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Engine choices

dserber

I'm New Here
Hello, I am a new Member here and thank you for allowing me to participate. I am building an RV-7 and I'm already thinking that engine slippers for my project. Initially thought of a 180 HP Lycoming injection, but also think about the option of 200 HP engine injection. I would like to know according to the experience that surely many of you will have, what would be the benefits of each. Best regards
 
Hello, I am a new Member here and thank you for allowing me to participate. I am building an RV-7 and I'm already thinking that engine slippers for my project. Initially thought of a 180 HP Lycoming injection, but also think about the option of 200 HP engine injection. I would like to know according to the experience that surely many of you will have, what would be the benefits of each. Best regards

What's your mission for the plane?
 
Greetings Daniel,

My son, and friend, traveled from the US to Patagonia this time last year to climb Fitz Roy. He stayed in El Chalten then hiked to the mountains. Weather was not so good and he did not make the summit. Some smaller peaks were attained though. He arrived by bus from Buenos Aires, but departed via air from El Calafate. He really liked the area and said all the people were very friendly.

I am building a 7 too. Since there is a small difference between the cruise of the 180 hp and 200 hp vans offerings, I choose the 180 hp. It is $10k less, 50 pound lighter. I have the sam james cowl and building a custom plenum to (hopefully) lower the drag and yield the same cruise as the 200 hp. Take off roll and climb will be less though.

I went to Oregon for transition training. I flew in Mike Seager's 7. It really goes, and the second day I learned it is a O-320! After that, I think I will be quite happy with my selection.

Others will tell you their story, but that is mine.

Welcome to VAF!!
 
Engine choice

Greetings Daniel,

My son, and friend, traveled from the US to Patagonia this time last year to climb Fitz Roy. He stayed in El Chalten then hiked to the mountains. Weather was not so good and he did not make the summit. Some smaller peaks were attained though. He arrived by bus from Buenos Aires, but departed via air from El Calafate. He really liked the area and said all the people were very friendly.

I am building a 7 too. Since there is a small difference between the cruise of the 180 hp and 200 hp vans offerings, I choose the 180 hp. It is $10k less, 50 pound lighter. I have the sam james cowl and building a custom plenum to (hopefully) lower the drag and yield the same cruise as the 200 hp. Take off roll and climb will be less though.

I went to Oregon for transition training. I flew in Mike Seager's 7. It really goes, and the second day I learned it is a O-320! After that, I think I will be quite happy with my selection.

Others will tell you their story, but that is mine.

Welcome to VAF!!

Welcome Daniel.
I'm working on the fuse and made the decision on the 180 for the same reasons Bill mentioned. I plan an IO360 with Hartzel.
 
Greetings Daniel,

My son, and friend, traveled from the US to Patagonia this time last year to climb Fitz Roy. He stayed in El Chalten then hiked to the mountains. Weather was not so good and he did not make the summit. Some smaller peaks were attained though. He arrived by bus from Buenos Aires, but departed via air from El Calafate. He really liked the area and said all the people were very friendly.

I am building a 7 too. Since there is a small difference between the cruise of the 180 hp and 200 hp vans offerings, I choose the 180 hp. It is $10k less, 50 pound lighter. I have the sam james cowl and building a custom plenum to (hopefully) lower the drag and yield the same cruise as the 200 hp. Take off roll and climb will be less though.

I went to Oregon for transition training. I flew in Mike Seager's 7. It really goes, and the second day I learned it is a O-320! After that, I think I will be quite happy with my selection.

Others will tell you their story, but that is mine.

Welcome to VAF!!

Thank you Bill! I live 200 nm north of El Calafate, my village is called San Martin de los Andes, and is a beautiful area to enjoy the nature and also to fly. I now have a C182 and I my RV to travel to Buenos Aires and to the North of the country more quickly. It seriously take your advice and thanks a lot for your help. Surely I'll be bugging everyone for a long time to ask for help with my project. Greetings and thanks again!
 
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Welcome Daniel.
I'm working on the fuse and made the decision on the 180 for the same reasons Bill mentioned. I plan an IO360 with Hartzel.

Thanks a lot! so I can see seems to be the option most reasonable. Thank you very much for your comments.
 
Sensible or fun

If you look at the specifications the loss of cruise speed of a 160 compared to either a 180 or 200 is hardly worth worrying about.

And its hardly worth having a VP over a FP as most of the time there is no real benefit in the cruise.

You pay your money and take your choice.

Me? Well I have 200HP turning a VP prop and wouldn't have it any other way. I've done the 160HP and FP prop, and there is nothing wrong with that. But I get more smiles per hour from the extra performance and don't care about the extr costs. I fly for fun.
 
I went with the 180hp carburated on my RV-6 and also on my RV-7. There's something utterly reliable and durable about those old Marvel-Schebler carburetors. They need all of 1 or 2 psi of fuel pressure and require a little less effort on the construction of the fuel system.
 
IO375 Aerosport

Hello,

I am building a RV7 in France and I choose to install a IO375 from Aerosport Power (195HP). It is the same weight than a IO360 and burn Auto fuel because it is a low compression engine (8:5). It is also balanced and the consumption is lower than a IO375. So, only advantages !. And in addition, guys from aerosport are very helpful .

Hope it helps
Sylvain
 
Hi, I have the same dilemma of Daniel (dserberin) ?. I?m building an RV-7. Now I?m building the empennage kit. I am at the point where I would like to buy the QuickBuild Kit. Compiling the Van?s RV7 Quickbuild Order form, in the Finishing kit section I must select the engine: O-320-D1A, O-360-A1A, IO-360-M1B or IO-360-A1B6. I?m already flying an RV7 which I bought already built. I have decided to build one from scratch by myself and if I?ll succeed I?ll sell the actual one ;). My RV7 has an O-360-A1A that goes fine. Fuel consumption is 33 Lt/h (8,7 gal) and oil consumption is 1,2 Kg/10 hours (1,26 quarts/10 hours) it cruises at 150 - 160 kts at 75%. But I would like to go for the injection mainly for doing some aerobatic ?. so, my dilemma is between IO-360-M1B 180 hp and IO-360-A1B6 200 hp.
First, what is the reason for asking, may be is that the engine mounts are different? also the cowling?
I saw the Bill answer telling that there is only a small difference between the cruise of the 180 hp and 200 hp and that is also less expensive and lighter?. But any other suggestions?
Thanks for helping me in the choice ?.
 
HP

More HP the better... even if it?s only once in your life when you really need it!
Helps re-sale as well...
 
Not sure I'd always agree entirely. In CO where you're already suffering from altitude performance loss before you've even left the ground I can understand, but where I am, in the summer down low, there's so much thermally driven turbulence by 10am that you're not running flat out anyway, and the takeoff performance is way better than my landing distance with a 180hp M1B. I think an issue more important than 20hp here or there is fuel availability. I filled up on BP98 (98 RON or 91MON depending on how you measure your octane) and it was $1.60 per liter. 100LL Avgas was $2.60. Getting avgas here is difficult, but high octane mogas can be purchased anywhere. The 200hp engines have a higher compression and must run 100LL (unless things have changed). I know there are people out there that run mogas in the 8.7:1, but at the end of the day they aren't approved for it. The other thing is weight. I built my aircraft as light as I could for an IFR equipped, Hartzell BA machine and still came in at 3lb over factory weight. The 200hp will smoke this as it is a significantly heavier engine. Even if you go with a lighter prop to counteract this, the CG benifit will not be as good, and may cut into your allowable baggage weight. The RV-7 is known to be a little on the tail heavy side, so you need to be thinking about this during the build (check some forum posts on the issue). Van's stresses building light for a reason. It's more payload, less stress on your airframe, more responsive and safer because of the lower stall speed. If I was to do things again i'd seriously think about an IO-320, lightweight sump, light prop on a longer engine mount to get the CG where it needs to be.
Tom.
RV-7
IO-360 M1B
 
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More HP the better... even if it?s only once in your life when you really need it!
Helps re-sale as well...

Couldn't agree more:) nothing beats cubes/HP, you can always throttle back to get the range of a smaller engine but push it up to get that high ROC and shorter take offs👍:) And yes resale is everything! -:)
 
I suggest you take a look at the Continental Titan XIO-360. Same parallel valve envelope with 200hp for the size and weight of a parallel valve 180hp IO-360. You have options with the XIO-360 including a balanced crank, compression ratios, magnesium sump and your choice of CMI (Bendix) mags or electronic ignition or a mix. We are flying the carbureted version in a Javron and it's a smooth powerful beast. The XIO-370 would probably be my choice to replace my 180hp IO-360 if and when the time comes.
 
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