When I was at the 87 Nats in BG

[bogie1]

I don't know how many of you have heard this but when I went to the 1987 Nats in BG I listened to a Buick Engineer tell of how they would run tests on the GN motors under development. They needed to see which componenets would hold up under stress. He said they had a room with various externaly exhausted GN engines in it and external fuel supply. They would crank the Beasts up on Friday Afternoon turn up the boost and when they came in on Monday, see which ones were still running without a puddle of oil underneath. Different # of boost and component combinations. I don't know if he was pulling our legs but I believed him. Wondering if anyone else has heard of this.

 

[salvageV6]

I highly doubt any automotive manufacturer would run unmonitored engine tests.

However I am sure that Engineers on salary would not be working the weekend shifts doing the monitoring.

Probably a partially true but embellished story.

I bet some OT was made by someone.

 

[we4turbo]

without a puddle of oil underneath.


Well someone missed the boat on that one.

 

[sr71gn]

i too heard that from the engineers there -- they were the ones that headed the project and brought the gnx--i believe one of their names was mike dolbie but i forget the other guys name--they seemed to have an enormous amount of freedom with the gn project -- i took it as meaning they left the building but this didnt mean the area was totally un manned --

 

[MistaScott]

I read in one of the old magazine articles the engineers left the engines running at full boost levels for a few days. So, I think there is some truth to this.

 

[n20junkie]

from what you guys are saying thats a steady state test, doesn't prove a whole lot, now they run tests but the engine load and other variables are modulated to ensure the true durability, steady state tests arn't all that hard on engines, they stay at a constant temp, cylinder pressure and rpm, they can run like that for a month i would bet, probably longer, there are turbine engines in teh hoover dam that are the same type that we use in the chinook helicopter, we get 2,000 hours between rebuilds, they get 10,000 hours, but they run non stop for months, shutdown only if needed, being steady state the wear is kept to a minimum
Grant