Engine noob

So I'm looking ahead at my engine work in the near future. I have a stock new vans ordered yio-540. I'm not a big engine guy do when I read some of the things people have posted I'm a little lost. I have a fe questions if anyone cares to answer i would be eternanlly greatful.

1) I believe the stock engine ships with a bendix fuel injection. What is the value of switching to the airflow performance products?

2) what is the diffence or advantage of vertical versus horizontal induction?mthe stock setup is?

3) I am intrigued by the rod bower ram air. It addresses some of the FAB design issues and offers a performance increase. Does this require other components such as the injection to be changed or will the stock components work?

CharlieWaffles said:

So I'm looking ahead at my engine work in the near future. I have a stock new vans ordered yio-540. I'm not a big engine guy do when I read some of the things people have posted I'm a little lost. I have a few questions if anyone cares to answer i would be eternanlly greatful.

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Welcome to the club, I'm just a few months ahead and I had the same set of questions.

CharlieWaffles said:

1) I believe the stock engine ships with a bendix fuel injection. What is the value of switching to the airflow performance products?

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Correct. I think most will state it's a flip of the coin. Unless you are a fan of the purge valve. The will start a religious discussion on the merits or lack thereof, but that is a major difference. I personally believe that Don at Airflow provides fantastic support. I have no experience with Bendix, so I can't comment on their support. If you talk with Rod Bower, his gear easily mounts to the AFP fuel controller, but supports Bendix too.

CharlieWaffles said:

2) what is the diffence or advantage of vertical versus horizontal induction?mthe stock setup is?

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The question is probably what is the advantage of ram air or cold air induction. The claims are about 1" of manifold pressure, so you have a choice of more HP or less fuel burn. Be advise, if you flip the factory fuel controller to horizontal, you may need to change how the throttle and mixture work. (i.e. CW vs CCW). Don brought this to my attention and made the changes for me at no charge other than me covering the shipping.

CharlieWaffles said:

3) I am intrigued by the rod bower ram air. It addresses some of the FAB design issues and offers a performance increase. Does this require other components such as the injection to be changed or will the stock components work?

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Yes, but there are too many variables. Give Rod a call and he will walk you through the available options. Rod will also offer his opinion on the two types of fuel injection. My build site documents what I had to do with factory AFP injection.

BTW, Lycoming now has build documents for their normal build line for the AFP FI. I found out that my build was the first run. Normally, all the AFP product was sold through the Thunderbolt program.

I believe your YIO will come with a Silverhawk servo. It's a bendix clone uncertified. If you change it to an AFP system you will go faster because your wallet will be several thousand dollars lighter! Seriously, you won't see any measurable gain. I don't want to discourage "experimenting", but if this is your first time around I think you'll save a hunnerd hours going with the stock FAB & the silverhawk. For sure you'll save enough money to buy an EFIS.

Silverhawk parts are insanely expensive, for that reason alone its best to go with AFP.

but I imagine I can buy a number of repair parts for the 3k it would cost to go with the AFP solution at this point.

So horizontal induction is pretty much indicative of cold air,
/ram air induction where as vertical is oem style stock induction? Is that a fair generalization or am I off base here?

Charlie, you're on track. Also, nothing wrong with AFP or forward induction, just that either will cost you more & slow you down from where you are now. But....if you gotta have 'em, gotta have 'em.

If I understand the Rod Bower setup correctly, you will be pulling heated air through the filter during the time when you need the most power- climbout. It would be nice to have lower fuel flow at cruise altitude but I can slow down 5-10 kts and arrive at my destination 10-15 minutes later.

I have std YIO from Van's with 27 hrs. It starts hot or cold and runs great. How does 166 kias, 190 ktas, 9200' msl, wot sound with no paint and not show quality fiberglass work. I am happy I kept it simple and pleased with the performance.

CharlieWaffles said:

but I imagine I can buy a number of repair parts for the 3k it would cost to go with the AFP solution at this point.

So horizontal induction is pretty much indicative of cold air,
/ram air induction where as vertical is oem style stock induction? Is that a fair generalization or am I off base here?

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$3k? I got mine through Van's and Lycoming at no additional cost.

Horizontal doesn't always mean ram air. It really depends on the air filter configuration.

bob

Well, I was referring to the cost if I went out and bought the AFP induction now since I already have the engine and the stock Bendix/Silverhawk.

rod bower induction

I installed Rod's induction system on my RV10 from the get go, so the cowling mod was very easy. Yes you are using warm air in the cowling for takeoff, but you can open the induction once off the ground. The IO540 puts out a lot of power at takeoff I have had no complaints on takeoff power. I see about a 2" rise in manifold pressure when the valve opens giving the engine a straight shot of un restricted air.
http://www.nwacaptain.com/eng_induction.html

Another benefit of Rod's installation is removing the induction scoop, makes removing the cowling easier especially with a 3-blade prop.

Greg...