Turbine Warlock Project

[John Hice]

Ok, it's coming!
I know it's not a outboard but it's no longer a car motor powered boat. The Warlock is finally getting it's transplant!

[John Hice]

This project has been in progress for a little over a year now from the point of conception. I wanted to be at least knee deep into it before I started the thread on the project.
This is my second project of a over the top restoration and my first Turbine Powered project. The first project "Drag "N" Fever" was suppose to be a Turbine powered project but things just didn't work out that way but was still a work of art.
This project is a 2001 WARLOCK 25 SXC CAT that run a honest 85 MPH with a Mercury 500 HP Blue factory race engine and a Bravo drive with extension box and IMCO lower. It will now be powered with a T-53 Custom Turbine Engine from Jim Grasham of Principal Propulsion Systems, "PPS", Driving a Custom Arneson ASD-8 through a SCS gear box.

This is what it looked like from the factory

[Rynobull]

Very interested to see where this goes!

[JPEROG]

Looking forward to seeing the progress.

Joe

[John Hice]

The following pic's are of the buildup and completion of the T-53

[John Hice]

In January the engine was delivered to me from PPS as promised with the test stand as you see here.

[John Hice]

If your going to have a Turbine boat you have to have flames bellowing out the tail pipe. Most of the turbine boats are just throwing raw fuel into the exhaust and lighting it with whats called a streak flame. The streak flame is created by removing one of the igniter plugs and making it a fuel injector to introduce raw fuel into the burner can which creates a tongue of fire streaking out the back of the turbine lighting the raw fuel. It's not advised to stay on the streak fuel for very long or damage could occur to the hot section of the turbine which equals $$$$$$$.
Before the engine got to me I went to work on making a "Flame Holder" that would stay lit after touching it off with a short blast from the streak fuel. The flame holder can stay burning without damaging the hot section of the turbine and can be used to light even more fuel introduced to the exhaust stream behind the flame holder creating a controlled tail of fire. Not really a afterburner creating significant thrust but we will call it that. :-)

https://youtu.be/k2BFJ7LlhPI

[John Hice]

Video of testing the "after-burner" for lack of a better discription

https://www.facebook.com/john.hice.5...632940/?type=3

[AZMIDLYF]

This should boost the fun factor a bit.

[John Hice]

In order to get the exhaust straight out the back of the transom a gear box / drop box had to be used. This is a gear box built by SCS Gears and have been used in many applications such as the Turbine Powered Miss Geico.

Attachment 387071

The brake on the front is used to stop the N2 turbine to put the crash box in and out of forward/neutral/reverse.
The lubrication supply system on this gearbox is all external to the lubrication points in the gearbox. I chose to make a distribution manifold and plumb the oil lines to all of the lubrication points using 1/4 SS tubing and compression fittings as shown in the pic's below.

[John Hice]

The engine will be mounted "open air" and not in a closed up engine compartment so there is no need for a fresh air duct going to the air intake of the turbine. With the brake mounted just in front of the air inlet of the engine I need to come up with a way to evacuate the dust from the area and keep the brake system cool.

This is what I started with!

I used the lid as the backing plate behind the calipers and the boiler portion as the collection and evacuation housing. I machined a alternator fan to fit the shaft and a RC airplane prop spinner to smooth the airflow going into the fan. Try not to laugh too hard! LOL

[John Hice]

On to the gauges and monitoring system. I ended up going with RacePak after studying all the other options out there. Very easy system to set up and customer service is very good. This makes a very clean and easy system to install as well as providing a data logger to review performance testing.
I am monitoring N1 & N2 RPMs in percentage, prop shaft RPMs which will give me on the fly prop slippage using the on board GPS speed included in the RacePak system. Also monitoring torque percentage output, turbine oil pressure and temperature, gearbox oil pressure and temperature, power steering oil pressure and temperature, EGT and fuel flow in GPM. The system also controls the fans used to cool the air cooled oil coolers, "No water going through anything so no water pickups on the boat", and 4 programmable warning alarms. So far it seems to be a great system.
You can configure 4 pages of screen views as well as have multiple displays linked together for more view-able information on multiple screens..

The numbers 2 through 10 going across the top of the display represent torque applied to the prop in percentage X 10. 100% being 1125 Foot pounds of torque from the engine.

[John Hice]

RacePak Wiring.

[JPEROG]

I am gonna call you little Howard. I can remember seeing Arneson with his flame machine (40 skater) as a kid. Nothing like turbine boats and jet cars to give the crowd some excitement. I give you a lot of respect for following thru on the projects that you start-they take a bunch of time and a bunch of money to come out at the level you demand.

Joe

[John Hice]

On to the boat preparation. Lots of cutting and fiber-glassing....... UGH!!!!!!!