To Pawnee or not to Pawnee...that is the question...

bagmaker wrote:
The Pawnee is a tough bird, frame-wise, making it ideal for towing and
off-feild retreives.

There are alternatives to lycoming powered Pawnee, in Australia they
are trialling LS-1 Chev V8 engine power, prop drives through a belt
reduction.

Downside- its experimental
Upside - no cooling issues, cheaper fuel, cheaper spares, cheaper
engine rebuilds, faster climb rate, shorter take-off distance, quieter
operation, etc, see also

http://www.gfa.org.au/airworth/engines.php

If more clubs took the punt on such an engine, it would be a simpler
thing to get certified!

The Swedes did a similar thing with a 225 hp Volvo V8 and claimed that
they got the liquid cooling advantage (no shock cooling, so faster
turnround) as well as hugely reduced fuel and engine maintenance costs.

I remember seeing a report in S&G and a search for "Pawnee Volvo engine"
will turn up online references.


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |