GregP
Major
The Merlin has 11,000 parts. The Allison, also a V-12 of similar displacement and performance, has 7,000.
4,000 is a LOT of screws and bolts, especially considering that the Allison is also held together with screws and bolts! And Allisons don't leak anymore than Merlins do.
The seal between the top and bottom crankcase on an Allison is metal to metal with one small silk thread all the way around with overlapping ends as the entire gasket. The rest is just tightseal, which can be used on ANY engine. Nothing wrong with the Merlin design, but one or two people can get an Allison mostly apart in about a day and a half or less. Ditto for reassembly. The hard part is prepping the parts for proper fit, just as in ANY piston engine. Correct prep is everything.
You have to torque the cylinders on a Merlin every 25 hours or so. Allison cylinders are torqued once, upon assembly, and are never a problam after that. Of course, the cylinders are of Different design and Allison cylinder nuts require 2,200 foot-pounds of torque!
And as a matter of information, I looked at our Merlin for the Hiapano and was wrong. It is a Merlin 224, not a 228. Being a 20-series, it has a 2-speed supercharger and the gearshit is at the bottom of the supercharger case on the left side. Once I was looking for it, the lever was quite obvious and was confirmned by Steve Hinton. Sorry, no pics. The camera was 1/2 mile away at the time.
4,000 is a LOT of screws and bolts, especially considering that the Allison is also held together with screws and bolts! And Allisons don't leak anymore than Merlins do.
The seal between the top and bottom crankcase on an Allison is metal to metal with one small silk thread all the way around with overlapping ends as the entire gasket. The rest is just tightseal, which can be used on ANY engine. Nothing wrong with the Merlin design, but one or two people can get an Allison mostly apart in about a day and a half or less. Ditto for reassembly. The hard part is prepping the parts for proper fit, just as in ANY piston engine. Correct prep is everything.
You have to torque the cylinders on a Merlin every 25 hours or so. Allison cylinders are torqued once, upon assembly, and are never a problam after that. Of course, the cylinders are of Different design and Allison cylinder nuts require 2,200 foot-pounds of torque!
And as a matter of information, I looked at our Merlin for the Hiapano and was wrong. It is a Merlin 224, not a 228. Being a 20-series, it has a 2-speed supercharger and the gearshit is at the bottom of the supercharger case on the left side. Once I was looking for it, the lever was quite obvious and was confirmned by Steve Hinton. Sorry, no pics. The camera was 1/2 mile away at the time.