ORIGINAL: mrbass111
hmmm interestion thread. i was looking for a 2 st. 61 to put on my stuka. but a 4 banger sure would sound sweet in a warbird? the price difference is quite abit. are the 4 st. longer lasting engines?
The other positive factor for a 4 stroke in this application is that the muffler is so much smaller.
With a 2 stroke you can mount the engine horizontal and use a pitts muffler, resulting in the engine cylinder sticking out of the cowl, mount the engine inverted, and have a big muffler hanging out the lower side of the cowl, or maybe mount the engine at an angle and have the muffler hanging out the bottom of the cowl. No matter what, for many planes (other than those with cowls big enough to enclose the entire engine), there's usually a huge hunk of metal sticking out of the side of the cowl.
You can mount a 4 stroke inverted, which means no cylinder sticking out the side of the cowl, and either let the stock muffler stick out (much smaller profile than a 2 cycle muffler), or run an extension pipe to route it out the rear of the cowl. Much cleaner look.