REFLECTOR: A question about engines

Fri Feb 4 12:18:38 CST 2005

I have been around the industry long enough to know that auto engines don't work in airplanes. No matter what those that are flying them say. Yes after many long months in putting one into an airplane built to house an airplane engine they would not emit that auto engines wont' work and take to long to get to work in the environment that aircraft fly.  Let alone get insurance on the plane after it's in.  It is not only not practical but a waste of time and money.  Now if you want to just build and not fly go for it.  But I have done them all.  I am now working on a Glastar with a LOM/PRAHA in line inverted four in it.  Never again.  They may look cool and sound cool but the head aches that go with it, is not worth it.  Stick to that what is proven and has many long hours of proof on it before looking at that Chevy V6 in the drive way. 
By the time you figure out how to put it into the plane and the cost to do it you could have gone out and bought a good mid time or even overhauled IO-540 and been flying a good year earlier.  
As far as the big certified engines I would go for the IO540 as being the best of all for the Velo XL.  Yes you may climb faster with the 300HP plus engines but on the top end the speed difference isn't that much.  You just burn more fuel.  I fly an IO-540 with a fixed pitch prop and I have seen 190ks cruse and this is good enough for me.  Much over that I am burning to much fuel and not getting the range I want.  There is a weight penalty that goes with the larger engines as well.  Also I have found that the Continental 520's and 550's don't make TBO where the 540's do with the 250/260 hp even more.  If turboed, this cuts the TBO time down as well. Also higher maintenance and much more cost and unless you plan on flying over FL18 the turbo isn't worth it.  It's just added weight.  Now if you fly out of Denver at noon as a habit then go for it.  Otherwise don't waste you money or time. 
You can get a very good IO-540 out of most aircraft salvage yards that come out of Piper Aztecs and others that make a very clean XL installation.  I'm sure you won't be disappointed.  Another engine people don't think of that is good is out of the older Bonanzas.  The IO-470 260hp Continental. This engine was a very good engine and can make TBO 1500hrs, if flown right.  There are number of them around.  Check at the salvage yards. It is a very clean installation and worth looking into.  The main thing on the Continentals you must watch for is the crank shafts.  They seem to eat out the main bearings.  The crank lies deep in the pan.  On the Lycomings it's the cam shafts that have problems.  That is if you are looking at a good used one. 
Also the mounting on these engine differ quite a bit. So consider this as well.  
I know I may get a lot of flack over this but after 45 years in the light aircraft business I think I have seen a lot come and go and I don't want to see those coming behind me make the same mistakes I made.  Learn from others that have been there and done it.  
Dave
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Randy Wharton 
  To: reflector at tvbf.org 
  Sent: Friday, February 04, 2005 4:23 AM
  Subject: REFLECTOR: A question about engines

  I bought my XL kit last summer after taking the company XL-5 for a spin and loving it. 271TC has a Continental 550 on it, and I've just kind of planned on putting the same on mine. But I'm really getting daunted by the $40-45000 price tag, especially when I hear guys talking about Chevy V8s, Subaru's etc, even though I know that water cooling adds a new level of complexity, not to mention weight to the plane.

  I know that if I throw the question out there about what people recommend, I'm going to get a ton of different answers, because everyone probably loves the powerplant they have, but I'm not committed to any particular one at this point. I'm quite sure that the Conti 550 is the premier powerplant, assuming that a Conti 550 is in the budget, but what I haven't found is a source (pamphlet or article, or something like that) that lays out the pros and cons . As with any engineering task, there are advantages and disadvantages that have to be weighed according to how the engineer wants to play the game, and much of it comes down to a personal choice.

  Is there a single source for information on the tradeoffs between Continentals, Lycomings, Chevy's, Subarus, Mazda's, etc? I'm guessing probably not. But in any case, I'd welcome a discussion on what the considerations are for various options. I know it's a nebulous question, so I'm ready for a massive download of information. Thanks!

  Randy Wharton

  N248RB XL-RG

  http://clik.to/velocity

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