Aircraft vs Car

[19Walt93]

Thats interesting to me. Was it dirt or clay oval?

Dirt. It was quite a while ago. He was a Model A guru and ran a shop to work on them.

 

[Ramcharger90]

Dirt. It was quite a while ago. He was a Model A guru and ran a shop to work on them.

Nice I'll ask my buddy if he heard of him he worked for some big names out in California back in the day, also was always heavily involved in the T and A scene.

 

[19Walt93]

George Barber, HoF

 

[don4331]

a. Exhaust comes out of exhaust pipes a lot faster than plane is flying (i.e. it isn't sucked out) For the Spitfire, at top speed, the exhaust thrust was providing the equivalent to 70hp at the crank.
b. In a lot of airplanes, they use sodium filled exhaust valves, to improve the heat transfer from the valve head through the valve stem to the cooling jacket. If you can keep the valve head cool, it doesn't "burn". Manley used to sell sodium cooled valves for Ford FEs. But they cost like airplane parts too.
c. The majority of airplanes use leaded gasoline still. And the lead in the exhaust tends to stick to the valve, coating the valve seats, and so protecting them. @19Walt93 probably remember when lead was phased out all the concerns among "classic" hotrodders about valve/valve seat issues.
d. Aircraft engines really don't make that much power - Merlin in Spitfire and Mustang only makes 1,730 hp from 1647 in^3 - barely over 1hp/in^3. What they do is make 75% of that power for 500 hours (or more).

 

[19Walt93]

I do remember, I was working at a Sunoco station and we had 8 grades of leaded gas then they came and installed a single unleaded pump. When the lead disappeared the OEMs had to step up the quality of the valves and seats, which didn't hurt my feelings because for 2 years or more after I started at the dealer I was doing a couple of valve jobs a week, better parts cut that way down. For a while some people would punch out the fuel filler restrictor, punch a hole through the catalyst substrate, and feed their new vehicle leaded gas. The leaded exhaust would eat a hole through aluminum EGR spacers and the remaining substrate would break up and end up clogging the mufflers. Leaded gas smelled a lot better and 103 octane Sunoco 260( super premium) was the color of cranberry juice.

 

[Ramcharger90]

Im fascinated by this thread.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Old farm tractors basically ran open manifolds until people started giving a crap about not going deaf by age 12.

The only tractor I have really heard of having noted valve burning problems was the dual exhaust Oliver 70

BUT with all the sideskins on them they were noted to like to overheat too...

 

[HighMileage93]

Been thinking about a zoomie setup for my 2.3L.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Been thinking about a zoomie setup for my 2.3L.

Feel like that might be a can of worms. It’s one thing to do a hot rod, its something else with a vehicle that came factory with cats. Federally illegal to remove them and then you get into the whole computer thing where everything is calibrated to work with a full exhaust. With carbs you just adjust them to what you need. You would likely have to run like a mega squirt system with a custom program.

This thread is pretty interesting, but the more modern the vehicle the more complicated it gets. It does, however, seem to indicate that I’m not going to harm anything when I drive my green Ranger with open headers to get the exhaust done and my idea of possibly adding exhaust dumps after the high flow cats shouldn’t be harmful either.

 

[superj]

no, it won't hurt anything. especially just taking it over to the shop to get the exhaust done.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

no, it won't hurt anything. especially just taking it over to the shop to get the exhaust done.

Yeah, my plan, which I’ll probably still stick to because I can, was to get it together, load it on the tow dolly, run it up to my mechanic buddy in town, do the final welding with my big MIG, then just drive it from there around the block to the custom exhaust shop

 

[Bronco648]

Leaded gas smelled a lot better and 103 octane Sunoco 260 (super premium) was the color of cranberry juice.

When my Dad and I were racing cars, we burned CAM2 Purple 114 (which I think is now known as Sunoco Standard 110). To me, it smelled like grapes but it was 90% +/- toluene, which is nasty stuff and destroys your liver. These days when I need to burn fuel, that's ethanol free, I go to the local airport and buy AvGas; 100 Low Lead. It's only 'low' in lead relative to other aviation fuels, not auto fuels. It's a lot 'cheaper', too. 100LL is about $6/gal. whereas Standard 110 is $9/gal. if not more.

I'm old enough to remember the switch from leaded to unleaded fuels. For someone that was big into early Mustangs, we had to figure out where to get leaded fuel or find an auto store with lead additive and eventually switched to heads with hardened valve seats. The price of an automotive addiction......

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Awhile back I bought a 3/4 full 45gal drum of toluene for $10.00. Now I know what I'm going to do with it....

 

[19Walt93]

When my Dad and I were racing cars, we burned CAM2 Purple 114 (which I think is now known as Sunoco Standard 110). To me, it smelled like grapes but it was 90% +/- toluene, which is nasty stuff and destroys your liver. These days when I need to burn fuel, that's ethanol free, I go to the local airport and buy AvGas; 100 Low Lead. It's only 'low' in lead relative to other aviation fuels, not auto fuels. It's a lot 'cheaper', too. 100LL is about $6/gal. whereas Standard 110 is $9/gal. if not more.

I'm old enough to remember the switch from leaded to unleaded fuels. For someone that was big into early Mustangs, we had to figure out where to get leaded fuel or find an auto store with lead additive and eventually switched to heads with hardened valve seats. The price of an automotive addiction......

We have 2 local stores selling non ethanol for $.20-.25 a gallon more than the diluted stuff but it's only 90 octane. My Mustang doesn't like it and I don't want to dial back the timing.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

We have 2 local stores selling non ethanol for $.20-.25 a gallon more than the diluted stuff but it's only 90 octane. My Mustang doesn't like it and I don't want to dial back the timing.

It is all my tractors and lawn equipment get.

I make sure to run a couple tanks in the Ranger before it gets parked for the winter too.

I would prefer to run it full time but when I am on the road (like for the trail ride) availability is very spotty.