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Helicopter engines in planes

Radioflyer

Well Known Member
I noticed an RV-6A had an HIO-360-B1A engine. (The engine has close to 11,000 hrs total time on it!) How suitable is a "helicopter" variant engine for use as an airplane engine?
 
Helo engine

They have no ability to have a cs prop installed. There is one in AZ right now that has not flown in 11 years. The odds of that engine being ok is low.
 
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They have no ability to have a cs prop installed. There is one in AZ right now that has not flown in 11 years. The odds of that engine being ok is low.
Yeah plus apparently the 11,000 hrs TT, even lower.
Nevertheless, other than no CS, I can't find any disadvantage to using a helicopter HIO-360 engine as an airplane engine. I would have thought they had a special cam or more fins for cooling or....
 
Some H- engines operate at a different max RPM. Some are derated for the rotary wing application while some are flogged like rental go-karts to make max power. It all depends on the engine and the helicopter it was powering.
 
The HIO on my RV-8 has a CS prop, my spare HIO has provisions for a CS prop, as does my neighbors HIO 360.

In many cases, the "H" designation is simply a unique configuration of "airplane" parts. Cams, cranks, rods, pistons - often identical to the airplane parts, right down to the part numbers.
 
Lycoming engine

From what I see, all of the helo engines came with solid cranks. These are usually old engines, the one in AZ is a 1966, so the cranks may have been replaced if it has a cs prop.
 
I used to overhaul HIO360D1A engines. Iirc, they had a hollow crank and the case had the port for a governor line, but the crank didn?t have the pickup hole for the oil pressure. I could be wrong, it was 30 years ago.
 
Yea Verily

I noticed an RV-6A had an HIO-360-B1A engine. (The engine has close to 11,000 hrs total time on it!) How suitable is a "helicopter" variant engine for use as an airplane engine?

My RV6X sports an 0-360J2A (Robbie R22)
Helicopter engines vary based on HP, installation and service life. The cool part is some actually are rated higher HP than their aircraft counterparts due to high comp pistons and the fact they aren’t swinging a prop. They also can be found at a bit lower cost.

I like the (0-360) “J” as it’s mounted in the Robbie horizontal and only requires a new fuel pump cam to utilize a mechanical fuel pump. It uses the conical mounts which my previous 0320A also shared. The fan belt hub can be easily removed in lieu of a normal prop shaft ext.
I use a Catto 70/70 2 blade and a Marvel MA4-5, P-Mag, Electroair dual EI.
Great performance, smooth running and 1/2 the price.

Win Win :)
V/R
Smokey
 
My RV-8 has an IVO-360A1A from a Brantly helicopter. It has a solid crank with a CATTO 3 blade on it. The Brantly suffered a freak training accident and the undamaged engine only had about 100 hours SMOH on it's second OH, which is done @ 1000 hours in helo service due to the hard work they do.
I had a gear case on hand (for horizontal engines) got a Superior cold sump and I went with Airflow Performance fuel injection.
I'm not that excited about having a constant speed prop on an RV (although it's great on my Yak) so I'm satisfied.
Helicopter engines can be a great deal when they come available. You must price shop them carefully due to variations in sumps, mounts, baffling, injector/carb issues etc; and be able to do the work yourself. Hiring this work out could be a disaster.
 
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