Good airframes for O-470?

[Peterson]

Looking at used/rebuilt/rebuildable aircraft power plants, it seems like the Continental O-470 is one of the most affordable for upfront cost, often costing less than O-200/O-235s that seem to be the staples of the homebuilt market.

Besides higher maintenance and operations costs associated with 6 cylinders over 4, why are these so much cheaper out the gate? What air frames would work well with of this type of engine?

They sound pretty good too!

 

[TFF]

Bearhawk would be the easiest match. It is what would put on.

 

[Chris In Marshfield]

I second the Bearhawk. Also, for the certificated crowd, there are STCs for the Stinson 108 (Super Stinson) for an O-470. Said to make it an amazing performer.

 

[Autodidact]

Can you run those on mogas? I've had the same thoughts; there were many built, it isn't the most "modern" (arf, arf) airplane engine, and, any airframe designed for them could also work well with an automotive v8. I'd want a larger single seat "fighter" like airplane with a little more booty on it than the average single seat homebuilt, and that may seem like a waste of hp, but then a restored Spitfire or Bearcat is then an order of magnitude greater waste of hp, and people like those (although they sometimes add jumpseats)...

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Depends on what you want. Bearhawk would be great if you want a general purpose/bush plane. If you want something nostalgic & sporty, go for an SA 300 Starduster Too. If you want something interesting that will turn a lot of heads, get the Wittman W-11 documentation from Randall Bray in Athens, GA and build Witt's O&O Special. If you want a hotrod, find a two seat composite job and shoehorn the big engine under the cowl. Then there's the retro planes as someone mentioned, the Stinson.

I can think of a dozen airplanes off the top of my head that would readily accept an 0-470, just depends on what you want in the end.

 

[Chris In Marshfield]

Can you run those on mogas?

I believe everything up to the "S" model will. Not sure about the "U". I don't recall what the compression is on that one.

 

[Peterson]

Seems like aerobatic biplanes would do well with it. Really want to build a Falconer F12, but 470 is just too much weight up front.

 

[Kevin N]

I love those big continentals. I rode in a Starduster Too with one a long time ago and it was smooth as butter. Also owned a '55 C-180 with O-470 J I would avoid that model.

 

[Pops]

Seems like aerobatic biplanes would do well with it. Really want to build a Falconer F12, but 470 is just too much weight up front.

The Lyc 320 is the best engine for the F-12. Use the light weight starter and alt. Lots of performance. I had a Lyc -290 that I built from parts. 320 crank, 290-D2, 140 HP pistons (hi-compression), cleaned and polished intakes with a 320 carb. Crossover exhaust with no mufflers. 290 GPU cam and solid lifters. WOT with a Sen-74x56 prop ( Lyc-320 prop) at SL was 2900 rpm. Cruise at 150 mph @ 75% with a 1700 FPM ROC at gross, 2200 fPM with just me and 1/2 fuel. Little more of a cruise prop and clean up a little more drag, easy to get 160 cruise.
Everyone thought I had a Lyc-360 in it. 360 would be to much, cruise pushing up towards the red line of 187 mph. I had to watch my airspeed all the time. Lower the nose just and little and easy to get close to the redline. I ran it over 200 mph true airspeed one time by not paying attention when letting down from high altitude .
Great airplane.
Dan

 

[Victor Bravo]

Some versions of the O-470 are regarded as "bullet-proof" on the same level as the O-320 and O-360. An excellent choice if you have an airframe large enough to justify the extra weight and power. But I believe most of the engine experts will say that a 540 Lyc will produce more power to weight than an equivalent 470 Continental?

The Cessna 180 and 182 series, arguably the greatest general purpose utility, pickup truck, medium bushplane, and family cruiser series of airplanes ever built, is based on the 470.

The Bearhawk is a good candidate for the 470, although many Bearhawks have gone with the Lycoming IO-540. A 470 powered Bearhawk would make a really neat and smooth running bush/utility ship.

I have a friend with a Cirrus VK-30 pusher, and this airplane uses the slightly larger (but same family) IO-520. Works great.

If you want to go FAST, you can install one of these engines on the larger 4 seat Lancair.

If you want to go fast and COOL, you might be able to get Ralph Wise in Mojave to draw you a set of plans for his current 2 seat tandem "sport plane"

If you want to do aerobatics, there are several biplanes that might be able to sue this engine, modified with fuel and lubrication suitable for acro. I'm not an acro airplane expert at all, but I am guessing that those experts might tell you that the O-470 is better suited to a large "touring biplane" like a Great Lakes. The reason is that the hardcore acro guys all seem to be using the Lycoming 540. Probably the P-W ratio thing again.

The real answer of course depends on what type of flying you want to do.

 

[TFF]

Leaving it in the nose of a 13-19-2,3,3A Bellanca would be a major preference. I believe the plus of the 0-470 is the Continental crank AD does not apply vs a 0-520.

 

[Pops]

The first scratch build Bearhawk had a Cont 470. Builder was Will Graft. With the extra weight of a Cont- 470 has over the Lyc -360 that Bob Barrows had in the prototype, the Lyc-360 is a better engine for the airframe. A lot of builders are installing the Lyc-540's in there Bearhawks and the extra weight and extra fuel tanks for the higher fuel burn cuts down the useful load and defeats a lot of the purpose of the design. The EW of the prototype was 1200 lbs and some of the builders are building 1600+ EW Bearhawks.

 

[Autodidact]

If you want to go fast and COOL, you might be able to get Ralph Wise in Mojave to draw you a set of plans for his current 2 seat tandem "sport plane" .

This thing? I get tingly all over when I look at it...

 

[Doggzilla]

Oh my....

 

[Toobuilder]

This thing? I get tingly all over when I look at it...View attachment 48991

You should see (and hear) that thing rip by my house at 50 feet going the speed of heat.

 

[Toobuilder]

The 470 series is a fine engine, but it is significantly heavier than the typical 540. And it is not cheap to OH.

I suspect you would be better off looking at a Lyc 435 modified with 320 cylinders (480). Aquisition costs are better, but the P/W should be much improved.

 

[Topaz]

This thing? I get tingly all over when I look at it...

Oh. My. Gotta show that to my friend at Boeing. He's gonna like that.

 

[Victor Bravo]

Yeah, that's why I mentioned it. It's classic looking, modern looking, brutish looking, and aerodynamically really cool... all at the same time.

Then it was engineered, designed, built, and test flown by someone who's usually the coolest guy in the !(#*$ room.

Then, if you look closely, the airplane also shows a little bit of the DNA of George Owl, who designed Ralph's OR-65 (or OR-71, don't remember) racer "Wise Owl" (also known as "Sierra Hotel")

 

[Jay Kempf]

That gets a full capital ZOIKS!

 

[BobbyZ]

I may be wrong but it seems this applies to a few of the 6 cylinder engines.I've also seen O-300's for pennies compared to other popular engines.I recently was outbid on a solid core on Ebay,it was so cheap I had to bid on it for a friend who has a 170 getting close to overhaul time.He's serving overseas so I didnt go after it too hard but if I got it around my bid it would have made a nice return home present.He talked about getting a decent core and rebuilding it as money and time allows and swapping it when his times out so I've been watching them pretty often.

Am I missing something on the O-300's that goes bad?Or is this another one that seems to slip through the cracks every so often?Would it make a decent Corvair replacement?