new engine idea

[soylent_green]

yeah, the got worse mileage than you'd expect from a small displacement motor, but in terms of fuel consumption vs. power output, they're alright. The big advantage is the redline. The R26B 4-rotor that they ran in the GT class at LeMans put out 700HP at 9000 RPMs. Normally asperated. Not bad for a 2.6L displacement gasoliene motor.

The twin turbo 2-rotor found in the 3rd gen RX-7 made 280HP in stock form. (In a car the size of a miata)

 

[LearjetMinako]

If a wankel. How about putting a single cylinder generator in the bed to run a main electric motor. Gas mileage would be by the hour.

Oh what, GM already came up with that idea. Its that dang Volt.

Steam power is great. But only when its in steam form, which can take a while. Steam power is best suited for the bigger than big ships and trains. But steam power does make one hell of a cannon.

 

[Sunk]

The article I posted seems like a good mix of both fuels. But since the water vaporizes from the heat of the engine, I kinda doubt it would work well while the engine was cold. But it would likely only take a few minutes to warm up, unlike a Stanley Steamer.

 

[Evan]

Once you got up a head of steam you'd have some nice torque for rock crawling!

I recently had an opportunity to tour a Skinner Engine Co. dual expansion steam engine. Very cool. It was used in a ship and produced 4000HP and much more torque. Redline: 100RPM. The output shaft from the crank was about a foot in diameter of solid steel.

The crank and connecting rods were out in the open. They have guys called oilers run around and spray oil into to lower-end parts. The top end of the engine is lubricated by injecting oil into the steam. It's a dual-expansion head rated for 480 PSIG.

This ship is still in service today. It's the oldest coal fired steamship still in operation. For more info on the engines that power it:

http://www.carferries.com/skinner/

To give an idea of the size:

 

[Simple_serf]

That's about the size of some of the gas/diesel engines that I occasionally get to play with.

I have been arouns some older Case steam tractors (and a 5/8ths scale Baker...even at 5/8ths it weighs over 20K pounds) And I have run several 1 hp and below steam engines on air. I have thought of using a steam engine to run a DC generator to charge batteries, But boiler inspections and getting certified in NYS is a bit of a PITA. Still thinking about it though...The solar panels do very nicely at charging the batteries though, with minimal input from me.