Kit Aircraft Modifications

Now that I have changed my mind and decided to install the LS1 package from Geared Drives I needed to change a bunch of things and start thinking about a whole bunch more!

I had already attached the engine mount and front gear leg to the fuselage so that had to be removed. This left the fuselage without a front leg so I called Bud Warren and he fabricated an engine mount for me and I picked it up from him at Oshkosh AirVenture 2008. This saved me a bunch in shipping.

After I removed the engine mount I had to remove the oil cooler mount from the firewall. This wasn’t an easy task as I had the firewall covered with a special fire blanket insulation mat. I ended up cutting the oil cooler bracket apart leaving the aluminum feet attached to the firewall. I didn’t want to have to plug all of the rivet holes and this made for a fairly neat result.

The next big job was to go through Van’s firewall kit and determine what I’d used and what was still in there. I put the kit up for sale and I had a guy out in British Columbia  purchase it. I ordered all of the consumed items from the kit and had them sent to him direct.

Next was the fuel pump and filter assembly which I had already installed and now no longer needed. All of this was removed in preparation of the installation of the twin Facet fuel supply pumps and the twin high pressute Walbro pumps.

A ton of thought went into the placement of the pumps, fuel transducers, fuel valves, fuel lines, wiring, heater core, shroud and air ducting. All of this had to be fitted into the center tunnel and it all had to be able to be serviced and inspected.

I will talk about each of these installations in more detail next and will add some photos for clarification.

Dave

The decision to go with an LS1 conversion for my RV-10 started with the desire to be a little different and from a bunch of anecdotal evidence from friends who fly behind Lycoming and Continental engines. I have sure had my fill of stories revolving around off airport landings caused by the Lyc conking out in the air.

As well, I have always been a bit of a gear head and have been around racing for years helping out with a cousin’s race car.

I initially was one of the enchanted who made the trek to see the Crossflow Subaru. I sat down with Tony Howard who was working with them on a proper marketing strategy at the time. He later left the company because, believe it or not, they wouldn’t listen to his recommendations. We all know what happened with Crossflow and how they took a lot of people’s money without delivering any product.

After this adventure, I began to explore the possibility of putting a variant of the GM Ecotec engine in the RV-10. They make a 4, 5 and 6 cylinder variant of this engine. Problem was that there wasn’t any type of gear box that I could find that would fit.

This led me down the temporary insanity path of thinking that I could design the gearbox myself. If you ever find yourself in a similar position seek professional help right away. I then sought out the help of Jack Kane from EPI. This guy is vary smart when it comes gearbox design and I had the opportunity to meet him near Portland.  In the end, we decided not to work together on the 4 cyl Ecotec supercharged engine as it would have to run at the very edge of its envelope to properly propell the RV-10 through the ait and get any semblence of comparable performance.

This is when I pretty much gave up on the whole alternative engine thing. I purchased the firewall forward package from Vans and began working with a local engine re-builder on putting together an IO-540 package for my -10.

I was well into this process when I came across Geared Drives and Bud Warren. I read about his gearbox and was instantly impressed having just learned all of the problems with other drives. I have since had the opportunity to see the engine package run in person at Oshkosh and I am sold.

This sale was not easily made as I had to put it by a large number of local friends (skeptics) one of which would have made the go/no go decision simply by making a comment either way.

I will talk some more tomorrow on the ramifications of making a decision change mid stream.

Dave

I have decided to add a new category to document the installation of the LS1 engine in my RV-10. This is the ultimate mod to my project and I have had to go through a lot of thinking and planning to get this engine into my plane.

I have decided to use the conversion package developed by Bud Warren’s company Geared Drives out of Conroe Texas. I will be jotting down my experience thus far in the next few days and then will add to the blog as I get the thing installed and tested.

I hope to provide a truthful and accurate account of the installation process so that others have a clear picture of the process. I want to help others out there contemplating the same set-up as I am.

Dave