Warbird Information Exchange

Warbird Racing engines.... what's different from stock?
I've been feeding a growing interest in performance engines and how much power can be gained from various changes that are done versus a stock built engine. I'm curious as to what changes are done on the racing versions of the Merlin and the P&W Radials.

On Merlins, they like the sturdier "Transport" heads. They also swap out the connecting rods for Allison rods, which are stronger. Beyond that, they run insane boost pressure, complete with anti-detonation fluid to prevent very bad things from happening at those boost levels.

All of those things can be read about in various racing forums and articles. I wouldn't be surprised if they are running ceramic coatings and the like to manage temperatures, but I have no specific knowledge.

Bruce Lockwood wrote a pretty good article for Warbirds International within the last two years, but I can’t find how to search for the issue on their website

Hey Scott,

Check out the Sport Class, high-performance kit-built aircraft at Reno...

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/ur ... rjcAC2M&e=

Phil

From a Bruce Lockwood article on Tube Merlins.