Ron Webb wrote:

Yea -- my point was that this is ALMOST a good idea. But not quite.

Lotsa those!

Much better to just use a normal V6 or V8 and a PSRU. Many such that have
gone 2000+ hours.

As for weight and CG, I'd use the V6 STOL as an example. This is a set of
plans done in the '60's by a guy named Blanton. It has you buy a trashed
Piper tri-pacer and use the parts to build a new aircraft. More HP, longer
wings, and a lengthened fuselage made for a really good aircraft. There were
about 500 built, and there is only 1 on the NTSB crash database. He actually
had FAA approval at one time.

For the engine, he used a 3.8 Liter Ford V6. They are still selling
derivatives today.

After he hot-rodded it, he got 260 HP out of the engine, but derated it to
230 HP. According to the Blanton plans, it weighed 14 pounds more than a
comparably equipped IO360 Lyc (180 HP). Point is that the V6 engine with
belt PSRU meant he could use an engine big enough to do the job in style.
And since it is water cooled, you can run it at the stoicheometric (sp?)
point of 14.7:1 air fuel mixture, instead of the 10:1 or so necessary in an
air cooled engine to keep the valves from burning. That leaner mixture
translates to considerably better gas mileage (up to 30% better).

What that improvement translates to is that you need carry less fuel. So
even though the engine is 14 pounds heavier, 30% less fuel means overall you
are carrying less weight. And 50 more HP.




Ron, how about share with us where you got you information?