Hung engine today...

T

Todd Copeland

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Dec 12, 2012
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Glasair pilot
Hung my IO540 lycoming on my Glasair III today. Pretty excited about this engine. It was built by a very knowledgable builder who used to manage penn yan for three years before going into business for himself. It has gapless rings raising the compression. His suggestion as a preferred way to raise compression as it maintains the air volume for the combustion chamber. Also went with dual lightspeed ignition. Goal achieved. While we don't know the horsepower for sure he is estimating 340-350hp. On the test stand he could not go over 3/4 throttle without overspeed with his break in prop!
 

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Now that is just a lovely site right there! I envy you sir. Keep sending stuff like this so I can live vicariously please.

Nice job!
 
Sounds like you're building a real speed demon there!!!
 
Nice!

Is the firewall the composite surface behind the engine, or will sheet metal be added?
 
Alright, here is a little more. Gear retraction. Still a little air in the line but they function. This is video if it works.
 

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NoHeat said:
Nice!

Is the firewall the composite surface behind the engine, or will sheet metal be added?
Click to expand...

Composite is what you see but it will have a fireproof insulation and then stainless. That's done after everything is in place and you have all the through fittings in place. You then pull the engine off mount and all and do the fireproof and stainless.
 
When you said hung engine, I thought this was going to something more unpleasant lol

Congrats! What are you expecting it to cruse at?
 
Congratulations. Can't wait to see this plane fly!!
 
Race 39 at Reno is a glasair 3 did passes at over 400 mph last year! Jeff Lavell who races it is pushing over 700 horse power to do it though. I love Glasairs. Hoping to fly next spring. Until then I will have to live with my Glastar that I finished in 2008. Here is a pic of my glastar. These forums are always better with pictures!
 

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Todd Copeland said:
Race 39 at Reno is a glasair 3 did passes at over 400 mph last year! Jeff Lavell who races it is pushing over 700 horse power to do it though. I love Glasairs. Hoping to fly next spring. Until then I will have to live with my Glastar that I finished in 2008. Here is a pic of my glastar. These forums are always better with pictures!
Click to expand...


Think that was a lycon IO550 twin turbo, water alcohol and short wings
 
NineThreeKilo said:
Think that was a lycon IO550 twin turbo, water alcohol and short wings
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Twin turbo yes. Standard wings. Very little in the way of airframe mods. He does have some carbon fibre parts that glasair custom made for him to lighten the plane. And he did build a wheel cover for the ottom of the wheels in the bay so they would completely close out unlike the standard design but he says he doubts that made any appreciable difference. It's all about the horse power!
 
Wow, thats very exciting! A few questions

1) How long has the build been todate?

2) How long do you expect the entire built to take?

3) Why does the right main drop so much when the nose gear comes up?
 
Nice build. I hope in about 5 yrs to sell the I and buy a good used III. Thought about a Lancair IV but I can count the number of times I've needed to fly passengers on one hand. No need to pay extra for room that won't be used.
 
wow, I'm looking forward to seeing the completed plane. What style (TW, RG, etc) is it?

edit--nevermind, saw your comment about retraction
 
Todd Copeland said:
Hung my IO540 lycoming on my Glasair III today. Pretty excited about this engine. It was built by a very knowledgable builder who used to manage penn yan for three years before going into business for himself. It has gapless rings raising the compression. His suggestion as a preferred way to raise compression as it maintains the air volume for the combustion chamber. Also went with dual lightspeed ignition. Goal achieved. While we don't know the horsepower for sure he is estimating 340-350hp. On the test stand he could not go over 3/4 throttle without overspeed with his break in prop!
Click to expand...

You just hung it and it's already going straight up! Impressive! :D :lol:
 
AdamZ said:
Wow, thats very exciting! A few questions

1) How long has the build been todate?
In the third year, can't do much in the winter as I am building in the hanger and have no heat.

2) How long do you expect the entire built to take?
Hoping to fly next spring

3) Why does the right main drop so much when the nose gear comes up?
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There is still some air in the hydraulic lines.
 
Velocity173 said:
Nice build. I hope in about 5 yrs to sell the I and buy a good used III. Thought about a Lancair IV but I can count the number of times I've needed to fly passengers on one hand. No need to pay extra for room that won't be used.
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Not only paying for unused seats, but also at the cost of some of the sport flying capability....
 
Just a word of caution on the Lightspeed...

Last time I dealt with it was on the order of 5 years ago. The system lasted about 10 hours before starting to have major problems. After wrestling with it, we ripped it off and replaced it with another system.

Given the very poor experience I had with them, I would be quite hesitant to rely on two of them for my ignition system. I would hope that they have improved since then, but it was frightening to think about it in an airplane.

Curious - what's the static compression (aside from the gapless rings?)
 
I am building a new 540 right now. Here is what 11:1 pistons did to mine. Less than 500 hours on it. I toned it down and put in 9.5:1 this time.
 

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pigpenracing said:
I am building a new 540 right now. Here is what 11:1 pistons did to mine. Less than 500 hours on it. I toned it down and put in 9.5:1 this time.
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That's ugly. How did you run it (typical MP/RPM) and was it parallel or angle valve? Crank history?

One of the dangers with high CR is that it will raise peak pressures, which can contribute to those sorts of failures. I'd like 10:1, but I might limit my MP and take the benefit in cruise performance.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Just a word of caution on the Lightspeed...

Last time I dealt with it was on the order of 5 years ago. The system lasted about 10 hours before starting to have major problems. After wrestling with it, we ripped it off and replaced it with another system.

Given the very poor experience I had with them, I would be quite hesitant to rely on two of them for my ignition system. I would hope that they have improved since then, but it was frightening to think about it in an airplane.

Curious - what's the static compression (aside from the gapless rings?)
Click to expand...

Thank you for that. I chose them for the good reputation and longevity they have had but I'm sure there are negative experiences out there. A freind has this exact system on his glasair 3 and has 1700 hours over 17 years and has had very little trouble. I hope my experience is like his instead of yours but only time will tell.
 
pigpenracing said:
I am building a new 540 right now. Here is what 11:1 pistons did to mine. Less than 500 hours on it. I toned it down and put in 9.5:1 this time.
Click to expand...
Ouch! Mine are 9.5 or so. I have the gapless rings rather than different pistons and so I only have the builder estimate on that.
 
Todd Copeland said:
Thank you for that. I chose them for the good reputation and longevity they have had but I'm sure there are negative experiences out there. A freind has this exact system on his glasair 3 and has 1700 hours over 17 years and has had very little trouble. I hope my experience is like his instead of yours but only time will tell.
Click to expand...

The environment the unit was in when I was using it was not a fully standard undercowl environment (temps, etc.), and that might have had something to do with its poor longevity. It was also on a highly boosted turbocharged engine, so it was really probably about as highly stressed as the system could possibly get. All I know is that none of us could believe how much the system screwed up, and it cost us a ton of time (and thus money) troubleshooting. Then the system I put on it (which I thought was junk) ran perfectly. Go figure.

I hope your experience is more like your friend's.
 
Sweet machine! Sure wish I could afford to feed one- let alone own one. :)
 
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