Original Posted By: Ian Holland
Hi Mark, >There is a Master's thesis at Cal State >Long Beach titled "Converting the Corvair Engine for Aircraft Use." I borrowed >it through inter-library loan. Just returned it yesterday, so it should be >available again, soon. The author is William L. Shulze. Publication date is >1974.Hey, thanks for the reference. It never occurred to me to search the academicliterature for corvair conversion information. I live just a couple of miles from CSU Long Beach, so I'll see if I can get my hands on that thesis. >My primary concerns are torque and gyro forces on the crank shaft - also, sustained upper >end RPM.I share your concerns for the forces on the crankshaft for which this engine was not designed. I take comfort in the fact that these have been flying for decades without developing a reputation for catastrophic failures, but I wouldlike to do everything I can to be nice to the engine. I wish I knew more. I'll see if I can formulate an answerable question about sustained high RPM andpost it over at the Corvair Center Forum http://www.loop.com/~yujisilva/ . I know of some very competent mechanics over there that would love to answer thatquestion. I asked several people about sustained RPM at a CORSA West gatheringover the weekend, and couldn't get a straight answer. I did meet a few peoplewith good engines for sale. >Have you come across any information about increasing >lower RPM torque in the Corvair?The only thing I've heard about boosting low end torque is that some builders use the 95 hp cam in a 110 engine. Don't know much more than this. By the way, I received a few low quality .gif images of the Rinker PSRU from the kind folks at Vertical Systems. I sent them along to Richard DeCosta for publication on his web site http://207.140.1.221/w3builder/Piet/pics.html , but as of 9/7/98 AM they were not yet posted. (He may be very busy with his move...thanks for your efforts Richard). If anyone is anxious to see these, Ican e-mail them directly. Just lemme know.--Peter________________________________________________________________________________