car engine for a plane?
 

Well I am sure I am not the first to think about having one of those little screaming car engines in a plane. Well the problem is that they spin +/- 40k rpm's. Has anyone ever thought about putting a 3:1 gear or belt reduction unit on one? Yes I know there would be a little bit of a weight gain but those LITTLE engines put out some crasy power at those rpm's.

Here are some specks from some .21 size car engine I was looking at on horizons site.

1. rpm's = 40,000
2. hp= 3.1

WOW

Please just give me your thoughts.

Oh and by the way with a prop and a gear reduction they wouldn't be quite as tempormental.

Dave

RE: car engine for a plane?
 

Hi,
They used to use 60 size glow engines with gear and belt reduction units to fly quarter scale planes. This was in the late seventies, before large glow and gas engines were really available. They flew slow and sounded like a swarm of bees. It just didn't look right for a J-3 Cub to sound like that. They are very high maintanence, even on slower turning larger engines. Anytime you add an additional level of mechanical components, you have a loss in tranlation of power. Also fuel consumption goes through the roof. A better canidate for this exercise would be one of those ducted fan engines in the 60 to 90 size. They turn very high RPM snd can be had on Ebay cheap. I have also seen the drive units on Ebay cheap. No one has a use for them anymore. You could swing a twenty inch prop and fly a 6-10 foot plane. It would still sound like a swarm of bees and guzzal fuel.

Good Luck, Dave

RE: car engine for a plane?
 

yeah I had never thought of the fuel consuption thing at all. Its cool to see that the reduction things been done before though.

Thanks Dave

RE: car engine for a plane?
 

Reductions on a single cylinder engine eventually give trouble. The pinion gear has the force put on it at the same place every time and soon wears out.

Enjoy,

Jim