Rolls-Royce Mk58 Griffon V12 Engine (the Merlin's bigger brother): START-UP

Bigger brother to the famous Merlin, we get to fire up a Rolls-Royce V12 Mk58 Griffon engine, as it gets prepared to be used in a car!!!!!

Griffon Mk58 specs (without modification):
Engine type: V-12 piston aero, 60° V
Power: 2,450hp takeoff at 2,750 RPM
Original application: Used in Avro Shackleton reconnaissance plane
Bore by stroke: 6 by 6.6 inches
Supercharger type: Two-speed, single-stage centrifugal with 13.4 inch impeller
Boost control: Automatic boost regulator
Fuel system: Speed/density type fuel injection into eye of supercharger
Weight: 2,000 pounds

[ryeguy]

Rolls Royce has and always will make the best engines. As an American, I have no problem admitting that, they are the like nothing else. Along with the best names: Merlin, Griffon, Viper, Pegasus, and Olympus in particular

[GB-vntf]

I love the sound of a Rolls Royce V12 in the morning, afternoon or evening! Great work lads, keep 'em running.

[Skinflaps_Meatslapper]

Tractors are the reason merlins and griffons are impossibly expensive and rare these days. Thanks guys.

[Dave-dm]

They always burnt a lot of oil but a lot less than the contemporary radials. Merlin had major problems with throwing con-rods that it was speed limited to 3000 rpm and even then it would just throw a rod. Test engineer Harry Ricardo mentioned one day that his V twins (1/6 of a Merlin) never had a rod problem at far higher speeds. They realised that he was using a full size oil pump so what was an engine with 6x as many bearings throwing wobblers? It turned out the big ends were centrifuging the oil away faster than the pump could supply. Closer clearances and a (much) bigger oil pump solved the problem.

[nigelparker]

I haven’t watched this properly yet, because at 76 nearly now, you’ve flashed me back to my engineering start as a toolmaker in1963! I was very lucky to have done major involvement in resurrecting a Gnome 7 cylinder rotary, two Anzani Aero engines, a Stanley steam car boiler a McLaren traction engine and finally much work on Concorde! All True! However, the Merlin etc, engines would have been the icing on the cake! No such luck! I truly admire the research and major undertaking that is the work you have brought to some sort of completion! So well done! Someone has to do it! Really! Cheers

[nlo]

I like the "looking up the exhaust ports" to see if all 12 are firing, and the valves are seating properly. 😄

[waterbourne]

Magnificent machines, incredible testimony to those men who created them. What a thrill it must have been to use them.

[keithf]

What a handsome beast that engine is, love it.

[jackkonnof]

That bell housing would cost what the engine does to have it custom made. Incredible job.

[johnnyholland]

How cool is that! Those engines both Merlin and Griffon are wicked... Built like a Swiss watch.

[jpsscott]

The temperature bulb at 13 mins in is filled with Turpentine, the expansion of which, when the bulb is heated, compresses the capsule on the pump and moves the needle further into the jet (as you deduced).Source RR injection pump manual

[milwaukeegregg]

I'd put that in my living room. Gorgeous motor....

[martentrudeau]

I think these guys are brilliant, this could not have been easy getting this beast of an engine going again. It's very impressive looking.

[SteelJM]

ooh the view where you can see the exhaust valves is sick

[machdaddy]

I would really like to see one of these engines in person some day.

[deanedeane]

Imagine flying that beast !!! Good job Lads 😉😎

[Sagoir]

This is one of the best videos I've seen in my life

[JamieW-ob]

That sound reminds me of my Lambretta 175!

[woooster]

What an engine.. the engineering, the history, the power..& the sound, fabulous!
I only work on my motorbike engines..currently have the head off my gear driven cam shaft, 750cc, V4 engine.. & it is tiny compared to the mighty Griffon! 🔥🔥

I do have an exhaust valve from an early Merlin that sits on a shelf in my man cave.. it came from a crashed Hurricane. The size of it compared to a motorbike valve is pure comedy 😄

Brilliant video lads 👍🏼

[firestorm]

What a monster. It's a living thing