It had a stock fuel injected turbo compound R-3350. Just had the turbos removed and a slow-turning nose case installed.
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The exhaust from the turbos is a real problem for a fuselage with a pilot and windshield sitting right behind the engine. An engine with a fairly short nacelle behind it is how they were on most planes they were installed on. The turbo buckets were sticking out the side of the cowling and the exhaust blew over stainless steel exhaust panels.
The three turbos were sticking radially out of the engine case about every 120 degrees or so around the engine (but as I recall not exactly 120 degrees), I think there was a slight offset.
They were mainly for economy, at altitude, not so much for adding raw horsepower. I think they only added 400 horsepower or so, with lots of weight and complexity added. They added power directly onto the crankshaft through fluid couplers (small torque converters). This meant less fuel consumed for better economy. Most other turbo systems are to compress the air for combustion in the intake system. This engine already had plenty of blower to make power in the cylinders.
Did the Yak Mr. Awesome have these turbos installed?
Didn't the Mike Brown version with Kerch as Crew Chief have the 3350 with fuel injection and PRTs removed? Please correct me if I am wrong.
Still had the fuel injection. That was one of Cornell's favorite stories, how when Mike Brown hit a little wake turbulence from the Bear, the tie-rod link between the fuel pumps rocked back and forth to compensate, and there was a loud BOOM and a shedding of parts.
He would laugh and say that set-up was not good for Reno. Too much turbulence. That's what you get for tailgating!
The Critical Mass engine was "borrowed" from Tom Dwelle and won in 2007 on the Rare Bear, after ingesting a pound of bondo from the cowling.
It got toasted in 2008 when the right gear hung on Rare Bear and Penney used up all the oil cooler spraybar water and almost all the gas on board before he was able to get both gear down and land it.
In 2009 the engine was taken off of 232 to be cannibalized to build a race motor for Rare Bear. It had about 20 hrs on it since re-build. Absolutely beautiful on the outside. Found rust inside the power section, on the crank and rods and in some cylinders. Had to get a B-29 engine to make the race. Second place behind Stevo.
Rusty engine rebuilt, put in 232, Hoot holed a piston in qualifying.
Rebuilt again, back in 232, sneezed and blew the induction off. End of story to this point.