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Old June 29th 04, 02:08 PM
Dylan Smith
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In article , Peter Duniho wrote:
"Dylan Smith" wrote in message
...
[...]
Perhaps auto engines aren't as feeble as people like to make out?


I've never seen anyone claim that auto engines were "feeble" or "fragile".


The inference was certainly there. (A recent thread, to paraphrase, one
poster wrote "if you operate your car engine at 100% rated power, it
would be toast in less than half an hour". That certainly suggests the
poster thought auto engines were a bit fragile).

What they ARE is complex, and lacking in the necessary redundancy to be
operated in an airplane. snip


That's not part of the discussion; the discussion is whether auto
engines can be operated as 'harshly' as aircraft engines and survive.

other respects they are very similar. And of course, in the homebuilt
arena, many people operate auto engines for extended periods of time quite
successfully.


Which also demonstrates that at least those auto engines (I know the
opposed Subaru engines are quite popular, as some Ford type, the Mazda
rotary and Volkswagen air cooled engines) can be operated at high power
outputs for long periods of time.

stress. Also, I seriously doubt that the engine has been left unmaintained
for its entire lifetime. In fact, I'd guess that someone is taking care of
it, and an engine that's being properly maintained can survive quite well.


Of course it's being maintained. Again, maintenance was not something I
mentioned in the original post. (I strongly suspect our winch engine
spent some time sitting in a rotten-out Jag that nobody had driven for a
while though, I don't know as I wasn't there when it was put in the
winch).

Finally, without a doubt there are *some* auto engines that would never
survive in an aviation environment, and which *would* self-destruct in a
short period of time if operated for hours at a time at 75-80% power, with
extended 100% power climbs.


I'm not sure there are, certainly in the 100-200hp category. I certainly
can't think of an auto engine that's too fragile to be operated at high
power for hours on end in that bracket. Certainly not fitted to any
modern car.

Perhaps your strawman was every bit as flimsy as one might have expected
from a strawman.


It wasn't a straw man - the thrust of the argument was that maybe it's
an old wives tale to generalise that auto engines can't be run at high
power for prolonged periods or run in punishing regimes without
self-destructing, which seems an oft-repeated Usenet "truism" (which
tends to surface in the auto-vs-aero engine debates on r.a.h)

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"