[David603]

Anyone got any information or pictures of Merlin engined P51s converted by civilian owners to use the Allison V-1710 engine?

[KG64_Cnopicilin]

http://www.wwiiaircraftperformance.org/ ... ang-I.html
http://www.acepilots.com/planes/p51_mustang.html
http://www.456fis.org/ALLISSON_V-1710.htm
http://www.warbirddepot.com/dbimages/109/109-a-1280.jpg

Hope that helps you a bit...

[David603]

Thanks, but that isn't what I was looking for. What I'm looking for is information about restored P51B, C or D Mustangs which have been converted from their original Merlin engines to use the Allison V-1710 engine for various reasons by their civilian owners.

[HH_Cipher]

Interesting if they did. But I wouldn't understand why they would degrade the aircraft.

[Guest]

Reading one of Dizzy-Allen's novels, he says in one of them how bad the p-51 was when originall fitted with the Allison. The moment they changed to one of the Merlins, he said how much better the A/C got; almost as though it was a different plane altogether

[David603]

Interesting if they did. But I wouldn't understand why they would degrade the aircraft.

I'd heard some P51Ds were converted in the 80's and 90's to run cheaper and more widely available Allison engines, and I was interested to find out details.

Anyhow, I'm not sure it would be a downgrade. By the time you have taken out the guns, armour, surplus fuel tanks and WWII radio equipment the P51D is around 2,500lbs lighter, and the V1710 is still a powerful engine at low altitude. Plus the V1710 is lighter than the Merlin, so you get another weight reduction by fitting it. By the time you were finished, you will have a plane that is at least as fast a WWII P51D at low altitude, while being a heck of a lot lighter and more pleasant to fly.

[Guest]

See my above post. Dizzy tested one of the earlier p-51's which were originally fitted with the Alisson's, and apparently the results weren't too good

[78thFG_Doodle]

Below 15,000 feet the Allison is a good running engine without a Supercharger, and on the deck the P-51A has got about ten miles per hour over the P-51D according to Steve Hinton and his brother John Hinton. I read that in one of the Warbirds International Magazines last summer.

Blue Skies,

-Doodle