On Sep 25, 9:31*am, " wrote:
To All:

In a recent thread about VW powered wooden airplanes, reference was
made to wooden airplanes that can NOT be powered by a converted
Volkswagen, leaving a false impression -- and getting me lotsa
mail :-)

The VW has been used to power a modified 'Sky Scout' (sp?), Bernard
Pietenpol's single-place, Model T powered design. *(The plane is in
New Zealand and can be found by a serious Googler.) This has caused
some to think the VW could be used to power the two-place Pietenpol.
It won't.

*And the Fly Baby has been powered by the Lycoming O-145 (although not
very well). *Since a full-blown VW can run to 140cid, some people
think the VW would be suitable for a Fly Baby. *It isn't.

Regardless of its displacement the Volkswagen engine is thermally
limited. *While you can get it to produce a dyno blip of a hundred
horsepower or more, its maximum SUSTAINABLE output is between 35 and
45 horsepower, as determined by the fin area of its heads and the
local atmosphere.

I know that's going to make a lot of folks unhappy. *And a lot more
will continue to insist that cubes are the only thing that matters.
Sorry, Charlie. *What matters is physics, thermodynamics and
engineering. *But don't let that stop you. *If you think you can power
a Fly Baby with a VW there's nothing to prevent you from doing so. *Of
course, you may want to ask yourself why it hasn't already been
done :-)

-R.S.Hoover

If Veeduber hasn't convinced you, try reading this:

http://users.aol.com/bpanews/3questions.html

That Sky Scout he mentioned must be buried pretty deep, I couldn't
find in in a few minutes of looking, and I considered myself a pretty
sharp Google wrangler until this moment.