D

dustman

Well Known Member
Was wondering what the performance would be for a RV4 with the 290 as the power plant. Does anyone know of it being done?
 
I have seen a few for sale.

How straight you build it, How straight you rig it and how clean your fairings installation are and how much extra weight your aircraft is carrying around will determine how well it performs. If it is clean light and straight you probablely will have the similar performance as a 150hp O-320 without fairings.
 
Last edited:
dustman said:
Was wondering what the performance would be for a RV4 with the 290 as the power plant. Does anyone know of it being done?
Click to expand...

Bill Repucci had a 290 on his RV-9 until the engine met an untimely death due to an unfortunate collision with a piece of ground equipment. To my knowledge Bill is replacing the 290 with a 320 because the scarcity of parts for the 290 makes the rebuild too expensive. (Chime in here, Bill!)

If it is fuel economy that drives you to the 290, I think that is false economy. While you may loose 10 knots of top end with the 290 you could throttle back a 320 to the same airspeed and have nearly identical fuel flow.

All of this is mute if you happen to have a 320 that you got for free. Then again, if that is the case maybe you could sell it to Bill for parts. ;)
 
ronschreck said:
Bill Repucci had a 290 on his RV-9 until the engine met an untimely death due to an unfortunate collision with a piece of ground equipment. To my knowledge Bill is replacing the 290 with a 320 because the scarcity of parts for the 290 makes the rebuild too expensive. (Chime in here, Bill!)

If it is fuel economy that drives you to the 290, I think that is false economy. While you may loose 10 knots of top end with the 290 you could throttle back a 320 to the same airspeed and have nearly identical fuel flow.

All of this is mute if you happen to have a 320 that you got for free. Then again, if that is the case maybe you could sell it to Bill for parts. ;)
Click to expand...
IIRC, the first RV-4 had and O-290 but I'm not sure which one.

The O-290-D2 is a good engine but as Ron said, parts are difficult to come by. Thus, mine will be replaced with an O-360.

With a climb prop I was seeing climb rates up to 1800 FPM and RPM limited cruise speeds of 165 mph.

Unless someone gives you the O-290-D2 I would put an O-320 up front. As Ron pointed out, parts are hard to find for the 290. The weight difference between the 290 and 320 is only six pounds. Again, go with the 320.

Check out the engine page on my web site for the installation details.
 
dustman said:
I just happen to have the 290 with less than 300 hrs on it after rebuild.
Click to expand...

Now is where you have some options. It is hard to give up on an engine you already have but...

If I had to do it over again, I would sell the O-290 and put the money towards an O-320. As much as I liked the O-290 I was always worried about parts, they only have a 1500 hour TBO, and are known for blowing oil.

That list issue can be cured by turning the breather so it points up over the engine. Big DUH on my part as I left it pointing down and didn't rotate the thing until after my prop strike.

The other thing that made my O-290-D2 such a performer was the addition of dual P-mags. The electronic ignition really increased the power. (6% increase according to Eagle Engines for any dual EI setup on any engine.)

I have my carb for sale, 250 hours since overhaul, $1000. Worked great, never gave me any problems and only had 100LL in it. The insurance company wants $500 for what's left of my engine. Might be a good parts engine for you.

You will also need to change the accessory case so you can add a fuel pump. That is easy enough to do and is detailed on my web site.

Shoot me an email with your phone number, if you want to talk through this off list.
 
You can do it. Parts aren't AS big a deal as some would think, you just have to know which parts off which other engines fit (like the O-320 crank, O-435 cylinders.... etc). Be prepared to do some frankensteining if you plan on keeping it long. I love the idea, but then again, I like unique things that aren't all that practical.
 
osxuser said:
You can do it. Parts aren't AS big a deal as some would think, you just have to know which parts off which other engines fit (like the O-320 crank, O-435 cylinders.... etc). Be prepared to do some frankensteining if you plan on keeping it long. I love the idea, but then again, I like unique things that aren't all that practical.
Click to expand...

FYI - The O-320 crank is not interchangable with the O-290 unless you bore out the case. Once you do that you can do almost anything you want with the rest of the engine, including adding O-320 cylinders, pistons, connecting rods, sump, intake tubes, carb, etc. By the time you are finished doing all that, you might as well build up an O-320.

I've looked into doing this and it will cost less to start with an O-320.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.