Locomotive turbine conversion?

Anton wrote:
wrote


Have you ever taken a car and fitted a much larger engine to it?

Read up.Before that 2.8 V6, engine vas 1.6 4-cyl.

OK, good then. A lot of times people ask questions like this and don't
really have the slightest idea what they're getting into. Clearly you
have a little more experience.

Have you ever worked with turbine engines before? (Obviously not, based
on your questions)

No.I prefer NA engines.Even now.I'm interested in turbines as engines, not
like add on to piston engines.

Yeah, I know, I mean "gas turbine engines," not turbo/supecharged
engines.

In order to succeed, you first need to turn your turbochargers into a
turbine engine. Before you can even begin to think about doing this you
need to learn how turbines work. Then you can begin laying out a plan.

I know principles, after all, I'm studying railway traffic, and we have many
mechanical courses.

Well, when you asked, "what is a compressor," I wondered. That is like
asking a piston mechanic, "what is a cylinder?"

This is a project that would probably keep you busy for 5 years if you
work part-time.

You mean on locomotive turbine into car, or just plain turbocharger
converting to gas turbine?If is this last, then you must se what people on
intrent have made for month or less with scrap turbocharges from local
junkyard.

Are they generating useful power, or just making a lot of noise? Making
noise is easy, making power takes engineering skill. That's what will
take you time. Are they skilled mechanics doing their second or third
project, or a first-time experimenter just like you? I'll bet the
second time you do this, you will do it a lot faster than the first.

As for how much power it puts out, who knows? There's a ton of
variables in there. I'd suspect a few hundred horsepower, maybe more,
quite likely less. It will probably turn out heavier than an equivalent
piston engine, and thus the car will actually go slower.

Why?That doesn't mean that it must be like you said.

Well, let's look at it this way. Teams of engineers, with literally
billions of dollars to spend, build turbines that put out maybe 800
horsepower (and of course a lot larger too). Of course, you don't have
to worry about safety or reliability, so your job is easier that way,
but you're also working with inferior materials and knowledge (not
meant as criticism, just fact).

You may be able to get 500, 700, 1000HP out of a turbine but my guess
is that your turbine will end up weighing a LOT. Weight is not the
first concern when building parts that go on locomotives- durability
and low maintenance cost matter a lot more. The result is that heavier,
cheaper materials are used and often overbuilt (adding more weight).

Weight is your enemy. If my car has the same power as yours, and mine
is heavier, then your will be faster. Simple physics.

How cool will
that be?

Why that tone?I mean, what is so wrong if I ask something like this

Sorry, I'm not trying to be discouraging, just realistic. If you think
you can build a turbine in a few months that will make your car go
super-fast, you're probably going to be disappointed. If you're ready
to spend a couple of years in the shop, building, testing, fixing,
building, fixing, testing, then you just may be able to get something
pretty cool.

Hey, really, I wish you the best of luck. I hope it works.

Best,
-cwk.