Iv been looking for a new project for a while and had got my mind set on dropping a V6 into the back of a 205 as a fast road/track car but the missus said something over the weekend that reminded me of an idea i had years ago.

I want to have a go at building a steam car. Due to finances, it will have to be build the engine first on a build frame, then fit to light car (probably proper (old) mini, MG midget, Morris Minor etc) or, if i can be bothered with MSVA, build a trike around the engine.

I have been doing some research over the weekend and today but most of the info/plans for steam engines seem to be for models, not full scale. Does anyone know where i can get some info/plans or know of a build website for anyone who has done something similar before?

Also i must add, im not nessecarily after a fast car. I would be happy enough if it tops 35 ish.

These are fast, holds the record for steam powered road cars, they had a block that looked like a flat 4 engine, I suspect that you will struggle to get any sort of speed with traction engine type engineering

Also you would need it pressure tested, I believe that this is not a cheap hobby/task..... for engines I would look at small steam powered boats maybe, these cannot be as rare as cars!

NB/ 1/3 size traction engines come are sold as kits at £16,000 upwards... you need to go to the devon steam fair, its a great day out as well as being the largest steam fair in the world.

Wow, 16k is alot of money!!! I was hoping to build the whole engine from scratch except of course, the boiler which i would have to get made and pressure tested or buy already made.

I have ridden in a replica Locomobile steam powered car (or similar) that used a fairly small engine - I'll try and find a link to it - the castings were still available. It's quite a small engine, but very powerful and high-revving, using steam from a flash boiler. This sort of boiler probably wouldn't need pressure testing as it only contains a very small volume of steam at any one time (it's a coil of copper pipe, basically). However the insurance company can advise (I do recommend getting insurance!).

The car accelerated VERY fast up to about 50mph, but the driver said that the tiller steering was too scary at higher speeds!

Locomobile replica




[Edited on 4/7/11 by David Jenkins]

Thanks for the replys so far. Iv had an hour free at work and have also been looking at impulse turbines which could be an interesting alternative to the Uniflow or Multiple expansion engines i had been looking at. I think before i build a full size one to fit to a car, il build a smaller one and build the real one to fit the car.

My father started on a similar project before I was born, I think he'd planned on fitting into an Anglia. I think me arriving was more or less the end of it. I vaguely remember seeing the initial parts wrapped in brown paper in the loft when I was a kid. I'll quiz him on it.

At the risk of putting another idea in your head, how about a sterling engine? I went to the festival of speed yesterday with a guy who wrote a book on them. He's considering converting a knackered old Subaru engine into one. Apparently the boxer layout is ideal?!?

For car 'Flash boilers' steam boilers are the way to go.

I don't know if your close but I seem to remeber Bressingham gardens has at least one steam car in it's
Dad's army display.

Got to think differently to car (petrol engines)
Maximum Torques at Zero Revs
Each cylinder can be made to operate as two pushing the piston from both ends.

Always fancied a go at the steam land speed record, it's only something like 165MPH got to be well doable

My dad reckons a steam driven car should be do-able, but he thinks it needs an onboard microwave to heat the water. All that regenerative braking effort to charge up batteries, use a highly efficient heating device and then you would only need to top up the batteries as needed. ie nowhere near as much charging needed as on an electric car.

I can just see the plaintive requests for help if you go this route: "Help, I can't find a suitable Cat and my IVA is due next week! Anyone got any ideas?"

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Originally posted by SteveWalker
I can just see the plaintive requests for help if you go this route: "Help, I can't find a suitable Cat and my IVA is due next week! Anyone got any ideas?"

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Just spent the afternoon with my parents and remembered to ask my father about his unfinished steam car project. He bought the plans in the late '60s from Peel Engineering but they were most likely originally designed by a guy called Walton at The Steam Workshop (also on the Isle of Man). It was a fairly advanced V-twin arrangement. He got as far as casting and machining the crankcase and a couple of other very impressive bits and pieces. One of the parts I dug out was apparently to adjust the valves, I think this was basically the throttle arrangement, excuse my total lack of steam engine knowledge. My mother is convinced she knows where the plans are. If you're still interested in the idea I'll badger her to dig them out

That would be great! Still in the planning stages so any more ideas would be great!

As an alternative project, how about a petrol/steam hybrid?

It should be easy ish to use the heat from exhaust manifold to boil water and drive a small steam turbine to replace your alternator.

I think BMW were working on an alternative with an extra cylinder driven by steam

If you want a project and challenge, track down the drawings of the Sarich steam engines. These were based on orbital designs, originated by Ralph Sarich in Australia. Basically, orbital engines that burnt fuel internally or externally in a boiler.

Sarich had a number of odd vehicles running around with his own engines. Internal combustion or steam, and they burnt anything that was combustible, and made silly high power and mileages. And this was in the 60's and 70's.

He had an ic engine in an old 60's Falcon, and it made over 90mpg at normal highway speeds. Then he put a steam version in, and no changes.

He got bought out by BHP and disappeared for decades, only to reappear as a property developer.

Whether his designs are available I'm unsure, maybe they're still buried by the oil company that he sold out to.

Whatever, if you find the designs, you'll have a lot of fun.

Cheers,
Nev.

Ther is a chap in Pevensey who built a steam car from scratch, carries an )% registration I believe. amazing bit of kit, tiller steering the lot. He is often at the local steam fairs and so on. Worth a look, but I suspect not a cheap project

Dunno where you can get plans, but I've given this some though myself.
As mentioned above, you want a flash steam boiler- doesn't hold that much pressure, much quicker to start, lighter etc.
My personal idea was to use a horizontally opposed engine- was thinking that a converted subaru engine with modifications to the heads may work. I would personally stay away from turbines- they lack initial torque and tend to suffer under part loadings (which a car spends most of its time at).