Hi all,
I went to the Arlington flying last week with the express purpose of sorting out an engine for my RV 8. I spoke at length with the ECI, Lycoming and Superior folks regarding their products. I also spoke with several builders including Aerosport, Mattituck and Eagle. I was left wondering about a couple of issues:
1. All the above make Lycoming or Lycoming clones. What is the real (as opposed to salesmen's) differences between the parts?
I know that Lycoming and Superior take a different approach to roller lifters. The Superior rep had one of their castings and one from an unnamed (presumably Lycoming) source. The Superior was much better made--smoother, better finish. I wondered if it was really representative of the difference. ECI does not, as I understand it, make a roller lifter engine.
2. Superior does not offer flow matching in their factory builds. Other builders do. Is that of any real importance? Are there other build upgrades that I should really look at?
3. Different builders quoted me different balance tolerances. The better the balance, the smoother the engine. What tolerance represents a really good balance, what is overkill and what is not really that adequate?
I certainly got a lot more information at Arlington, but am having obvious difficulty sorting it all out.
Regards,
Michael Wynn
RV 8 Fuselage
San Ramon, CA
I went to the Arlington flying last week with the express purpose of sorting out an engine for my RV 8. I spoke at length with the ECI, Lycoming and Superior folks regarding their products. I also spoke with several builders including Aerosport, Mattituck and Eagle. I was left wondering about a couple of issues:
1. All the above make Lycoming or Lycoming clones. What is the real (as opposed to salesmen's) differences between the parts?
I know that Lycoming and Superior take a different approach to roller lifters. The Superior rep had one of their castings and one from an unnamed (presumably Lycoming) source. The Superior was much better made--smoother, better finish. I wondered if it was really representative of the difference. ECI does not, as I understand it, make a roller lifter engine.
2. Superior does not offer flow matching in their factory builds. Other builders do. Is that of any real importance? Are there other build upgrades that I should really look at?
3. Different builders quoted me different balance tolerances. The better the balance, the smoother the engine. What tolerance represents a really good balance, what is overkill and what is not really that adequate?
I certainly got a lot more information at Arlington, but am having obvious difficulty sorting it all out.
Regards,
Michael Wynn
RV 8 Fuselage
San Ramon, CA