Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
 How much is your life worth? August 15, 2007
Unlike a car that can be pulled over to the side of the road on engine failure,in an aircraft it means one thing at least, you are going down! And fuel injection? Besides all of the "must work" electronics, if a fuel line fails at 40+ psi it is going to spray high pressure mist all over that hot engine. Now you are burning while going down. No, I would rather convert an old GPU and rebuild it myself than use a brand new automotive engine. But the book was interesting and a must read if you are really sold on this idea.
A little good information but mainly cheerleading October 18, 2004
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
At one time, it was thought that auto engines were for cars, boat engines were for boats, and airplane engines were for airplanes. Eventually, Gardner diesel and Miller/Offenhauser racing marine engines wound up in vehicles, Liberty, Napier Lion, Ranger and Allison aircraft engines wound up in boats, and car engines-because of the radically cheaper cost and superior technology of mass production-wound up first in boats (which have completely killed the spark ignition inboard dedicated marine engine business) and later on in some aircraft applications.
Just as car engines in sporting craft were at first ridiculed, then made to work-with a lot of dedicated and expensive development-well enough to completely dominate the market, they are slowly making inroads in the experimental aircraft field.
As with the I/O stern drives, the car engine doesn't just bolt up to the prop. Aircraft engines are design mutants that have evolved to handle the thrust, precession, torsional resonance, and torque requirements of driving a heavy propeller pulling an aircraft not only in level flight but through all phases of flight including aerobatics. The propeller provides the inertia provided by a flywheel on other engines, reflects severe loads to its driving member, and must be secured to the driving member as if the aircraft's continued flight depends on it, because it does.
"Converting" a car engine-perhaps because they are used in so many other applications they should be called not car engines but general purpose engines-means providing for all these requirements very much as a inboard/outdrive or "stern drive" does on a pleasure boat. In most cases, the GP engine turns far too fast to drive a large efficient propeller so geared or belted speed reduction has to be provided. The engine must retain its flywheel, albeit of aluminum marine or "flex plate" type in some cases, and torsion damper just as in a car or stern drive. The propeller cannot be the prime source of inertia-a fact Kiekhaefer figured out when stock cars really were and Marilyn Monroe's dress billowed over the subway grates of New York. Propeller loads as well as the mass of the engine and its drive must be securely reflected to the airframe. All modern spark ignition engines are liquid cooled, so the radiator must be provided for as well in most cases an oil cooler.
It's not impossible, but it's equally not trivial. This book consists of a lot of irrelevant pictures and some back-of-the-envelope drawings, and makes what is really a nontrivial task seem as though anyone could. And anyone could, if they were a mechanical engineer, a certified welder, skilled machinist, and experienced A&P and automobile mechanic with a lot of time and money and not much else to do.
There's good reason to want to use a general purpose engine as opposed to the grossly overpriced, inefficient, and essentially ridiculous air cooled prewar tractor engines coming from Williamsport. However, buying a fully designed firewall forward package or at least using a commercially built drive and engine mounts with an engine of basic type several other people have successfully flown a few hundred hours with is far safer and more sensible thaan picking a random junkyard engine and bolting it up. Several choices of reduction drive and mounts are offered in the experimental aircraft supply chain, and if you have the mechanical aptitude to install and maintain an engine in a street rod or ski boat and use it successfully, there's no reason to buy a museum piece from the clowns at 652 Oliver Street. However, this book really isn't quite up to the task.
Contact! does it better. November 18, 2001
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
Finch's book is less a manual and more his own personal feelings without technical facts to backup his statements.The manual talks in generalities and although alright for brainstorming -- DO NOT go out and blindly put an auto engine in a plane. It doesn't work that way. The book makes it seem easier than it really is. The reality of auto engine conversions is they are time consuming and sometimes real engineering marvels when done correctly. They are sometimes fatal to pilots if engineered wrong. There are other resources such as "Alternative Engines" and Contact! which provide more substance.
 Whereys the how to August 14, 2001
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
More of a where to buy than a how to, there some info on what is available, and some suggestions on what engine are being used and how they fit but no real detail on how to convert to aircraft use. So all in all a bit disappointing
 Converting Auto Engines for Experimental Aircraft December 8, 2000
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
Being a mechanic, this book was "right on track". It had some great suggestions, that make alot of sense, Owning an Ultralight, with a Rotax engine. I am looking foward to building one, and am looking at all the engine possibilities. This gives me hope, answers, and ideas.
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