Stiffle that Innovative Spirit
Seems to me there are plenty of STC'd aftermarket Rajay turbo systems that have been around for decades on otherwise internally stock Lycomings. Seem to work just fine. We're talking running 35 inches for 1 minute for takeoff. That will not have any significant effect on longevity.
I agree, a 260hp IO-540 gives the -10 very respectable climb and cruise performance even up where you need O2 and with the engine prices being equal, you need a good reason to fit a turbo 4 banger- like you always fly above 18,000 maybe.
The turbo four will be considerably lighter than the six even with the intercooler and it will use less fuel.
I disagree that a 4 cylinder car won't get a lot better mileage than a 6 or 8 cylinder. This has to do with friction and throttle angle (higher load= lower pumping losses). You see any 6 cylinder cars anywhere close to something like the 1.8L Corolla in the real world (not EPA)?
Oh boy, the big engine/ V8 thing again. Sorry but it is a complete crock to say that some atmo V8, even a 400+ cubic inch one, is gonna blow away say a modern 3L turbo. Look what happened in F1, and IMSA GTP? I seem to remember a 2.1 L Toyota GTP car fielded by Dan Gurney: 1992 and 1993 GTP driver and manufacturers champion, '92 and '93 overall winner 12 hours of Sebring, '93 overall winner 24 hours of Daytona, 26 wins, 23 poles, 17 GTP victories IN A ROW - a record never equaled by one team and never in sports car racing history. This thing was way more reliable and way faster than any V8 fielded including the 3.5L Ford F1 powered Jag and 6L Ford V8 entries. The AAR Eagle MKIII still holds the outright lap record at several US tracks- 15 years later! This is with the best competition in the world at the time with big money- GM, Ford, Nissan, Porsche, Jaguar etc., not a bunch of local yokels.
Before the AAR Toyota, the Nissan GTP ZX blew off all the V8 entries for years and before that, the Porsche 962 won for years and years. Sorry, almost no V8 victories in IMSA GTP for a very long time and for that matter in GTO either with the AAR Toyotas and Roush prepared Mercurys showing their tails to the V8 entries almost every race.
Same in Trans Am where the Mercury and Audi turbos regularly dominated until banned by the whining V8 contingent.
Even with fuel limits, compressor inlet restrictors, boost limits and weight penalties, turbos continued to easily beat big atmo V8 powered entires. Turbocharged small displacement engines have dominated every class of auto circuit racing they've been allowed to compete in.
This was 15-20 years ago now and turbo technology is way better now.
So sorry to disagree guys but a small turbo engine can be both powerful and reliable and last a long time. I've been doing it for nearly 30 years since I built my first turbo engine (a 1200cc Corolla 3KC) and beat my friend's Z28 Camaro. I've been driving my turbo KA24 240SX Nissan for 10 years now. Still fast and ain't worn out yet (dead stock internals).
Once you've owned turbo cars and turbo planes, you'll never want to settle for mere cubic inches again.
Maybe this will settle it all (or maybe not):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhTsH8dWtag
I say, be different, learn something and put that turbo engine in your -10 if you think you are up to it and all the work involved. It really is interesting to see something different rather than another cookie cutter RV with the same old Lycoming in it. Proven but boring. Put the E back in Experimental!