In Jan of 2014, I got a late Christmas present, a new Titan IO-370 engine for my RV4. Following are the highlights of the engine change.
My RV4 was finished in 2000 and had 1600 hours on it when the new motor arrived. I talked to several other builders about things that I should / might need to change; so I bought new baffle kit, engine control cables, and lord mounts from Van?s trying to have everything on hand when we took the plane out of service.
When I got confirmation of the engine shipping from San Antonio, I pulled the old motor, braced the wing up on blocks, and removed the engine mount (The 4 gear legs mount to the engine mount). We found a local shop to have it sandblasted, inspected and re-powder coated. Good thing we did, the inspection turned up a crack around one of the lower engine mount bosses. (Thanks Kahuna!) It was easily repaired before powder coat. I used a white powder coat to try and make any future cracks easier to spot.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/132185195@N07/16938368661/
The engine arrived from Titan and it?s pretty!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/132185195@N07/16751660828/
The RV4 is tight between engine and firewall and the toe boxes cut down space even more. As I performed maintenance on the 4 over the 3 years I owned it, it always seemed that there was just no room for an inverted oil system in there. When I started pulling the old hoses out, I found that all the existing hoses seemed to be at least 8 to 10 inches longer than they needed to be as a result they were taking up a lot of space.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/132185195@N07/16319304183/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/132185195@N07/16938397241/
By going with dual Lightspeed for ignition, I also removed both magneto?s from the space between engine and firewall, looking at the space available with all the old hoses out, I thought an inverted oil system would fit, so I decided to give it a try. An order to Raven Aircraft had a tank, valve and required fittings on my doorstep for the installation. The tank snugs up in the upper right corner of the engine mount, and I put the valve on the outside of the left toe box, there was just enough room between the cowl and the toe box, to squeeze it in there.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/132185195@N07/16732029947/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/132185195@N07/16751693198/
Custom hoses from Tom Swearengen of TS Flightlines make the installation clean, and I?m sure I have better access than I had before the inverted system. The 90 degree oil filter mount from B&C Specialty also helps with better access.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/132185195@N07/16316987344/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/132185195@N07/16751946160/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/132185195@N07/16939400405/
I?m happy with the performance of this engine, break in by the factory instructions, took 2 hours, followed by 10 hours of normal use, just not lean of peak, being gentle with the throttle. When I was done with this, we attempted a prop balance. I thought the engine felt smooth, and when we put the dynavibe on it, with the Hartzel ASC Composite prop it tested at .08ips.
I did not have extensive engine performance data, but cruise fuel burn at equal TAS is the same as the IO360 I replaced. But I have an extra boost available when needed. I?m sure there is more power, when flying formation aerobatics with the 360, I operated in the last quarter of the throttle movement. With the IO370, I?m working in the third quarter of throttle.
My RV4 was finished in 2000 and had 1600 hours on it when the new motor arrived. I talked to several other builders about things that I should / might need to change; so I bought new baffle kit, engine control cables, and lord mounts from Van?s trying to have everything on hand when we took the plane out of service.
When I got confirmation of the engine shipping from San Antonio, I pulled the old motor, braced the wing up on blocks, and removed the engine mount (The 4 gear legs mount to the engine mount). We found a local shop to have it sandblasted, inspected and re-powder coated. Good thing we did, the inspection turned up a crack around one of the lower engine mount bosses. (Thanks Kahuna!) It was easily repaired before powder coat. I used a white powder coat to try and make any future cracks easier to spot.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/132185195@N07/16938368661/
The engine arrived from Titan and it?s pretty!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/132185195@N07/16751660828/
The RV4 is tight between engine and firewall and the toe boxes cut down space even more. As I performed maintenance on the 4 over the 3 years I owned it, it always seemed that there was just no room for an inverted oil system in there. When I started pulling the old hoses out, I found that all the existing hoses seemed to be at least 8 to 10 inches longer than they needed to be as a result they were taking up a lot of space.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/132185195@N07/16319304183/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/132185195@N07/16938397241/
By going with dual Lightspeed for ignition, I also removed both magneto?s from the space between engine and firewall, looking at the space available with all the old hoses out, I thought an inverted oil system would fit, so I decided to give it a try. An order to Raven Aircraft had a tank, valve and required fittings on my doorstep for the installation. The tank snugs up in the upper right corner of the engine mount, and I put the valve on the outside of the left toe box, there was just enough room between the cowl and the toe box, to squeeze it in there.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/132185195@N07/16732029947/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/132185195@N07/16751693198/
Custom hoses from Tom Swearengen of TS Flightlines make the installation clean, and I?m sure I have better access than I had before the inverted system. The 90 degree oil filter mount from B&C Specialty also helps with better access.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/132185195@N07/16316987344/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/132185195@N07/16751946160/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/132185195@N07/16939400405/
I?m happy with the performance of this engine, break in by the factory instructions, took 2 hours, followed by 10 hours of normal use, just not lean of peak, being gentle with the throttle. When I was done with this, we attempted a prop balance. I thought the engine felt smooth, and when we put the dynavibe on it, with the Hartzel ASC Composite prop it tested at .08ips.
I did not have extensive engine performance data, but cruise fuel burn at equal TAS is the same as the IO360 I replaced. But I have an extra boost available when needed. I?m sure there is more power, when flying formation aerobatics with the 360, I operated in the last quarter of the throttle movement. With the IO370, I?m working in the third quarter of throttle.
