Some years ago when our Ford V8 and straight Jaguar
engines were falling apart someone suggested we went
on to Chevrolet engines 5.7l.

These were originally sourced from ex US Airforce buses,
like the typical US school bus. We bought the bus
took the engine out then scrapped the remains of the
bus. They were cheap even with a bus attached!

As far as I can recall they engines went straight in
the winch and then as they got tired were given a 'stock
car' tune and with heavy duty pistons etc.

Over about 15 years the engines have given excellent
service.The automatic gear box that came with the engine
is used for the drive and the drive lever fixed so
the winch driver can only engage neutral or drive.
The drive to the prop shaft can be tailored to any
axle with a bit of skilled welding.

Our main winches are a Skylaunch and Tost with the
Chevrolet engine. The engine in the Tost sits on a
sledge with gearbox and radiator attached, so if anything
breaks it can be easily removed and a spare slid in.
The current engine runs on gas and will launch A DG
500 with no problems.

We went for this engine because it is readily available,
either new, from a bus or re conditioned. Spare parts
are also available. It can also be easily tuned and
played with to produce extra power

Not sure what the full description of the engine is
but this US site found by a simple internet search

http://www.automotix.com/engines_by_...-engines_t---C
HV-350RLB-4.html

This looks like the engines we use. The prices also
look very reasonable.

Dave