I have seen a few with this engine. what do gain in performance vs. a IO-360? Would like some real world #s. thanks.
After 1000 hours on my IO-390 I have only good things to say. Oil consumption is almost nil, climb performance is awesome, and fuel economy excellent... I flightplan for 165TAS with 74" Hartzell constant speed prop... Fuel flow around 8gph at altitude (wide open throttle)...
To be fair, however, I think RV's are optimized for 180 hp. In level flight cruise with other RV's... the -390 doesn't buy you much performance over a -360 due to airfoil design & drag.
The big payoff, in my opinion, is short field takeoff & climb performance.... making it ideal for high pressure altitude operations...
My 4 with an O 360, mags and a woody prop at 8000 ft DA and 2650+ RPM is pulling 208 mph with the new PR wheel pants. The original wheel pants I was only 201 mph.
I didn't think that there was that much of a difference between the different models.
Tim
baseline --- which io-360? 180 HP or 200 HP?
I think your best 'real world' estimate is the factory performance specs at https://www.vansaircraft.com/rv-7/#aircraft-details-2
which shows going from 180 HP to 200 HP is worth 7 mph in cruise. Or +3.5%
So making an educated estimate - going from 200 HP to 210 is going to give you 3 mph or so added cruise speed.
Wow, that’s 181 knots.. that’s smoking!