Anyone built a twin engine car

[Scott Liggett]

A friend called me last night and he's suddenly got a bug to build a twin engined hot rod. Kind a daily driver type of a twin engined dragster from the sixties.

We were talking about the problems with coupling two engines together front to back and was wondering if tying the crank of the front motor to the balancer of the rear with a machined hub would be possible. Also, of concern was worrying about harmonics from one motor affecting the other.

Any ideas? Where's Tommy Ivo when I have silly questions?

[ProRauder]

Re: Anyone built a twin engine car

it's a cool idea. For harmonics, I would guess you would want both engines to be at TDC when mated. You don't want them to be out-of-sync and try to shake the mating hub apart.

Go for it!

[fabricatordave]

Re: Anyone built a twin engine car

you need to find a tractor pulling guy they used to hook stuff end to end all the time till 4 engines wernt enough!!!!

they have a chain drive coupler you make two gears one for the back of the crank and nose of the crank wrap a chain tight around the gears put a master link in it and you have a looonnnng engine

[RyanWalker]

Re: Anyone built a twin engine car

Let me run that one by my uncle, he did that in the sixties with a dragster.

[Eric68]

Re: Anyone built a twin engine car

What about using a pair of 3800 GTP engines? Would be one wicked little V12 and not quite as long as two V8s

[SpiderGearsMan]

Re: Anyone built a twin engine car

chain them together
or mathon v 16 -al mathon welds together 2 sbc

[CTX-SLPR]

Re: Anyone built a twin engine car

Tommy Ivo tied them together with double flywheels and ran one with reverse rotation boat engine valvetrain. It was a side by side not an inline.

There is a guy out there welding together Buick/Rover aluminum V8s into V12s.
The interesting thing about putting the 3800s together would be to put them 180 out so the vibrations were out of phase and would cancel. It'd be an interesting project and super long since you'd have the balancer and waterpump on the second engine working at the very least and the pulley on the 3800 is integral to the balancer. If I was going to try it.... I'd use a 1st Gen Monte or Grand Prix. The snozz on those cars is truly ridiculous and with the lower deck height and lack of a distributor on the 3800 you could even try shoving back under the cowl a bit farther.

[2bbl318]

Re: Anyone built a twin engine car

I/ve been wondering about the same thing for a while now. Unless I win the lotto, I really only plan to ever have just a couple more hot rods. I've been thinking something along the lines of a chopped model A with two v-eights....

[malc]

Re: Anyone built a twin engine car

I was hoping to get some info here but it?s just dual motored dragster pics.
http://twotogo.homestead.com/index.html


Never mind nice piccies.

[malc]

Re: Anyone built a twin engine car

You might like to look at this.

[Brian Lohnes]

Re: Anyone built a twin engine car

Now the million dollar question...

Where is that car now?!

Brian

[fabricatordave]

Re: Anyone built a twin engine car

that was what i was talking about .they did that on old school pulling tractors. used to be one around when i was younger that had 3 mopar 440s done that way

[malc]

Re: Anyone built a twin engine car

Here you go,http://www.glenwoodmarine.net/Catalog/COUPLERS.pdf

[2bbl318]

Re: Anyone built a twin engine car

That twin engine T is very much like what I'm wanting to do. I'd love to see people doing this on the street. Incidentally, I remember an article from Car and Driver from the eighties where this was done with a civic. they just dropped a second engine in the back, which I'm sure took more doing than you might think. Impressive though

[FANTASY FACTORY]

Re: Anyone built a twin engine car

OK kids, My brother and I stuck a pair of mopar 318's inline back in the early 70's we did it on an engine cradle we built for a test bed, DAD warned us, He cobbled up the coupler for us at the machine shop he worked in, using a "LOV-JOY" JOINT, welded to custom flanges, the biggest trick is phasing the firing order, The LEAD machinest, one of these Krazee Germans left over from the big war, gave us the dilly, the second or LAG engine must have its TDC #1 at 315 degrees after TDC of cyl 1 of the lead engine. this puts your new firing order at 158742316854732, 22.5 degrees apart.
if memory serves me correct, the combo idled at about 300 rpm, but we never did anything more than admire our handi work,