Lycoming Fuel Injection

[dweyant]

I have what might be a dumb question.

What are the pros/cons of going with the Lycomming F/I? I.e. I'm thinking about just going with the XIO-320 from Van's.

Why would I want to consider one of the aftermarket Fuel Injection systems?

Thanks,

-Dan

[RV10inOz]

Do it!

The IO-320 is one of the nicest engines around. The small extra cost is worth it.

In an RV9 this is the only engine, and I have experience with it to back up my claim.

[Gash]

Fuel injection represents the march of technological progress, bringing our engines from the 1940s to the 1960s! You won't regret it.

[sf3543]

I'd stick with the Lycoming or Bendix (or whoever manufactures it now.) as called out by VAN's. Some of the after market versions require a bump in the cowling for the throttle arm.
It has been my experience that sticking with what VAN's designed makes it a lot easier to build, since his accessories will work as advertised.
Moving away from the design, for example with different engines, sumps, FI, etc., may require you to engineer new brackets for the quadrant cables, etc. There can definitely be a domino effect.
For real life experiences, give Jay Pratt a call.
Good luck.

[RV10inOz]

Actually now that I think about this....SPECIFY and insist on them supplying it with the Precission Airmotive FCU, or if you want the Airflow Performance, but not the AVSTAR.

Too many AVSTAR units so far have been flowing way under the required takeoff fuel flow and they are not field adjustable.

[rleffler]

Originally Posted by RV10inOz

Actually now that I think about this....SPECIFY and insist on them supplying it with the Precission Airmotive FCU, or if you want the Airflow Performance, but not the AVSTAR.

Too many AVSTAR units so far have been flowing way under the required takeoff fuel flow and they are not field adjustable.

The Van's OEM engine will come with Precission FI.

Lycoming has no problems swapping out with an AFP FI at no additional cost. They did for me.

Van's doesn't like one offs, so you have to ask politely. Email me if you want the details. I don't want to publish publically.

bob

[MarkW]

When I was researching the Van's Lycoming IO-320 last year I talked with Van's and was told that they provide the Precision Airmotive Silverhawk FI with their engine. I believe this is the Bendix clone and the most common in the experimental world.
I ended up buying an ECI IO-320 and had them install the Precision FI on my engine. That is the nice thing about the ECI is they will build it the way you want.
Van's will make no changes or substitutions to the Lycoming.

[jthocker]

Originally Posted by RV10inOz

Actually now that I think about this....SPECIFY and insist on them supplying it with the Precission Airmotive FCU, or if you want the Airflow Performance, but not the AVSTAR.

Too many AVSTAR units so far have been flowing way under the required takeoff fuel flow and they are not field adjustable.

I recently installed an Avstar fuel injection on my ECI O-360.
Don Rivera from Air Flow Performance was good enough to supply me with a 7/8's inch spacer to make up the difference in height between a carb and servo.
So the filtered air box still matched up with the cowl scoop.

The Avstar unit was ordered with a reverse mixture arm, so with a Vans supplied Injection cable bracket, my existing throttle and mixture cables worked perfectly.

My (gami?) spread is probably around .2 and I fly around at 30 degrees LOP with the stock injectors from Avstar. At that power setting, at 10K, 60% pwr I'm running 7.5 gph and 168 KTAS.

In reviewing my engine data from some recent flights, I am seeing 15.5 to 16.5 gph at takeoff/climb WOT 2660RPM. CHT's around 340 to 350

EGT at that fuel flow at 1320 degrees, peaks usually occur around 1450.

So, is my Avstar running to lean at Takeoff????


I'm very happy with my Avstar unit and with the support from Avstar.
This was an out of the box installation with NO adjustments whatsoever except for idle speed and mixture.

Maybe I just got lucky!

[rleffler]

Originally Posted by MarkW

Van's will make no changes or substitutions to the Lycoming.

Not true, I was able to get AFP FI on mine. It's not their preference and they'll do their best to persuade you otherwise. There are folks at Van's willing to work with builders, and there are some that aren't. Enough said......

[Ironflight]

Originally Posted by jthocker

Maybe I just got lucky!

If you're lucky, then so are we - zero issues with the Silverhawk/Avstar unit on the RV-3 IO-320 we got from Mattituck.