So, for the last year I have been in the process of building a Turbo Jet. If you don't know what it is, look at Youtube. In a short description, the entire build involves a turbocharger and a combustion chamber. The combustion chamber is a cylinder inside of a cylinder. The inner cylinder consists of a series of different sized holes. Then the outer cylinder is basically a shell around the inner. There is about a half inch gap between the two all the way around. An injector and spark plug protrude into the inner cylinder from one end. That concludes the combustion chamber. Now, the turbo comes into play. The compressor side ties into the outer cylinder of the combustion chamber. As the turbo begins to spool, usually by a leaf blower, just to get it started, it begins charging the 1/2" gap between the cylinders. The air begins to flow through the series of holes, and the injector starts injecting fuel. Diesel in my case. The spark plug fires until ignition. The mixture of air and fuel, as most of you know (or should know ) creates combustion. This combustion exhaust exits from the rear of the chamber, which is tied to the exhaust end of the turbo, which spins the turbo, and exits into a jet tube, which is thrust. After initial combustion, the system will self sustain as long as there is fuel. Well, mine isn't complete, but not far from it. Im using a turbo off of a Cat truck engine. And I built my combustion chamber, utilizing the Injector and spark plug from an old diesel heater. I will be fitting mine to a Go-Kart body in the future I don't have many pictures of it at the moment since I've been on and off of the project. Anyways, I just wanted to share a project of mine with you guys. Ill try to post some pictures when I can get some. I have fired up my combustion chamber a few times using compressed air, since I've yet to come across any fittings to make my turbo pipes. BTW, I've spent $0 on the entire project. Found everything in junk/metal bins around town. What do you guys think?

 

Here's some pics:

 

How much thrust do you expect to get?

I saw a similar system using a turbo that had an "engine assist" power turbine as well. I think that going to a gearbox would be an interesting idea for go-kart power.

 

Im not quite sure. Hard to tell until the project is complete. I imagine it'll be a lot when you compare turbos between the one I have and the ones on the internet other people used. I dropped the project for a while and as of yesterday, began to get back into it