Jay Leno pulls the cylinders and heads off of a Merlin v12


BlackICE

GT Owner
Nov 2, 2005
1,416
SF Bay Area in California
Love the history of these, but never seen the insides of one.

http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/rolls-royce-merlin...pt.../1206658/
 
Kinda makes ya wonder whose gear box the unlimited hydro boys used, doesn't it!
 
27 liter V-12......... :banana
 
Jay is such an enthusiast and nice guy..... I just watched his piece on the Ford GT, he loves it (of course).
 
Cool Vid.
 
very cool. Cylinder head that doubles as the top half of the block. Never knew that.

The Radial engines were brutes too.

The 427 Galaxy project caught my eye too....extremely cool.
 
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The 427 Galaxy project caught my eye too....extremely cool.

His 572 powered '55 Buick and his '66 Tornado are two of my favorites!
 
His 572 powered '55 Buick and his '66 Tornado are two of my favorites!

Yeah, but they are GM products. :biggrin

At least he converted the Tornado to RWD. I Always preferred a 66' Riviera with hideaway lights myself.
 

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Yeah, but they are GM products. :biggrin

G.M., Ford, Mopar - makes no diff to me. If I like a particular car - I like it! Ditto as regards buying it! Jay's garage would be missing a LOT of cars if he had the "one make only" disease!


At least he converted the Tornado to RWD.

...which is WHY I like it!!! That, and the BRUTE engine under the hood!


Always preferred a 66' Riviera with hideaway lights myself.

My fav is the '65 (the year the hidden 'lights were mounted virtically in the fenders.). 'Kinda looks like a sculpted, bloated shoe box - but I LIKE 'em!

Uuuuh...isn't the car in your photo a '67? (Note the side light in the front bumper. Were those there in '66???)
 
I don't know if it is a 66' or 67' Sounds like you do though.

Just teasing on the make thing.
 
I don't know if it is a 66' or 67' Sounds like you do though.

Not really. I just seem to remember the '66's being w/o 'em. I suppose we could "Google" it! :lol
 
This past spring, I got to tour the Roush Aviation rebuild facility in MI, where, I got to see every bit of the internals of these amazing engines, and the literally thousands of parts they have in "stock".
 
Kinda makes ya wonder whose gear box the unlimited hydro boys used, doesn't it!

They ran a spur reduction gear that was driven by a pinion gear that had a flexible coupler driven by the crankshaft. Inside of the gear reduction box was also a propeller governor and an oil pump.
 
They ran a spur reduction gear that was driven by a pinion gear that had a flexible coupler driven by the crankshaft. Inside of the gear reduction box was also a propeller governor and an oil pump.

Who made it? 'Have any idea?
 
Who made it? 'Have any idea?

It was depending on the engine an allison or RR box that spun the airplanes propeller just change the internals to get the proper ratio for a boat propeller. Once the motor fired the prop turned no neutral, you were on your way. Also most of the old u-boats had no water pumps just a raw water intake pitot tube so you had to be moving to force cooling water into the motor. The guy I know who has the '55 chevy with a Merlin in it runs a Lenco transmission running off of a custom built step down box.