dream upgrade

In article , Rosspilot
wrote:
I have the 145 HP Cont O-300 . . . would LOVE to get to 180 HP . . . can it be
done?

Why would you want to go from a smooth running, fuel sipping six
cylinder to a vibrating, fuel gulping four cylinder?

I have the 145 HP Cont O-300 . . . would LOVE to get to 180 HP . . . can it
be
done?

Why would you want to go from a smooth running, fuel sipping six
cylinder to a vibrating, fuel gulping four cylinder?

I have a friend with a '74 and the 160 HP ram upgrade . . . his Hawk climbs
out so much faster than mine . . . I just thought logically that 25 more HP
(180) would really improve performance. Although I love the smoothness of my
own engine,
I do not notice any "vibration" in his Lycoming, and our fuel burns are
similar.


www.Rosspilot.com

On 28 Sep 2003 15:19:38 GMT, ospam (Rosspilot)
wrote:

I have the 145 HP Cont O-300 . . . would LOVE to get to 180 HP . . . can it
be
done?

Why would you want to go from a smooth running, fuel sipping six
cylinder to a vibrating, fuel gulping four cylinder?

I have a friend with a '74 and the 160 HP ram upgrade . . . his Hawk climbs
out so much faster than mine . . . I just thought logically that 25 more HP
(180) would really improve performance. Although I love the smoothness of my
own engine,
I do not notice any "vibration" in his Lycoming, and our fuel burns are
similar.

A friend has a Hawk and were I ever going to get a 172 that would be
the version I'd want. Man, but that thing climbs. It's no slouch at
cruise either. He took off immediately prior to me for a 50 NM trip.
I was still rolling out when he was turning down wind.

One surprise was how much gas it took me to take a trip. I was
flying a 172 (with the smaller engine) a couple years ago and it took
more gas to go from point A to point B than did my 260 HP Debonair.
The Deb burns 13.5 to 14 gallons per hour (it doesn't know how to run
less than 75% unless I take it up high) yet it took less gas on a 350
mile trip than did the 172. Considerably less.

OTOH our old Cherokee 180 made the same trip and used within 1/2
gallon of what the Deb did. That little difference could easily be
attributed to fueling techniques. I will admit the Cherokee left
about 10 minutes ahead of me (MIE) and I passed them before reaching
Fort Wayne. I was back at 3BS, had the Deb hangered, and was having a
cup of coffee in the terminal before I heard them call in.

But...I did like flying that Hawk. He purchased it new, has had the
engine majored and that is now run out. Last I knew he was trying to
decide whether to get a new one, or just put a new engine in the old
plane. It has close to 5000 hours and he put on nearly every one.

Roger Halstead (K8RI EN73 & ARRL Life Member)
www.rogerhalstead.com
N833R World's oldest Debonair? (S# CD-2)


www.Rosspilot.com

I have the 180 CS conversion in a 175B. It's short filed performance is
great compared to the 172. Cruise speed is not that great. A friend of mine
has a 69 172 with the O-320. We run even in cruise with him at 65% power and
me at 55%. Fuel at 75% cruise is about 9.5GPH. When time for overhaul, 4
cyclinders are cheaper than 6. Still, I don't think I would do the
conversion, I'd sell the plane and buy one equiped the way I want it unless
I had someone wanting to buy the old engine for a good enough price to make
it worth while, not likely.

Wayne

"EDR" wrote in message
...
In article , Rosspilot
wrote:
I have the 145 HP Cont O-300 . . . would LOVE to get to 180 HP . . . can
it be
done?

Why would you want to go from a smooth running, fuel sipping six
cylinder to a vibrating, fuel gulping four cylinder?

Wayne wrote:

Still, I don't think I would do the
conversion, I'd sell the plane and buy one equiped the way I want it unless
I had someone wanting to buy the old engine for a good enough price to make
it worth while, not likely.

I wouldn't. You take a bath on the sale in this market and then turn around
and wind up paying a few thousand dollars to your mechanic for the infamous
first annual inspection on the new plane. Ross has a nice aircraft set up
pretty much the way he wants it. If he changes the engine out, he gets what
he wants and knows what he has. There's no guarantee that he'll get what he
wants, and he certainly won't know what he has if he buys another aircraft.

George Patterson
God grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway, the
good fortune to run into the ones I like, and the eyesight to tell the
difference.