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| Here are the cylinders being assembled in Britain during 1942.There were approximately 150,000 Merlin's of this version made in it's lifetime. Packard in the United States also built their own version during the war, only theirs was "much changed". One main thing changed was a carburetor instead of a supercharger. There were numerous other changes. Buick built 52,200 of these cylinders, enough for 26,100 engines. |
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| The engine crankcase ready for it's cylinders in the assembly plant in Britain during 1942. |
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| A cutaway showing the water jackets and pistons in place. The head is also bolted in place. |
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| A rear view of the Merlin. An alert reader (comments) says this is a model. Thanks Tom Link for real engine: The U.S. / American Automobile Industry in World War Two / WWII An American Auto Industry Heritage Tribute By David D Jackson |
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| A front view of the Merlin. |
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| A survivor from the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. |
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| This is simply a diagram for this part of the Merlin engine. Two cylinder blocks were required for each 12 cylinder engine. This engine was actually based on the old "Liberty V12" from World War I. |
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| It appears this worker is pressure testing the cylinder block. The Merlin engine was liquid cooled. This and all the following photos were taken at Buick in Flint, Michigan. |
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| This looks like they are baking the core halves. |
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| Checking all dimensions on a jig. I'm not sure why there is a head gasket in place for this check? |
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| Grinding any flash or imperfections away. |
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| Cores being made for the Rolls Royce Merlin cylinders. |
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| Cores being made for the Rolls Royce Merlin cylinders. |
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| This is factory #30 in 1955, viewed from the north. This factory became #03 in 1963, after the old forge #03 was demolished. This plant stood as a skeleton for many years and was finally put out of it's misery in 2011. The Merlin MK 1oo cylinders were cast in this plant during World War II. Links: |
The commentary under the top photo says that the Packard Merlins had a "carburettor instead of a supercharger." What??? Come again!!! R-R Merlins had S.U. carburettors and Packard Merlins had Stromberg - Bendix carbs. They all had superchargers.
ReplyDeleteReferring to this Merlin engine photo: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kn1sjD9BooQ/TzEmjGTlx3I/AAAAAAAAI4o/rWNdPQ0TfxU/s1600/Merline-Engine4.jpg . This is a SCALE Model Engine for a model airplane. The biggest 2 dead giveaways that it's not a real Merlin in the photo are the RUBBER timing belts going to single overhead camshafts - the REAL Merlin has dual overhead camshafts that are driven by bevel gears and anglled torque shafts that are driven off of a gear at the rear of the crankshaft, AND, the little single carburetor on the air intake. There are about a bazillion public domain photos of REAL Merlins to choose from.
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