Preparing the Target 550 liner for test runs

[RayTheRat]

I've been remiss in my reporting of the Target 550 progress.  All of the postings for 2012 are here: http://www.target550.com/gallery.htm#latest

That link will take you to the bottom of the Gallery page where you can see the thumbnails for the individual posts. 

The most recent one is probably the most exciting one (for me and Doc Freud, the guy who shot the photos and wrote up the text) since the liner was on the salt flats for "show and tell" last August.

In the latest post (number 197...we've done some of the most extensive documentation of building a streamliner ever) the preparations for running the liner are being made.  This includes some fabrication and creation of a special tool for installing and turning the superchargers.  They're HUGE Whipple blowers...much larger than one would see on, say, a top fuel dragster.  And they're mounted 90 degrees from the usual orientation, like the old Potvin setup used in the 50s and 60s.  The attached image shows the blower as it'll be installed.  The 2nd image shows the pair of "mule" blowers that were used for fitting.  The units that are being installed have been coated inside and out and a provision has been made to drain any fuel that might be left in them after a run.

There was more fabrication to be done: creating a mounting plate for the unsupported end of the blowers and a collar to center the blower shaft in the plate.  Another special tool was created to turn the shafts by hand, since the tools used for GMC-type superchargers wouldn't work. 

And this is only the beginning.  Stay tuned because there will be several more posts in short order.  And I may make the trip from Utah to Oregon if it looks like there's a chance of firing it up and maybe even moving under its own power for the first time ever.  Why not?  It's only 800 miles one way...and I might leave in just a couple of days.   

Here's the link to the most recent post: http://www.target550.com/gallery/197_prep_for_running/index.html

I hope people get the same sense of excitement out of this that I do.  I'm really fired up about it.

[Otto Puzzell]

Them are some big ol' Charmin-squeezers!

[RayTheRat]

Yep.  The only time I've seen a bigger blower is on a tugboat motor.