On a wing and a prayer
In Morley’s Workshop in issue 414 he ta lks about a lternative uses for Chev engines. Here’s one I came across a couple of years ago: While waiting to go up in a glider at Benalla I heard a tow-plane f ly ing past t hat had a distinctive ex haust sound. Sure enough, it had a Chev y LS motor in it.
According to the people at t he gliding club, it was a ll part of a CASAsanctioned tria l. Seems t he short temperature-cycle experienced by the average tow-plane is rea lly hard on t hose big radia l engines. I guess t he big issue is rely ing on a water cooling system and a ll t he problems it could present.
Adrian Cosgriff, Email
few months. I reckon we should track the bloke and his plane down and have a look-see. In the interests of science, of course. And since Guido is a closet plane nerd, I reckon we could talk him into giving us a few pages to examine what must have been a very interesting conversion from Commodore SS to fixed-wing tow-plane.
You’re right about the liquid cooling system adding complexity, and if there’s one thing that aero engineers love, it’s the KISS principle. That said, plenty of dedicated aero engines have, in fact, been liquid-cooled, including the mighty Merlin V12 that helped win World War
2 (see next letter) which had two separate cooling systems; one for the engine, the other for the intercooler (in supercharged form). But I reckon the low weight, excellent power-to-weight ratio and low-stress nature of the alloy LS V8 would make it a monty for a grunty little plane that can tug gliders into the air day in, day out. I would presume the other changes CASA would deem necessary would be a switch to magneto ignition and a move to twin spark-plugs per cylinder.
It all makes sense to me, especially since the end result is bound to have a better exhaust note than the fart-in-a-bottle drone of a five-litre flat-four revving out to a mighty 2500rpm.