Thread: What vehicle....

I was originally thinking Rolls Royce / Merlin / Packard if you are allowing aircraft engines

Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

de Haviland Gypsy perhaps. These were made by GM-H.

Bingo!

The Most successful British light aircraft in the 1920s and thirties was the De Havilland Moth. A problem though when they started making them was finding a suitable engine - by 1920, all the modern engines were far bigger than needed, and moreover tended to have 'military' running costs. The problem was solved for De Havilland by the Air Disposals Company (Airdisco), which had got hold of a large number of Renault air cooled V8 engines, that were surplus to requirements. They converted them to four cylinder engines using a new crankcase.

The Moth was so successful that by the late twenties, the end of the engine supply was in sight, so De Havilland hired Airdisco's chief designer (Frank Halford) to design a new engine based on the Airdisco engine, and with as many common parts as possible while making improvements. This was the DH Gypsy engine. Slightly enlarged and inverted it became the Gypsy Major, fitted to many DH aeroplanes in the 1930s, including the DH82A Tiger Moth, which was used in very large numbers by the RAF and the Empire Training Scheme during WW2. Over ten thousand of these engines were made in Australia, as were just over a thousand DH82As.

Because of the requirement for parts commonality with the existing Renault conversions, metric threads were used.

John

Originally Posted by jerryd

I was originally thinking Rolls Royce / Merlin / Packard if you are allowing aircraft engines

They use Imperial threads.

John

Originally Posted by JDNSW

They use Imperial threads.

John

mostly BSF with some BA. Packard and Continental continued to use the British threads when they made Merlins in the USA. Easier to get US tool makers to make BS cutting tools than change thousands of drawings and also create a maintenance nightmare with mixed engines on an aircraft.

Interestingly Rolls Royce accounting for numbers of Merlins made and by whom does not include Australia. Apparently our efforts were considered an assembly operation as the major components were not made here. They also state that Australian engines were produced by the James N. Kirby organisation. CAC and GAF don't get mentioned. James Kirby was apparently a close personal friend of Lord Hives, Chairman of Rolls Royce.

New Question:_

What car in 1927 was the first front wheel drive car to use CV joints, and what type of CV joint?

(Hint, there is a Landrover connection)

John

Originally Posted by JDNSW

New Question:_

What car in 1927 was the first front wheel drive car to use CV joints, and what type of CV joint?

(Hint, there is a Landrover connection)

John

Citroen.

Originally Posted by V8Ian

Citroen.

No.

The Traction Avant was 1934.

John

Originally Posted by V8Ian

Citroen.

Citroen didn't make aircraft