ORIGINAL: cmircman
Well I just found out today that my wife has bought me a Gee Bee for christmas. I do have a few questions after reading this thread. Have any of you come up with a ideal engine and prop for this plane. Everyone keeps saying to keep the weight down but which engine works the best and what prop works the best. A lot of people are using the OS 120 but for the same money and weight you can get a saito 150. So the question is how much power does this plane really need? I know the plane has to be flown fast as that is the reason i wanted one. Thanks for any help.
Rich
If price wasn't an issue, I'd have a Y.S. 1.40 for this plane. Since I didn't have a large 4-stroke and didn't really want to spend 2X the cost of the kitto acquire one, I bought a GMS 1.20 cu.in from Tower Hobbies. For $119.95 I didn't know what to expect and I couldn't have been more pleased. This engine with a Bisson Pitts Style 25 degree muuffler for a Moki 1.20 cu.in. was a perfect fit and didn't require any weight to the nose or tail for CG purposes. I balanced right at the 70mm point (which is slightly tail heavy IMO) per the plan. The engine runs nicely with a 17-6 APC and a MA Wood Simitar in 16-8.
I paid $115.95 for the engine (Tower Discount) and $44.95 at my LHS for the Moki 1.2 muffler. So for a total investment of $161 I have an engine that pulls a decent sized prop and isn't overpowering the plane. The downside is fuel consumption as compared to a 4-stroke of similar displacement.
Rich