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mpm2433

Member
I just sold my Christen Eagle and have begun the quest for a -8. I have looked at the ones on Barnstormers, but would like input on 320 vs 360, cs vs fp. Is a 60k 8 with a 320 that much slower (or any less fun) than 130k 8 with a 390 (what happened to that one? the solid white plane).

My mission is fun, gentlemen aero, 100 hamburger, fly in plane. I have a Barron for travel.

Thanks in advance!

Michael Mitchell KTME
 
Contact Jay Pratt at RV Central, he has flown many different RV-8's in all different configurations and can tell you what the pro's and con's of each configuration are.
 
As usual, depends on your "mission".

For mine - Formation / Aeros / good field performance, I would rather a 320+VP than 360+FP. If you are VP 320 v 360, the 320 might be down on power a bit, but has some CG advantages ;)

Let us know some more about "what" you want the RV-8 for and you'll get more info - although whether it's any use is another matter :D
 
yes, it's all personal choice. I fly an RV-8 with a 150hp and a wood FP. It has an old-school full analog & vacuum panel. It "cruises with the pack" at 155kts at altitude. There are lots of good RV-8s out there so the first questions is "what do you want to do".

Good luck with the search !
 
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Am I the only one that reads the whole post?

mpm2433 said:
.......My mission is fun, gentlemen aero, 100 hamburger, fly in plane. I have a Barron for travel.

Thanks in advance!

Michael Mitchell KTME
Click to expand...

Since you don't intend much XC for the -8 , as you stated, let me assure you that an -8 with an O-320 is no slouch! It'll do what you asked for in the above sentence, and rather economically too.

Gentleman's aero doesn't need an inverted system and you have room for a friend on those $100 burger runs:)

A FP O-320 will be light and nimble. Now, if you had said that you intend to go fly in Colorado among 12,500' mountains, you'd have a different answer...big engine and CS prop, oxygen and so on.

Best,
 
I frequently fly my friend's RV-8 equipped with an ECI Titan IO-360 and Hartzel blended airfoil CS prop. It's an awesome performer and I've got a little over 50 PIC hours in it. Many -8 drivers say that the parallel valve IO-360 and a CS prop makes the perfect amount of weight on the nose of an RV-8, not too little, and not too much, and while I'm still far too inexperienced at flying RVs to really know better, I'd tend to agree with that. I've also flown another friend's O-320 RV-4 with wood prop for about 25 hours, and while it's a very fun and nimble airplane to fly, and performs great solo... in comparison to that RV-8, there's a pretty big difference in performance and handling, especially with two persons aboard each plane. If you can swing the extra $ for at least an O-360 and CS prop in an RV-8, my personal opinion is that it's well worth it.
 
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