Project Sidewinder

[rocketman_mike]

hello everyone, Mike here. I recently acquired this little beauty last month and decided to gut it and improve it. The go-kart came with nothing more than a couple CO2 bottles and some autocad prints of a combustion chamber with the name of Gary Richards dated 2005 for "Florida JetFest". If anyone has seen or knows anything about this kart, don't be shy. After some digging around, I found an Instructables article how to build turbine engines and one of the photos was that of this exact engine. I tried following the links provided on the page and it took my to "garysjetjournal" but its a deadend, no site available anymore. I used the Wayback Machine to dig up some really cool information. Turns out, Gary had built a couple engines and mounted them to his daughter's old racing kart which appears to be a late '70s Black Widow frame. He had documented every step of his builds, although the photos are mostly all unavailable. I managed to snag the few that I found. These posts were dated between 2005, when he got this little kart up to 50mph with a different engine. I managed to find a video of this. He claimed that the turbo had failed because the oil pump failed, so he upgraded to the Shurflo pumps and ended up building a whole new engine, which is the one currently mounted to the kart. Its a 4lhr-773 turbocharger. I was not impressed with the wiring, as there were no fuses in the system and relays were just laying everywhere. I drew up a schematic of how I think this kart should be wired, although I didnt realize that I have too many fuses in this schematic I made. Oh well, it just gives me a quick visual reference. I tested the pumps the other day and to my surprise, the oil and fuel pump still work. Haven't tested the afterburner pump yet. Im replacing all the switches, adding a jet-ski style kill switch with lanyard, and converting everything to -AN fittings and stainless hoses. Also double checking the math behind the size of the combustion chamber, flame tube and the afterburner thanks to information I have already gathered from this forum. I started replacing old, rusted body panels with aluminum diamond plate, ordered new tires, replaced the afterburner support rod with a nice piece of 3/4" titanium (benefits of working for a company that builds rockets). I have all the new electrical bleep-bloops in the shopping cart, waiting for payday. Im going to stay with the CO2 starting system, which also still seems to be functional and from what Gary had documented on his site, worked very well. There's some issues I see with the oil tank maybe too close to the turbine as well as the rubber oil return hose has gotta go. I want to relocate and properly mount the zip-tied oil cooler and replace the rusty old doubtful cooling fan. Let's just say that it's been receiving a lot of attention in the back of my truck, going down I-95 everyday. I tried cleaning up the afterburner, but I dont think there's any saving it, so I've hit it with some "high temp" paint which will be burnt off in no time, but it makes it pretty for the time being. Check out my youtube channel for more documentation of my restoration of this deathtrap. Wasnt sure if I should name is Sidewinder or Hellfire. Here's what we're dealing with:

[racket]

Hi Mike

Gary might have been a Member of the old Yahoo Gas Turbine Site which preceeded JATO .

Yep , a bit of work to do , I notice it has the A/B fuel being injected into the turb wheel centre hole , as was often used successfully back then .

We'll be looking forward to your Build Thread :-)

Cheers
John

[rocketman_mike]

So, my Orion space capsule I spent the last 4 years building finally launched to the moon and returned in one piece. Glad to see everything worked and the parachutes I installed worked flawlessly. Now that that distraction has come to an end, I can get back to work on Sidewinder.

Something that I wanted to change was the location of the oil tank. It was mounted at the very rear of the kart and, judging by the amount of rust on it, must have received some serious heat from the A/B. I wanted to relocate the tank to behind the seat, but this tiny bit of real estate was occupied by the fuel and oil pumps. So, I quickly fabricated some brackets that allow me to mount the pumps over top of the oil tank. They'll work for now, but I think I'd like to get another sheet of that aluminum diamond plate and just make two sturdy brackets instead of the flimsy four. Maybe make those this weekend.





I also have an oil cooler being installed in the very front of the kart, routing braided hoses, new wheels and tires on the way and Im starting to piece together a new ignitor box since I couldn't get the old one to shoot some lightning. I'll keep testing it. It might be something as simple as not grounding the case or spark plug I was using for the test. As you can imagine, I looked like a nervous cat when testing this thing. I've had some spark plugs hit me before, but those step-up transformers have me pretty nervous. I think Im going to go with a ZVS driver and flyback to make some decent spark. Im just not sure how much would be needed to ignite diesel.





More updates to come. See ya'll after the holidays!!

[rocketman_mike]

Been taking advantage of all the time off work for the holidays and the florida weather. I think I've been working on the kart just about everyday and making leaps and bounds in progress.
Remade the brackets for the turbine fuel and oil pump, installed the oil tank, fabricated and relocated the switch panel, preparing the front fairing to house the relay board and ignitor box. Installed the oil cooler in the very front. Made the gauge panel all pretty with some vinyl carbon fiber until I can afford the real deal. Collaborating with a local fabricator to weld up a new, improved afterburner design. Got the new wheels and hubs installed, although they'll have to come back off when I replace the rear axle for a solid aluminum 1.25" axle and replace the questionable axle bearings and rear brake disc. Starting to see my stainless braided hoses arrive in the mail. Going through and replacing fittings with AN style fittings. Calculating what size battery I need. I think I can get away with a 30-35 amp hour 12v battery which has been relocated to under the steering column, between my legs. My plan is to keep all electronics up front and away from fuel lines and tanks. Now, I have to relocate the fuel tank for the turbine, which is most likely going to be on my left side. Afterburner fuel tank is on my right side. Im adding a couple gauges this thing didnt have like a fuel pressure gauge and a battery monitor. I've had the engine apart a couple times for inspections and also replacing the hard to reach oil return fitting.

[rocketman_mike]

still swimming forward despite the start of the local Renaissance faire down the street. You know, a gentleman still likes to go see some bosoms out to play. We've got an upgraded fuel pump for the afterburner from a pathetic 75 L/hr at 36 psi to an impressive 300 L/hr at 145 psi. Also got some bits and pieces sourced for an afterburner, just have to get penciled into the welder's schedule to get a flange welded. I made a youtube video about my elementary understanding of afterburners. Also got the relays, fuse panel and terminal blocks installed under the front cowl.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUSxfmRPfvI 

[ernie wrenn]

Doing a Great job. If we can help, just give a shout out. Keep up with the pic's and video's. You will be able to look back with a proper history.

[turbochris]

lol I made those afterburner plans about 15-20 years ago! Fuel sprayed on the turbine wheel hub! youtu.be/GlOVEex2RCw

[racket]

LOL...... those were the days :-)

You set the standard with your tank turbo

[rocketman_mike]

still pecking away at it. Wiring is just about done except for the ignitor box and I'm thinking of ditching the fuel control ball valves and just control the fuel pump with a PMW controller since that seems to be what works for some other members here. Got a new seat temporarily installed to make sure I dont run into clearance issues. Replaced all the old toggle switches and wired up all my momentary switches. I'll have some work done to the afterburner later this week. Will be ordering some new fuel tanks soon, but need to fabricate new supports for them.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2CuyDf5HRY

[rocketman_mike]

Got a little welding done on the afterburner. Im going to leave the nozzle off until after I get this thing running and get some baseline temperatures for TIT and TOT. Cant see it in the photos, but theres also a tube inside the afterburner and extends until about 1/2 inch into the main body of the afterburner for that pressure dump. The spark plug will be located another 1.5 inches after that. Im still working on a fuel spray ring. I made one from Titanium scraps from work, but I feel the 1/4 inch tubing I used might be anemic. I was thinking maybe 3/8 inch tubing for afterburner fuel. I also have to fabricate a new support for the afterburner now that the old one will be too short. Still working on the fuel system, but I feel like Im in a bit of a jam. I was going to run return back to tank and control pressure to the nozzles with the use of a ball valve in the return line. This appears to be how it was originally set up, but Im also reading that some other members here have had difficulty getting smooth throttle control with ball valves or needle valves. I may opt for a 12v DC motor speed control on the fuel pumps. Or should I still run returns to the fuel tanks and still use valves to regulate pressure and still use speed controllers? Im so confused.

[racket]

I'd go with your current ball valve on the return to tank until you get things running , its one less bit of "electronics " that might create an unrecognised problem , ball valves are simple and fool proof .

[rocketman_mike]

hey all, just curious, but has jetspecs calculator been taken down? Tried to look for it the other day to start designing some future projects and couldn't seem to locate it anymore

[racket]

There does appear to be a problem :-(

Ah well , go back to the basics , .................combustion chamber section jetandturbineowners.proboards.com/thread/680/diy-turbines

[rocketman_mike]

Been making a lot of progress. Should be fueling up, checking for leaks and hopefully begin test firing before the end of the month. Right now, Im finishing up the fuel systems for the turbine and the afterburner. Finishing the pneumatic starting system, upgrading the EGT gauges as soon as the new ones arrive. Installing a fuel pressure gauge. We finally have working brakes. I burned up the ignitor box while testing it, so I had to remove it and rebuild it. Hopefully it holds up this time, if not, I'll have to figure something else out. Maybe an actual exciter box off ebay or perhaps build something with a simple relay, capacitor and car ignition coil. By the end of this week, I will have the fuel system complete. Just waiting for some fittings to arrive in the mail and I have to remove the fuel tank and take it to my welder to add a return bung. The majority of the kart is finished, just combing through it and wrapping up some loose ends.

[rocketman_mike]

So, as we get closer to finally kicking the tires and lighting the fires as they say, there is a very real possibility this turbo could just completely fail as we know absolutely nill about its exact specs or its history. With this being said, I would like to move forward with designing deathtrap version 2.0. What I want to ask is for recommendations for a powerplant to replace this old, tired whirly snail after Im finished burning it up. I was leaning towards an HX80 or HX82 if I can find one without selling my body. My end goal is at least 200lbs thrust with afterburner. Could I get away with two smaller turbos that are easier/cheaper to source. Does anyone have a massive turbo they'd like to sell me?