Re: the Navarro Six, O-ring questions

[Tom Jennings <tomj@xxxxxxx>]

On Thu, 21 Jul 2005 farna@xxxxxxx wrote:

> > > going to run intercoolers?
>
> To heck with that! Just run both the turbos at 20-25 psi. With all that power you won't need intercoolers -- those were before Barney's time, really. Just think -- if he'd had intercoolers there would be more power!
>
> About my last post -- YOUR engine only has one turbo, right? It was the Indy engine with two???


I was wrong when I said "one turbo". Both engines (the one I have
and the assembled one) had two turbos. For some reason when I
looked at the photos I only saw one, but you looked, and I
re-looked, and there are clearly two.

Gary Schaedler states that this was the only project Navarro ever
did that involved AMC/Rambler engines, and also that there were
three engines, and all were Indy engines. There's no evidence to
believe that this is not true. He stated that "my" engine, #1, was
built to spec [twin turbo], was run in the car, had an oiling
problem that damaged the bottom end; #2 was built [I am guessing,
reusing all the excruciating plumbing from #1] and was the last
engine used in the car. #1 (mine) was disassembled, I assume for
inspection after the oil problem, and left on the shelf. Since
precisely the right "repair" parts were carefully stacked with the
disassembled engine (new bearing sets, etc) it looks like at some
point along the way some thought was given to reviving it, whether
for Indy or some later project, who knows. Gary thought that there
was a #3, possibly just parts, and that Barney had it "in that
room over there" (that was locked and not visible), but he said he
was guessing, he didn't know. (It's been 30 years...)

Even for someone like Navarro, with all his successes and probably
huge amounts of nifty nostalgia, a "failure" Indy motor is worth
leaving around on the shelf :-) A failure at that level is a hell
of an accomplishment. Certainly not on his scale, and I don't mean
to compare myself to him in any meaningful way, but I have made
hundreds of objects, and most failures I turn back into parts and
peices for reuse, or give or throw away, but there are a few I've
kept because I'm happy with some aspect of it.


All the turbos I have are TE06's, but I don't know if they all
have the same compressor housings, which would affect output.  One
of the boxes was marked "T04", crossed out, and "TE06" written on.
Maybe differnt turbo types went on the motors, or both TE06's with
different housings, etc, I don't know at this time.

Last, the only induction parts I have are the cast manifold, 3.5
TE06 turbos, one piece of bent thinwall tube, some straight, raw
sections, and three exhaust pipes, used. That's it. No plumbing,
so I can't tell anything else.