to give it a quick trundle round Brands Hatch or similar (can't think of the name of the one near Northampton - the F1 track, suffering mental block!) and see what it's capable of! It's amazing the diff holds together really!

[CHR15E]

It was on 5th gear a while back I think?

Not as impressive as you'd hope.

[Richard Moss]

Hmmm.

27 litres supercharged = 1500bhp
27 litres n/aspirated = 600bhp
2.7 litres Honda C27A = 170bhp ish.

In that company the 2.7 lump does well on a pro rata basis!

Not really an appropriate comparison, to be honest. For a start, it's a low compression 1930s V12 with carbs and 2 valves per cylinder designed to run on petrol of about 72RON compared to a 1980s fuel injected 4 valve engine with all the possible "tricks" of that era.

The low compression 3.5L V8 used in the MGB V8 and LandRover/Range Rover range gave 38bhp/litre on SU carbs. A 1940s Morris Eight was making about 27bhp/litre. The 22bhp/litre of the Meteor doesn't look too bad, then! (Also, as a general rule, BHP/litre figures drop as engine size increases)

I wonder how the torque figures compare?

[BlueRover]

I have the 5th gear feature on my DVD recorder and the gearbox is from a Leyland bus with a 3x gear multiplier. OK, so the power may not be brilliant for the engine size but I seem to recall it doing 160 mph at around 2000 rpm

[scoobyh123]

Hmmm.

27 litres supercharged = 1500bhp
27 litres n/aspirated = 600bhp
2.7 litres Honda C27A = 170bhp ish.

In that company the 2.7 lump does well on a pro rata basis!

Not really an appropriate comparison, to be honest.

That's actually most of the point i was trying to make Rich - the fact that although it's a very interesting and in a lot of ways, awesome conversion, he's lost almost all the cabin space of his car to the engine and many of the "creature comforts" from the cabin although i'm guessing he could probably do without the heater! I'm sure he could have found a more up to date engine that produces more power and still fits in the engine bay so he didn't have to lose most of the dashboard and seating.

I wonder what it would go like with the C35 Honda engine in? Kicks out 205bhp (funnily enough, the 3.2 is 201bhp, not much difference!) of fairly "lazy" power and should be more economical than the venerable V8, despite being a similar capacity. There's probably tuning options if you look hard enough on the net for this engine and i daresay it could get closer to 300bhp quite easily.

I'm all for "each to their own" and in no way denegrate the work etc that's gone into the Merlin/Meteor conversion of this SD1. I just wonder why apart from the obvious idea of fitting such a huge engine into a car.

Gordon - i wonder what a Leyland bus would be like at 2000rpm doing 160mph? I used to drive for a very well known bus company and also a less well known one. Some of their buses were scary at 30mph, never mind 5+ times that!

[Richard Moss]

The point is not about the absolute performance - if it was, a modern engine would have been the way to go. It's about creating something really special. Nothing will sound like this, look like this or have this amount of charisma or "history".

It's like climbing Everest: because it was there!

[Stewart]

Hmmm.

27 litres supercharged = 1500bhp
27 litres n/aspirated = 600bhp
2.7 litres Honda C27A = 170bhp ish.

In that company the 2.7 lump does well on a pro rata basis!

Not really an appropriate comparison, to be honest. For a start, it's a low compression 1930s V12 with carbs and 2 valves per cylinder designed to run on petrol of about 72RON compared to a 1980s fuel injected 4 valve engine with all the possible "tricks" of that era.

The low compression 3.5L V8 used in the MGB V8 and LandRover/Range Rover range gave 38bhp/litre on SU carbs. A 1940s Morris Eight was making about 27bhp/litre. The 22bhp/litre of the Meteor doesn't look too bad, then! (Also, as a general rule, BHP/litre figures drop as engine size increases)

I wonder how the torque figures compare?

Are you sure the Merlin was only 24 valve? I have an odd feeling it was a 4v per cyl (First seen in the early 1900s in a Pug engine IIRC)and so I assume the Meteor is as well (although may not be never looked at one that close). As for the low compression it's not when being used with high levels of boost as CR is in fact the volume that the charge ocupuies at 1 bar to the volume at TDC hopfully that may explain why superchrged engines have such a 'low' CR. If you try an ram that large a charge into a cumbution chamber desigen for half the charge you will get chronic pinking/detonation followed by melted pistons. Mind you A/C engines normally major on torque for swiniging props rather than all out BHP. Meomory als seem to be that the Merlin redlines at 3200 RPM or there abouts although the huge amount or torque available mean you can run far taller gearing (you would have to!) this was what caused Jon Dodds so many issues with 'The Beast' another Meteor powered car.

The supercharged Merlin ran a CR of 6:1 however I belive it ran some serious boost (25PSI + iirc by the end, but more nomally 15) while the Metor tank derivative ran 10.5:1 as it was not boosted. The fuel was even then 110 octane av gas as it is now as it still is now, when they sent hurrcanes to russia they went with shipments of TEL to up the octane rating of the poor russian petrol!