WIX Archives
Re: Well, as for running it
Posted by Brad on Wed Dec 31, 2003 12:43:37 AM
In reply top Well, as for running it posted by JimN on Tue Dec 30, 2003 11:40:43 PM
I would love to see that V-3420's run. Hopefully somebody buys it and does just that. Before the Air Force moved me to the east coast, I had been making plans to put one of the 0-time R-4360's on a run stand. I didn't do it and the engine was later sold. We still have another 0-time R-4360 in storage, but it's up on ebay also.
The V-12 on the tractor has been stressed quite a bit. I don't know how long it had been running on this tractor before we got it, but it's been pretty well used. Truth be known, it's just a matter of time until it blows up anyhow. I think the kevlar will hold it all in, but I still hope I'm not driving it when it lets go.
I'm not a big fan of tractor pulls. I also don't care anything about NASCAR. I may be the only Southerner that has ever said that!
Anyhow, I know lots of engines have met their fate this way, but I think tractor pulling and Hydroplane racing have probably done alot to save these engines. I knew a guy that bought 30 or 40 allisons, still in the crates, back in the early 70's. He paid nearly nothing for them and ended up selling them for a really nice profit. The plan was to use them in tractors, but he sold them before they were used. If he hadn't bought them, they would have been left to rot in the scrap yard.
It's like the Reno Air Races. You can look at it two different ways. It has either saved alot of old planes from the smelter or it is just a destructive sport.