Increasing power on the Brantly?

[seneca2e]

Has anyone tried to get a little extra power out their Brantly's Lycoming? Maybe port and polish the cylinder heads or ? Man a turbo or supercharger would be nice but just probably not feasible due to cost involved. Even a 10% increase would be significant. They have a tuned exhaust for the Lycoming O320 in Cessna 172's for example that really delivers the goods(verifiable on a Dynamometer). I'm a pretty big guy and I like power lol.

[Steve Chenoweth]

Brantly should really look at doing a leap frog and consider a turbocharged diesel engine. There are some being developed as replacements for the Lycoming 360. There are some old posts on this, but the best contender is probably from http://www.deltahawkengines.com. Their 180 HP engine could achieve certification by the end of the year and the rpm is such that a new transmission would probably not be required for the Brantly. Use safer Jet-A or diesel is a huge plus as well.

This one action could get a lot of press and address the power shortcomings of the Brantly significantly.

Thoughts?

[seneca2e]

Well I'm kinda old school on this. I like the tried and proven. Lot of buzz on diesels these days for example the diesel small twin Diamond DA40. We had one stop in not long ago with a bad oil leak. The engine looked very industrial and I know there's a lawsuit pending against them that claims it was a faulty design rushed to market too quickly(only one side of the story though and I think that lawsuit was from a operator in England). I'm certainly not against progress but I really like Lycomings and Continentals. I still prefer the reliability and simplicity of mags over electronic ignition. Just some simple mods to squeeze a little more power out the Brantly or turbocharging would be fine with me lol.

[Steve Chenoweth]

Not sure I undestand the comment about electronic ignitions related to diesel since there are no spark plugs.

[seneca2e]

Steve,
The electronic ignitions did not go with diesels. Just talking about some of the "advances" we're seeing in piston engines. Electronic ignitions have been available for experimentals for years and I think there is one available for one mag at least on some certified planes. I still like the tried and true magneto technology but there are other proven ways to gain some hp. I bet somewhere in all these years someone has tweaked one of these engines and gotten an extra 5 or 10% out of it perhaps.

[Steve Chenoweth]

Thanks for clarifying. Another thing that has been talked about for years is a muffler for the Brantly. Without some tweaks as you mentioned, that could potentially rob even a little more power.

[jetstarr]

I am somewhat of a big man myself. I have found that well tracked and balanced blades helped as well as a k and n air filter. There is an stc out there specifically for the brantly. More air should mean more power...........any thoughts..........

[seneca2e]

Mention K&N filters and you'll get a debate going in a hurry lol. Being an avid atv'er and motorcyclist I've done quite a bit of research into K&N filters and have used them on several machines. Bottom line is they flow a little more air at the expense of not quite filtering as well. Test show that there would be VERY small increases if any when it is all said and done. Having said that I put one in my older Bonanza because the original paper filter was not available. Then I read there might be issues with it in the rain in that particular installation. Not overly concerned with that since I've run them before in a lot of stuff as I said above. However, I prefer the paper filter if available on anything I run-tests show they filter better and any increased hp for ingesting more dirt into your engine is going to be slight to negligible in the real world.

[jetstarr]

I am with you concerning the filter, especially since we don't have an oil filter. If there is a mod I would like to get my hands on, that would be it...........an oil filter. I was looking at old stc's and found one, but it is no longer available. Seems like there was some discussion some time back to approach someone, but it would take a concerted effort and a minimum quantity ordered. Another talking point that I found sometime back was..............led tracking lights. It was canadian home rotors or whoever owns the baby belle kit has come up with mini led lights that would go on the end of your blades for tracking purposes. Instead of shooting a strobe, you could get three led lights of different colors and track the blades that way. I am currently looking for the appropriate lights so that I can make some. Size, weight, intensity and proper mounting being key here....................Mike

[SunHelo Mark]

Another talking point that I found sometime back was..............led tracking lights. It was canadian home rotors or whoever owns the baby belle kit has come up with mini led lights that would go on the end of your blades for tracking purposes. Instead of shooting a strobe, you could get three led lights of different colors and track the blades that way. I am currently looking for the appropriate lights so that I can make some. Size, weight, intensity and proper mounting being key here....................Mike

Mike.. I have someone now working on those.. he is designing intertially switched LED modules that are attachable to the blade tips.. should weigh less than an ounce and screw into the existing tracking mount holes. I'll keep you posted

[seneca2e]

Sounds like a great idea on the led lights for tracking. As far as the oil filter I didn't realize that was such a job to pull the screen until I read some posts on here. I saw some talk about an external oil filter maybe by Airwolf? After 40 years you'd think someone would have solved this Not much you can't do with snap on 1/4 inch drive swivel sockets and tape though lol.

[SunHelo Paul]

Lycoming has a Special Service Instruction (I believe it's SSI-884-2) for converting older 360 engines from oil screens to oil filters.

[jetstarr]

I will definitely look at that service instruction. Thanks........by the way, I like your website, very user friendly and very professional. I travel quite extensively and would love to come over and look at your operation.........thinking about getting my cfi as well.........thanks....Mike