My “what am I working” on project is a 1936 Auburn Boattail Seedster (replica) powered by a Boeing Gas Turbine. I found this car sitting in a field behind a body shop in NY. The car sat for 17 years before I bought it. I dragged it back To CT and started cutting and welding to fit the Gas Turbine. this build took alot of thought with all the different problems associated with the turbine.

One the turbine spins in the opposite direction, to solve this, I designed and built a gear box to fit between the turbine and the Tranny. Also the 700R4 tranny had to be reworked, the front of the case had to be removed and the torque converter eliminated because the turbine has its own gear reduction box, but I had to find a way to pressurize the 700R4 when at a stop light, solution an electric hydraulic pump and some switches. 

Second the exhaust was a major challenge, it had to be routed out the back of the car to be legal to be driven on the road. With 400lbs. of Stainless steel to be cut, welded and rolled to a system that would fit and not restrict the turbine from doing it’s job.

Third the noise level was 120 dbs., not acceptable for CT. I fabricated 4 different systems before finding something that worked. The intake was made out of aluminum perforated sheet metal and rolled to form a cylinder and cut to make curves so not to restrict the air intake, all welded with my TIG machine. Then I added sound absorbing foam, and a 1/4”rubber sheet and fiberglass to give it strength. And the final preparation will be for painting. After building this intake the noise level went down to 82dbs which will be acceptable for the State of Connecticut.

Forth, the fuel tank sits on top of the exhaust duct, and the exhaust has a temperature of 1000 degrees Fahrenheit. to solve this, when the tank was designed and fabricated a water jacket was added to insulate the fuel from the heat. The tank has its own radiator and pump to cool the water that runs thru the tank.

At  the present time the chassis has been power coated and all assembled, front suspension fabricated, powder coated. and the body is at the Paint shop for a finish paint job. Next the body will be installed on the car and wired, interior installed, along with glass and chrome to finish this 7 year project.

With best regards Rick Munroe

Turbonique!

Then there’s the Turbonique Drag Axle.  Bolts to your rear diff for an on-call extra 1300 horsepower!  Toodle down to the strip under your regular motive power, shift ‘er into neutral, and hit the big red button for Thermolene (tm) powered rocket action!  Note that there was not only a rocket nozzle, but also a turbine that drove your rear wheels.  These things existed.  They DO exist, as in this Galaxie 500 with Turbonique Drag Axle installed, up for auction:

http://hooptyrides.blogspot.com/2008/03/1964-ford-galaxie-500-rocket-car.html

These things were so crazy that in 1966 a VW Beetle with Turbonique installed once walked away from the four-engined Riviera Wagon Master (itself capable of running in the 8’s) like it was out for a Sunday drive.

See the catalog!

http://turbonique.tripod.com/

Turbonique!

Why use a supercharger, which sap power from the belt?  Why use a turbocharger, which is powered by the exhaust?  No, you need the Turbonique Auxillary Power Supercharger!  With a press of a button, the Thermolene (tm) liquid rocket fuel ignites and your rocket-powered turbine supercharger for an extra 400 hp from the flick of a switch!

http://www.tunersgroup.com/TunerWire_Live/Turbonique.html

Turbonique!

It’s one of those things I wouldn’t believe if there weren’t so many pictures of them. In the 1960s Turbonique offered micro-rocket turbines that you could bolt on to go karts or boats and get 1980 horsepower for less than $200.  Once guys started using two to hit 240 mph and do 5.95 quarter miles the officials started to get concerned….

http://www.tunersgroup.com/TunerWire_Live/Turbonique.html

From steamlocomotive.com’s history of turbine locomotives:

One problem with conventional reciprocating steam locomotives is that when the horizontal motion of the pistons is converted into rotary motion of the drive wheels, the torque is not constant throughout the rotation of the wheels. Instead, if the torque were plotted on a graph, it would be represented as a sine-based wave, having high points and low points. The practical result of non-constant torque on drive wheels is a vehicle whose wheels may easily slip when starting.

Another problem with conventional reciprocating steam locomotives is that all of the side rods and valve gear become difficult to balance when the locomotive is traveling at high speeds.

In the 1920s and 1930s, the United States locomotive builders began looking at turbine power like that which is used in steamships and stationary power plants as an alternative to the more traditional reciprocating power. During the next few decades several steam-turbine designs were tested and used. However, none were really a success. Steam turbines make great nautical motors, where the hull of a ship provides a comparatively clean and cushioned environment. Railroad locomotives get dirty while they are running over the road, and freight locomotives also are involved in many low speed high impact collisions coupling up to trains. Passenger locomotives, with a fixed consist were safe from the violence of coupling onto a train, but their higher speeds made them even dirtier than a freight locomotive going thirty or forty miles an hour.

In 1938 General Electric built a pair of steam-turbine-electric locomotives for use on the Union Pacific in an attempt to compete with General Motors passenger diesels. The wheel arrangement of these two locomotives was 2-C+C-2. The UP ran them on a few test trips and sent them around the country on a publicity tour. However, they were only “operational” for 6 months before returning to GE. Subsequently, they did some work for the GN and NYC during the war but it was deemed that they would be more useful as raw material and were scrapped.

In 1944, the PRR received a Baldwin-built straight steam turbine where the turbine was geared down and directly connected to the drivers. It too was unsuccessful. Once it got up to speed it could outpull anything on the rails at the time (including 6000 HP diesel lashups) but most locomotives didn’t spend that much time rocketing across the plains at 100 mph. Below 40 miles per hour, it used an enormous amount of steam and coal. It was used in passenger service between Crestline, OH and Chicago, IL. before being placed in storage in 1949 and later scrapped along with most of the PRR duplex-drive locomotives.

These turbine-powered motorcycles from the movie Priest deserve a nod.  They actually made a bunch with hidden regular motorcycle engines.  By the 1950s turbines seemed like the obvious next step for land vehicles, except that they are loud, consume massive amounts of fuel, and have little or no torque below operating RPM.  Not to mention burning the paint off of tailgaters.  The DeLorean was originally designed to have a turbine engine, but they ditched it due to fuel economy concerns.

This bike would be great on the post-apocalyptic flats but not so useful in town.  Where’s the gas tank?

Another one-off turbine car.  After WWII the turbine market was flooded and everybody was wondering what to do with their assembly lines.  This also explains why you had a lot of aluminum-skinned trailers made by former aircraft manufacturers.