I was wondering if a car or buggy motor would work in an ARF to just learn on. I have several .16's, OS .18, RB .21's, Dynamite .26 and offna .32, I know the car motors turn more rpms than airplane motors, I would have to make a airplane heatsink to fit on them but would they pull a trainer in the air and keep it there? I can make any kind of adapter or flywheel or spacers that the motor may need.

Go for it, Chris (overbored) .. you are the RC buggy expert..

NOT Me, I don't know where you got your information about me being the rc buggy expert. I'm just like most everyone else, tear it up, tear it down and put it back together.

Anybody else got an opinion on this matter? If it won't work, tell me what the difference is because I really don't know. I know buggy motors but never had a plane engine apart. Why do they not turn as many rpm's is it the prop pulling them down? They have longer strokes and bigger bores also but I don't know if that is the reason they turn less rpm's.

My reason to ask is I have bought two planes with out motors and have one with. I have all these other motors around and just thought I could save that much if one of these motors would fly enough to train with.

To those that have been instructing me on the do's and don'ts, you'll be glad to hear I have or am joining my local flying club and talked to the pres and he and they are really great people and have offered to help me learn if I can be taught...Old dog, new tricks..

Take the pull start off, you won't need that. You'll need a drive hub and some way to secure the prop to the shaft--I'm not that familiar with buggy engines. Otherwise, it should be fine. Make sure you get a good prop and check the RPM's. Keep it around 10,000 and you should be fine. I would think it will actually run cooler on the plane than in a buggy becaues of that huge fan blowing on it!

Oh, one other thing, does the shaft on your buggy motor spin counter clockwise when looking at it from the front? If not, then you'll need to get a pusher prop rather than a tractor prop--which is actually just a prop made "backwards" that is designed to go on an engine mounted to the rear of the plane, but will also work on the front with a motor running "backwards" as most people use them with counter-rotating twins.

If your engine spins the proper way and you can mount it to the plane and mount a prop on it. Sure! I'd watch the RPM so you don't scatter a prop though. I don't know what those engines are rated for, but I'd think 13,000rpm is the max I'd run a prop. You can use a larger diameter prop to load the engine to a rpm range.

I imagine you'll have to lean the engine out a lot. Car engines have huge cooling fins due to the relatively low airflow. On a plane, the engine will probably run much cooler, so you'll have to lean the engine for it to run properly. I think?

I'd sound wierd though. I'll bet you'll get a lot of strange looks and questions. I can't think of a reason it won't work. I bet it'll make a mean 200mph plane.

The buggy motors I use turn counter clock wise if you were standing in front of the prop looking at it head on, I call it clock wise because I think of it as if I was in the plane.
I have a AXE Rossi Mamba VP .21 that has a HotMod in it and it turns over 50,000 rpm. I guess that would be way too many rpms, What I had in mind was about a .26 or .21 motor that is stock and not been modified, just to put in my trainer. I can cut the heat sink down and have prop adapters for the crankshaft so if you guys think its feasible, I may just try it. I have another plane that has a evo 100 in it but I want to learn to fly before I put it in the air. Lots of guys on here talked me out of flying it with out an instructor. Matter of fact I am not even going to fly the trainer with out an instructor

You can use the 50,000 RPM's, but it would have to be attached to a gearbox so that many RPM's aren't getting to the prop. As suggested above, max RPM's on a prop would probably be safely around 13 to 14 grand, although lots of pylon racers see closer to 15 grand and slightly above with some of their tuned pipes and such.
I would either load it to around 10 to 13 grand, or gear it down to 10 to 13 grand.

I know the high end OS .15 airplane engine is a modded car engine. But remember the buggy engines are
built to rev in excess of 25,000 RPM. the .21 and .32 is exactly what it states a .21 or .32 CID engine.
If you plan to use a .32 or a .21 make sure it goes into a plane of that size. I don't know first hand the
effectiveness of running a high speed car engine at 10,000 rpm. I would reccomend getting a OS LA
series engine in your trainer before i would take the risk of putting the car engine in. And remember
airplane engines HP ratings are done in the 15-18k range where cars are done 25-30k and up. Porting
is significantly different, and car motors are run with gearing to keep the load low.

OK, I'm lost. Are you having a conversation with yourself, or was CG off base when he assumed you and Overbored were one in the same?

I think that you'll wind up with more problems trying to use a car engine in a plane than it's worth. The drive hub is going to be a real issue. I also have doubts that the crankshaft is going to be long enough to get a drive hub, prop, and prop nut on it. But I think that biggest issue you will run into is going to be the muffler as it may turn out to difficult to mount it on the plane.

I could be wrong but I think you'll be better off just investing in an engine designed for a plane from the start. My dad always taught me to use the proper tool for the proper job.

Ken

All of these are good points. If it is complete experimentation that you are looking for, then try it and see what happens. If you are only trying to save a buck or two, it isn't worth it. You can get an inexpensive bushing type 40 sized engine cheap. And if you are looking into the 15 to 25 class engines, even cheaper! It isn't worth the hassle. You'll likely spend more on attaining a drive hub. Maybe someone would trade you that car engine for a plane engine????

The cheapest glow engine for airplanes that is commonly available in North America is the Super Tigre G-40 ringed engine, usually sold for $49.99 before discounts.

This is a twin needle dual ball bearing design that is reknown for both its power and its reliability. It has a 3-year factory warranty and many pilots fit them with performance exhaust systems and use them for pylon racing.

With such a fantastic engine available for so reasonable a price, it hardly seems worth it to try converting an old truck or buggy engine.

It may turn that rpm in a car but there is no way it will turn any prop that rpm unless it's something in the range of 5 inches in diameter or smaller. Put a normal .21 prop on it, 8x6 or 9x5, and you will likely bog the engine down to maybe 12~14,000 rpm max at full throttle. It will be no more powerful or possibly even less powerful than a .21 engine meant for aircraft. The only way you could possibly use the engine's 50,000 rpm is to use gear reduction between the engine and the prop. Any prop small enough to be turned that speed directly would be so small that it would be grotesquely inefficient in propelling an airplane.

It takes an eight fold increase in horsepower to double the rpm of a propeller.

I don't think I want to use the Rossi motor on a trainer. It sells for close to the $350.00- $400.00 range. Ok don't take this wrong but money isn't the problem, as a buddy of mine use to say "I got a lot of problems but money ain't one of them"
I am a builder, hince Gifford/bilt. That is the name of my business and that is building Harley Davidson engines. I specialize in the Shovelhead engine and can do anything to a Harley engine that needs to be done, from an empty table to a firebreather. I am always trying something out of the norm and I have lots of rc car and buggy motors that are just layiing around and just want to see if it would work. Then when ask where did I get that? I say its Gifford/bilt. I been in business for thirty years this summer.

A couple of my megatech .16 motors have the correct shaft and may have come from a plane as far as I know, they have the small rippled flywheel on them.

But what I really want to do is build me a Diamond Dust with twin Rossi's but lets get the trainer built first hehe

You could certainly adapt a car engine to a plane with an extended prop driver to clear the carb because most car engines have a fairly short crankshaft. You'd most likely need a T nut to go inside the prop to engage the threads but that's minor. The only reason car engines get to such high revs is basically because they're running with almost no load (what we'd call a shaft run in planes) and by then they're way past peak HP. It'd run quite well loaded down with a prop to around the 20,000 mark or even less. There are many plane engines that run much faster than this and the main thing is checking the safe revs for a particular size prop. Use a CF prop and you have no worries. Just for interest's sake, an 8" APC prop is supposed to be safe up to about 24,000 revs.