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N395V

Well Known Member
Orenda Rises Again

A Midland, Texas, company has received FAA approval to take over the engine type certificate for the Orenda OE600A, a Canadian-developed, 600-hp V-8 based on a big-block Chevy engine. The granting of the type certificate transfer from the former Canadian owners allows Trace Engines to begin shipping engines, including the 10 finished mills it inherited in the takeover of the project. Two engines were shipped, ironically, to Canada last week and are expected to be flying by the end of the month. The Texas plant won?t likely build its first engine until September. "Because this is a start-up, we have the opportunity to do things right the first time," spokesman Craig Hoover told the Midland Reporter-Telegram. "We have an active research and development program. There are things we want to improve on the engines even before we begin production." The big recips are aimed at replacing far more expensive small turboprops on a variety of light and business aircraft. They were developed about 20 years ago in Canada, but despite gaining certification were not widely installed. Hoover said his company aims to change that and he expects a lot of foreign orders. There are 12 people working at Trace now, but plans are to increase that tenfold and incorporate a college training program into the factory.
 
Different beasts

The Orinda was/is based on the Chevy "Big Block" platform. Although they claimed that all of the parts were designed specifically for aircraft use, I'll bet a lot of money that the majority of the parts are directly from the automotive after market suppliers.

The team 38 was another engine setup altogether, as I recall it was a small block Chevy based unit.

I have seen both of these at Oshkosh, have never seen a Toyota/lexus based engine.

There was even a big block Chevy style that was stretched to a 12 cylinder, targeted at the P51 crowd----------guy named Falconer in Salinis CA.

http://www.falconerengines.com/prod04.htm

Mike
 
Replacement...

The original Orenda made its debut back in the late 70's or early 80's as I recall. It was shown in Las Vegas at our annual Ag Aviation Association convention as a good replacement for the aging R1340 600H.P. engine. Parts were getting hard to come by and they seldom made 1000 hours. (I had one let go at 350 SMOH and parked it in a cornfield :eek: ).
We all wondered what happened to this engine and it was on display again last December in Orlando. Well, Yankee ingenuity kicked in and Mr Fred Ayres bolted on a PT6-15 turbine to a Thrush in the mid-70's and that's the direction most of us have chosen. (mine has almost 8000 TT). It would be great to see the Orenda fly but I can't help wondering what it would be used in... :confused:

Regards,
 
Mike S said:
The Orinda was/is based on the Chevy "Big Block" platform. Although they claimed that all of the parts were designed specifically for aircraft use, I'll bet a lot of money that the majority of the parts are directly from the automotive after market suppliers.

The team 38 was another engine setup altogether, as I recall it was a small block Chevy based unit.

I have seen both of these at Oshkosh, have never seen a Toyota/lexus based engine.

There was even a big block Chevy style that was stretched to a 12 cylinder, targeted at the P51 crowd----------guy named Falconer in Salinis CA.

http://www.falconerengines.com/prod04.htm

Mike

The Orenda started out a long time ago as a Can-Am BBC done in conjunction with the Reynolds Aluminum Company. Years later, it was developed for aviation by Thunder Engines which ran out of money. Orenda took it over and spent 10s of millions developing it with help from provincial taxpayer money. Performance was very impressive at altitude being some 40+ knots faster than a PT6 of similar SL power in their test mule. It is my understanding that almost no parts share commonality with a BBC- hence the price.

Tooling and rights have now been taken over by Trace Engines in the US.

The Falconer V12 is used in the Sport Class Thunder Mustang racing at Reno where it holds fastest lap in that class and sounds gorgeous. :)

Both too heavy for our RVs but very interesting technically.
 
pierre smith said:
It would be great to see the Orenda fly but I can't help wondering what it would be used in...
$40 million in development.

Orenda's original business plan was a TBR program centered on freight dogs and island hoppers, i.e. low altitude, high-cycle ops. Throw the engines away (sell back to Orenda) 1500 hours.... combined fuel and maintanence cheaper than running PT6's for this type of ops (Orenda's claim). Fuel numbers would bear this out somewhere above $3.25 for JetA but cost spread vs. 100LL is a wildcard.
 
Orenda was looking at re-engining Beaver, Otter, Twin Otter and King Air 90s predominantly. It delivered on the promise of lower fuel flows vs. speed at all altitudes over the PT6 as well as acquisition costs. Maintenance costs maybe, overall operating costs maybe when you throw in hot sections for the PT6 and fuel costs. Reliability was unproven of course.
 
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