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Ellison and "pretty cowl"

B

BryanArd

Active Member
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Hello all, I need to know if the Ellison TBI will fit in the "pretty cowl" (O-320 with Van's FAB) without mods. I'm thinking of converting my injected -320 to the TBI for simplicity of operation (low pressure pump, lower cost, etc.).
I like the looks of the -320 cowl (smaller air scoop) vs the -360 (big, ugly scoop), which is what I would have to use if I stay with the FI.

Smokey, any news on the conversion you were doing on the "Bandit," before you sold it?

BTW, if this works, I will have a complete FI system for sale!

Thanks to all,
 
Thanks, Steve. In those pics it looks like it will fit. The reason I'm asking is I called Van's, asked two different people, and got two different answers! One said it would fit, and the other said it won't, and I'll have to use the -360 cowl.
 
Bryan - if you want to email me directly I can give you two email adr for people who can give you a definative answer. I am at [email protected]

I am 99% sure it will work, but won't buy you a replacement cowl if I am wrong!
 
I was going for the same thing too (o320 with ellison). Then I contacted Ellison and they said that their throttle will not work on auto gas. Auto gas ruins the metal and clearances by eating the gaskets. With an ellison you are restricted too avgas for all future. This may not be a problem for you, but for me living in Europe, autogas is allmost half the price of avgas.

I have the 360 cowl planning for an io320. The engine also runs better with injection.

Besides, any paint trim you do is much more important for the looks than a detail on the cowl.
 
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SvingenB said:
I was going for the same thing too (o320 with ellison). Then I contacted Ellison and they said that their throttle will not work on auto gas. Auto gas ruins the metal and clearances by eating the gaskets. With an ellison you are restricted too avgas for all future. This may not be a problem for you, but for me living in Europe, autogas is allmost half the price of avgas.

I have the 360 cowl planning for an io320. The engine also runs better with injection.

Besides, any paint trim you do is much more important for the looks than a detail on the cowl.
Click to expand...

Yeah, avgas is more expensive than auto fuel, but they are starting to add ethanol to gas around here. I just don't feel comfortable using auto fuel, so I guess I'm stuck using avgas.
 
Having looked at the inner workings and schematics of the hydromechanical fuel injection controller for the Lycomings, I would have to say that the *real* classical beauty is right there :) But I guess that is just me.
 
Hi Bryan!
It will fit for shure. I have an O320 D2J, Ellison TBI and the standard Vans 320 cowl, much clearance all around.
Oh, it runs very smooth, 6.5 gallons at 135 kts (LOP), starting cold takes alot of cranking. All in all I'm very pleased (and I am running Mogas as well..)
Cheers from Germany, Dirk
 
Just for everyones info, I have a FAB-320 scoop on a RV6 old style long cowl with a bottom induction 0-360 and Ellison TBI unit and it fits perfectly in that cowl & scoop combination! Keep in mind that the Ellison EFS-4-5 TBI that is used on the 0-360 engine is the exact same length as the shorter Marvel Scheibner carb that is used on the 0-320, so that is why the FAB-320 scoop can be used on either an 0-320 or an 0-360 engine installation that uses the Ellison TBI (the Ellison EFS-4 that is used on an 0-320 is even shorter than the EFS-4-5 that the 0-360 requires, so there is even more clearance with an 0-320 installation).
 
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rv8r said:
Hi Bryan!
It will fit for shure. I have an O320 D2J, Ellison TBI and the standard Vans 320 cowl, much clearance all around.
Oh, it runs very smooth, 6.5 gallons at 135 kts (LOP), starting cold takes alot of cranking. All in all I'm very pleased (and I am running Mogas as well..)
Cheers from Germany, Dirk
Click to expand...

Dirk, you made my day...thanks a bunch! This is one more box that I can check off now!
 
Mo-Gas...

I ran Mo-Gas in the Bandit for 10 years before removing the narrow deck 0-320 with 7.4:1 compression in lieu of a 175HP 9.4:1 comp 0-320 wide deck in 05'. I did several things to reliably use car-gas in my airplane.
1. I always bought 87octane regular at a reliable station ie. Chevron or Shell and filtered it with a tractor funnel.
2. I always added Marvel Mystery oil per the instructions and carried a baby bottle for adding MMO on cross country's.
3. Once in awhile I would add CD-3 (lead additive) which the Stearman guys use alot to get upper valve train lube. All these products are available at the Wal Mart aviation dept.
The only mod I made to the airplane was a stainless steel needle and seat in the carb, hand lapped with fine valve grinding compound where it didn't leak.

I still have my Ellison TBI even though the Bandit is gone...I do have an old RV4 kit now, maybe a Bandit 2 is in the works...hmmmm


Rob Ray
 
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