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Message
Good one mate, I knew you couldn't let it go.
Hi
George,
Well that
certainly IS the problem. I was all set to bolt a Lycoming
on the RV-3, but I realize that what I need is a project, not a
plane. Since there's no doubt a single will work for an RV-3, there's
really no reason not to do it.
While it may
seem wishy washy to go back to the RD-1C, the damper on the Autoflight
drive didn't magically fix the resonance problem, and the RV-3 has changed
the power requirements. For previous aircraft, I was only planning to have
about 80 HP, and that would fall within the 6000 rpm limit of
the Autoflight drive. Now that I can use as much power as I can
make, I need more RPM.
The offset
thrust line of the Autoflight drive would have worked well for the previous
aircraft I was considering, but not so well for the RV cowl. The
mount plate on Tracy's drive is also really handy for mounting coolers for
the RV cowl inlets.
The
Autoflight drive is about 12 lbs lighter IIRC, but I have the opposite problem
with weight now. A single made from stock housings is way
overweight compared to 912S, but compared to an O-200 or O-235, it's just
fine. Using stock housings will just limit you to aircraft
that were designed for 100-125 HP LyConts.
Finally, I
really like the carbon fiber ground adjustable prop that Sensenich makes, and
the RD-1C rotates the proper direction to use it.
I should
probably be more concerned with building the plane for now, but I can't help but
think of engine stuff. I've got a partial mount on order from the guys who
make Van's mounts. I don't know if I'll try to make a beam style mount, or
use a sandwich plate similar to the old CCI mount. Either way, I'll size
it to fit either the single rotor, or a two rotor as a fall back
plan.
Enough
babbling for now.
Rusty
(watching the salt magically melt snow)
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