Continental?

[txaviator]

Why is it that we never really hear about anything 'Continental engines' ?

I am a L-O-N-G way from really needing to know, but I know when my grandfather was in the aircraft business about 15-years ago, Continental was almost a household word around his airport?

Any input?

Thanks,

[Brian130]

Here's an Avweb story about a little of where they've been since their glory days. http://www.avweb.com/news/maint/182898-1.html

[txaviator]

It would seem that if a Continental was a viable choice for an RV, that while searching for both Lyc's and Continental's, a person may have more choices and/or be able to find a better deal on a mid-time engine?

Just thought I would seek more input on an old thread I started back in February. Thanks.

[Hawkeye7A]

Vans put a Continental IO-360 in their second factory RV-10. This is a 210 hp engine and probably not suitable for the two-place birds. (It's a six-banger). I believe they did it as a proof of concept measure and interestingly enough, it performed very close to the 260 hp Lycoming IO-540. Of course, this is not your traditional Continental which I consider to be more on the order of the O-300 series used on the early Cessna four-place airplanes. The only certified use of the IO-360 that I'm aware of is on the Cessna Hawk XPs. Any other info/opinions out there?

--hawk

[osxuser]

Originally Posted by Hawkeye7A

Vans put a Continental IO-360 in their second factory RV-10. This is a 210 hp engine and probably not suitable for the two-place birds. (It's a six-banger). I believe they did it as a proof of concept measure and interestingly enough, it performed very close to the 260 hp Lycoming IO-540. Of course, this is not your traditional Continental which I consider to be more on the order of the O-300 series used on the early Cessna four-place airplanes. The only certified use of the IO-360 that I'm aware of is on the Cessna Hawk XPs. Any other info/opinions out there?

--hawk

Other certified uses of the IO-360 (most with turbos):

Piper Seneca II, III, IV, V
Piper Turbo Arrow
Piper Turbo Dakota
Mooney 231
Mooney 252

The main problem is that TCM doesn't make a engine that is compairable to the (i)O-3X0 series that Lycoming makes so well.

The IO-240 is a possible for the RV-9 (A) and the IO-360 is a possible for the RV10. In the aviation consumer article, they mentioned that TCM might make a lightweight IO-520 (250HP) which might work in a 10... But they don't really make a decent engine for the 3, 4, 6, 7, or 8.