This year's Drag Week Cars

[jayb]

My Drag Week partner Steve and I were out visiting Joel again today, and an interesting little tidbit emerged regarding the rod bearings on his Duesenberg engine.  Since Joel replaced the original aluminum rods with Carillo rods, he was able to use a bearing insert, rather than having the babbit poured into the rods.  Guess what rod bearings Joel needed to use on this engine?  Two per connecting rod, picture below:



The FE is everywhere!

[Nightmist66]

They're going for durability/longevity this time.

[cobracammer]

Its interesting how the rod holds 2 bearings almost perfectly with the groove in the rod to how the "tit" on the bearing.  Its almost as if these rods were designed for double bearings?  Or are there specific bearings for these rods that are just extra wide? 

I guess what I am asking is what application were these rods originally for?  Or were they custom built for the duesenberg and just by chance are able to use 2 FE bearings?  I read so much about these cars and see so much about them on TV.....  Like the US version of a Rolls Royce  :0)

[Hemi Joel]

The rods are custom built just for the Duesenberg by Carrillo. The original rods use a bearing that is cast in place from babbit metal, then bored to size. The Fe has the same diameter rod journal as the Duesenberg, so it made sense to use the FE bearings, rather than poured babbit again. 

[Hemi Joel]

That picture that Jay posted way up above shows the original rod, with the original poured babbit bearing, where after 85 years the bearing material is flaking off, probably due to flexing of the aluminum rod bore over time.

[cjshaker]

Most of the old engines used really wide bearings. The Ford flathead is pretty wide also.

Joel, is this the same car you showed a video of drag racing a year or two ago? It would have made me pretty nervous with 85+ year old aluminum rods with those heavy pistons. What's the upper rpm limit on these types of engines? I'd think those Carrilo rods would about make that thing bullet proof, almost aircraft worthy.

[cobracammer]

Thanks Joel.  Awesome!! 

[thatdarncat]

Although those Pistons look like a heavy truck piston they are amazingly light. Maybe Joel has the weight, but they don't feel any heavier than a modern piston half it's size.

[jayb]

Joel was telling me yesterday that the stock engines were turned up to 6000 RPM.  With a 4.75" stroke, that is a piston speed of 4750 feet/minute.  Remarkable for that day and age...

[57 lima bean]

Joel...please let Steve know the mystical ways of a Truck Monkey.I'm sure he dared not ask yesterday as he was enthralled with your shop.

[Nightmist66]

There is a guy in a machine shop the next town over from me who still pours those babbit bearings.

[country63sedan]

    A couple of questions for Joel - What  was the factory power output on a Duesey? What do you expect for output from the improved rebuild? Are those the factory cams in the picture or some "special" ones?
    I must say that I really dig hopping up a car like this and then racing it. I'm not in the wipe a car with a diaper crowd. I'd love to "improve" a Packard someday - family ties to one, but it's long gone. I still have the wheels- they came off a hay rack    Later, Travis.

[cjshaker]

Joel was telling me yesterday that the stock engines were turned up to 6000 RPM.  With a 4.75" stroke, that is a piston speed of 4750 feet/minute.  Remarkable for that day and age...

Wow

Wow! For a stock engine in the '30s, that is TRULY remarkable!

[Hemi Joel]

Tips on being a good trunk monkey :
1: When you get to the track, unhook the trailer, unload the trunk and the back seat ,  put the slicks on,  take off the exhaust system, put the door bars and the window net in , and check the chassis to see if there was any damage on the road trip.
2: Identify competitors in the same class as Jay. Make notes on their performance and report back to Jay. Also keep an eye out 4 conditions in each lane so you can help him make lane choice decisions if need be.
3: If it's hot out and Jay is all strapped in the car in the staging lanes, bring him something cold to drink.
4: when it's time to leave the track, put the mufflers back on, take the door bars and the window net off, put the street tires on, hook up the trailer, pack the trunk and the trailer and the backseat.
5: after you carry his luggage up to the hotel room, put an Andes chocolate mint on his pillow and fold the cover back a little bit. This makes him really happy and if you're lucky then he won't ask you to rub his back.
6: Jay likes to make bets over silly things during the day, with the stakes usually being who will buy dinner. That can be a lot of fun. But don't let him lose too many times in a row, or he will get crabby and only take you to Taco Bell, even though you took him to Outback when you lost. Sometimes you have to intentionally  enter into a bet that you know you will lose just to keep the peace.
7: don't leave a bag of monkey chow on the dashboard of his car. It could spill and go down the defroster tubes, and it gets very stinky when it is hot. Then Jay will be accusing you of farting because he doesn't know about the monkey  chow in the defroster.(Don't ask me how I know)

Have fun, good luck!

 

[Hemi Joel]

On the Duesenberg engine I don't think 6000rpm was routine, but there are several reports of it being done during racing, and testing.
The three and three quarter inch bore piston weighs  585 grams. The pin weighs 248 grams. The rod which is over 9 inches center to center weighs 722 Grams without the cap and the steel cap and nuts wayed 361 Grams.

During World War 2, Pratt & Whitney company was testing large aircraft superchargers, and they needed something powerful to spin them while they measured their outputs. The company bought 3 used Duesenberg cars, and pulled the engines out of them and hooked them up to their test stands. Not to supercharge the engines, but to spin the superchargers during the tests. The 265 horsepower Duesenberg engine was the simplest and most cost-effective way at the time to get that kind of power into play quickly.
Reportedly they ran the doozy engines at 6000 rpm continuously during the tests, and the engines suffered no damage other than 1 block cracked when chilled water was accidentally introduced to the engine when it was very hot.