New to this website (howdy, howdy) . . .
I can see where this might be a good place to get some educated input about auto engine conversions for light aircraft. The flying do-it-yourselfers have such columns, but while they come up with good tips on aircraft structures, coverings, instrumentation, and so on, there seems not to be a lot of community experience with engine rebuilding and modification. Part of this may come from the fact that the A&P certified mechanics who would normally be the main resource for aero-mechanical knowledge actually are quite UNlikely to know about any part or proceedure that is not FAA certified. An airline mechanic is NOT employed to exercise his imagination and creativity; such thinking is adamantly dicouraged with threats of legal liablility! Therefore, the homebuilders, who ARE allowed to experiment, are left to consult each other, but they don't seem to have much background. It seems to be just in the last decade, for instance, that they have discovered the possibilities of tuned exhaust systems. Yet the English researcher Philip H. Smith wrote the first edition of The Scientific Design of Intake and Exhaust Systems over fifty years ago, which became the bible for ground- and water-based racers from then on.
For another example of where the aviators are at, there's a book on auto-engine power for planes by their welding expert, who also raced cars a little bit. I borrowed a copy from the library and took it over to my buddy who owns an auto machine shop, and we read passages and laughed our heads off. Our favorite bit of "expert" advise: when deciding between auto engines you might want in your airplane, go to the car dealerships and get test-drives in vehicles with the engines under consideration, and see which you like best. The plane people plainly need help.
One of the car engines favorably mentioned for many, many years in the aircraft homebuilders' magazines, with conversion parts offered commercially, is Ford's old 90-degree V-6. This should raise eyebrows among the ranks of auto machinists, who know the Ford V-6 to be among the most notorious cylinder-head-crackers from the era of cracking heads. But I have never seen a reference to this by any of the aero magazines engine experts. (Now to be fair, automotive writers can be remiss about this subject. i've seen dozens of hop-up articles on the Mopar 360 small-block without anyone admitting that you can hardly find an uncracked pair of 360 heads after a day in the wrecking yards).
That said, there are some cool projects to be seen. One of the guys who checked in at
Ford Six Performance: The Web's Leading Resource for Ford Inline Six-Cylinder Engines and Cars! is building a full-size replica of a WW1 Fokker D-VIII, possibly the hottest fighter of that war, and was getting info on the Ford 300-six engine. It might be a good pick for him, since it can be built to be very stout, very torquey, AND, since there will soon be an aluminum head available to cut some weight.
Ryan Falconer is a name that might be known to older hot-rodders here, since he was one of the most imaginative engine-builders in the old days. He is now manufacturing an all-aluminum 60-degree V-12 aero engine of his own design, with several examples flying and being raced at Reno and elsewhere.
The old all-aluminum 215 Buick and Olds engines of the early '60s have a small following among the homebuilders, who generate new articles saying the same old things about it every few years. I had been interested as well, and knew of the work of Seattle machinist Phil Baker who made these engines, bored and stroked to as much as 305 cu. in., a specialty. But the aviators never picked up on Baker, oddly, since a long-stroke, small-port, slow-turning torque-motor is just what an airplane wants. Even stranger, I have never seen the "experts" talk about all of the improvements made to the aluminum Buick engine after it was taken over by Rover in England. Almost every change Rover made to that engine made it stronger and safer for aircraft use . . . but the aero magazines are still talking Buick!
Is anyone else here interested in the subject of auto engines for small planes?