On Tue, 27 Apr 2004 10:48:31 -0500, Dave Driscoll
wrote:

As Pete commented, the DeltaHawk is rated for continuos duty throughout
its HP range (as are most aircraft engines), most automotive engines are
not. While there certainly have been a number of very successful
automotive conversions, all of the successful ones have been the result
of a significant engineering and test efforts (a program which I suspect
is probably not unlike developing an aviation diesel from scratch).

Mostly really interesting information Dave, but your remark about auto
engines not being rated at continuous maximum power prompts me to ask
if it's time to repost that article I have that was written by an auto
engineer who ran the engine test cells at (not sure which major
manufacturer he worked for but it's in the article).

To synopsize, they beat those engines up pretty well, trying to blow
them. They plan to sell not just hundreds, or thousands of engines,
but millions of them. Selling an engine that turns out to have an
endemic problem would be catastrophic for sales. So they run them
literally for hundreds of hours at full throttle and peak rpm. That's
just one test.

None of the auto manufacturers can afford to neglect this kind of
engine development so every single one does these types of destructive
tests to make sure the engine can stand it.

So while the typical auto engine may not be designed to produce
maximum continuous power, they sure can do it.

Corky Scott

PS, I will repost the article if there is enough interest. I get
requests to do so about once a year.