WI Allison V-1710 engine was installed in tanks?

[riggerrob]

What if Allison V-1710 engines were installed in tanks?

This parallels Rolls Royce building de-rated Merlins (Meteor) in end-of-War Centurion tanks. Also keep in mind that Meteors were difficult to maintain and during the 1960s and 1970s, Centurions That were still in service were re-engines with diesels.

 

[Bougnas]

Hello riggerrob!

The Americans actually tried that in the T29 heavy tank prototype. They fitted the 870hp V-1710-E32 along with the CD-850-1 in the T29E1. However trials showed that a purpose made tank engine would be more suitable. It is very likely that like the Meteor, this engine would have been ill-suited for maintenance in a tank, the former engine having spark plugs on the bottom which is horrible if you want to replace them.
I don't think that this would remain in use for very long, if it ever entered service on a tank. The US had much better options like the AV-1790 which was only about three years down the line. Such a powerful engine is already mostly suited for heavy tanks and given the situation in post-WW2 US, it is unliquely that any tank using this engine would be used before a suitable replacement came.

I'm not sure that a prolonged WW2 or very early WW3 would give the sense of urgency needed to get a tank with this engine in service either, because the US then still wasn't foolish enough to deploy a very flawed tank (and the T29 was very flawed) in such a short time. At most, it would get used for early production until the AV-1790 replaces it.

 

[marathag]

And here to point out that the Ford V8 started life as the V12 1650ci motor. No reason that 600 hp in ground trim GAC motor could have been do along with the 400hp 1100ci V8 GAA in late 1942

There were long hull M3 and M4 tanks that could have fit it perfectly

 

[tomo pauk]

What if Allison V-1710 engines were installed in tanks?

This parallels Rolls Royce building de-rated Merlins (Meteor) in end-of-War Centurion tanks. Also keep in mind that Meteors were difficult to maintain and during the 1960s and 1970s, Centurions That were still in service were re-engines with diesels.

I think it is a good idea, probably much better than the Chrysler Multibank or the Bedford Win Six.
IIRC Rover was making the Meteors - they and RR exchanged the contract for Meteors with a contract for making jet engines.

 

[bsmart]

The problem wasn't really getting an engine with enough HP, it was getting a transmission that could effectively use that power for extended periods of time. One of the big reasons that the M6 heavy tank did not progress further in development was that they kept trying to find transmission that would last for the 1500 hour durability test. The GAA was an 8 cylinder version of a V-12 developed for aircraft. Just after the war the Continental AV-1790 12 cylinder engine was used in M-46 and later tanks.

The big reason the Multibank engine was developed was because it was a way to use current tooling to create an engine of sufficient HP. Originally it was supposed to use 4 6 cylinder engines but that didn't develop enough power so they modified the design to add a fifth.