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Need prop governor location advice

goatflieg

Well Known Member
I'm getting ready to order my engine from Barrett; Superior IO360 with horizontal induction, using a Plane Power belt-driven alternator. My prop will be a Whirl Wind 200RV, and they will be supplying the Jihostroj P920-028/A prop governor. Barrett wants to know whether the governor will be mounted in the front or the rear. Being a first-time non-A/P builder, I haven't a clue. The Barrett rep said most 360s mount the governor on the rear, but it does vary. Doing more research here: what influences the placement of the prop governor? Based on my planned configuration as described above, what would be suggested?
 
Prop Governor

There is plenty of room on the rear. With the starter, alt, etc... up front, adding the PG, linkage makes for more fiberglass work while fitting the cowl and baffling. Not a lot of room up there.
I have the MT governor mounted on the rear of the engine (Barret IO-360, RV8) and there is plenty of room for the linkage etc... and service is no problem. Once you get the governor adjusted, hopefully you want be tinkering with it much.
This is just my thoughts. Whirl Wind might recommend they prefer it up front. Better check with them.
 
You can never have too much room between the accessory case and the firewall.
I placed a prop governor, a heat muff, a half Raven, and fresh air supply between the firewall and case in an RV 3. So yes there is room in any RV to arrange anything you need in there.
But then on that day when you're trying to track down a minor oil leak you soon find out the advantages of having every cubic inch of space.
There is no functional advantage on an RV with having the prop governor upfront even with aggressive formation aerobatics. However, I absolutely love on my 8 having the governor upfront and being able to stick my head between the firewall and case whenever I want to.
There are some slight modifications to the upper cowl with a front mounted governor but they are minor and should not deter anyone from that decision.

John " Mutter" Hornbeck
RV 3, 6, 8, Laser 230
 
The Van's baffle kit is for a rear mounted prop governor. Sure, lots of people have used a front mount. Unless there is a reason to deviate from the plans, stick with them and save yourself a bunch of design and development time.
 
RV-14 is in front

I have mine in the back, and the Van's brackets and instructions worked fine even though I have a Mattituck engine. (not so with the throttle, but that's another story).

However, if you look at the excellent RV-14 plans, they have it in the front, and I suspect you could copy much of what they did, perhaps even the baffles.

If I were doing it again, I'd keep it in the back - it was a trivial installation, and there is still plenty of room back there for other activities.
 
Spoke to Bill at Whirl Wind; they recommend front mount because it's easier to access for linkage and adjustment and it runs cooler. He says if it was his plane, it would be up front. I will defer to his expertise. Thanks for all who chimed in and helped make this an informed decision; always grateful.
 
Cam Replacement Cost

You might want to look up the cost of a camshaft with the front drive gear versus one without before you make a decision. My engine came with a font-drive camshaft that was trash. Replacing it with a front-drive cam, by memory, was over $1000 more than a standard cam.
 
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