Boeing 502-12 questions for vehicle application

[sybertiger1]

Good day, I have acquired a boeing 502-12 turbine with free turbine.. it test ran great.. it is connected to a air compressor used for starting larger aircraft engines.. looking to see if anyone has hooked up to an automotive transmission and any tips you all might have.. I have read many posts talking about direct and non direct drivetrain hook ups.. I'm not looking to build a drag vehicle or racer.. but more of a head Turner and something really interesting..I have not researched a vehicle or truck to put this in yet till I solve the drive train solution.. I should have the engine in a week and when I get the compressor off I can see if their is any reduction gearing.. anyone have any experience with putting a 502-12 Into a vehicle would love to hear any dos or don't or problems I will encounter?? Thank you in advance..

[racket]

Hi

Welcome to the Group :-)

If the compressor is a radial centrifugal type then it'll be needing high rpm , so probably no reduction gearing which will make life difficult for you as high speed gearing creates its own problems.

Post some pics when the engine arrives so we can provide more solutions/options

Cheers
John

[jasonr]

Jun 16, 2020 19:07:24 GMT -5 sybertiger1 said:

Good day, I have acquired a boeing 502-12 turbine with free turbine.. it test ran great.. it is connected to a air compressor used for starting larger aircraft engines.. looking to see if anyone has hooked up to an automotive transmission and any tips you all might have.. I have read many posts talking about direct and non direct drivetrain hook ups.. I'm not looking to build a drag vehicle or racer.. but more of a head Turner and something really interesting..I have not researched a vehicle or truck to put this in yet till I solve the drive train solution.. I should have the engine in a week and when I get the compressor off I can see if their is any reduction gearing.. anyone have any experience with putting a 502-12 Into a vehicle would love to hear any dos or don't or problems I will encounter?? Thank you in advance..

This guy is selling his Boeing 502 in a t-bucket, he is a new member on here his username is jetcarpaul. Here is the picture, hope it helps.

[duncan]

Hi Sybertiger1, I can tell you that the Boeing 512 has a gear reduction unit as a part of the engine. It has a 'free power turbine', which is reduced to 6,000 RPM (max), which will drive any transmission for a vehicle, as long as you can 'make the connections', so to speak! Paul's T-Bucket Roadster is really cool but there was a good bit of work in it! These engines powered unmanned drone helicopters in the 1950s! You should be able to find info using your name plate/data tag on the engine.

DD

PS:  Here are a few old pix of a Boeing T50-BO-04 (a similar type of power plant).  In the first photo, that little 'bell housing' looking part at the far-left is the output coupling.  It has a splined female shaft inside, requiring a mating splined male shaft to fit!

[finiteparts]

Hi,

Duncan, there are quite a few variants of the T50/502 engine. You might be confusing the T50-12 with the 502-12 or -12B. I have an example of the free turbine and centrifugal load compressor that from a 502-12B and there is no gearbox. The centrifugal compressor is splined directly to the free turbine shaft, which floats on journal bearings. Adapting this to drive a vehicle might be challenging. It might be easier to remove the free turbine section and build an exhaust nozzle or afterburner set-up to get thrust from the engine.

Good luck,

Chris

[duncan]

Hi Chris and thanks for the info. I assumed that the 512 was a free PT type but if there are other variations, I digress. I personally owned a T-50B-04, which had a free power turbine and reduction gearbox, including a governor. It was complete but I never had it running before selling it. I would think that a free power turbine is the only way to go if driving a transmission of some sort. Take care!

[stevie]

We blocked the free turbine to make starting possible, then opened it to just dump into the exhaust. Same thing as some free turbines. Block them off to just run the engine. From what I remember it was never connected to anything. That being said, it was designed for something! Supplying air or? Seperate component.
Added a giant whistle to the turbine exhaust to make it louder.
Of all the SRL engines this is the one I have the least experience with aside from helping run it. Archaic. Im supposed to grab the spare and adapt my ECU to it. I'll update. That being said, No experience hooking the free turbine up to anything but a flamethrower.
Have fun
Steve

[merlin]

Thats a big boy