Hi.
After lurking around a lot, It is time for my first questions.
But before all a short introduction:
I'm Tamas, living in Hungary, central europe. Ectrical engineer originally, but I'm also a trained motorcycle technician . As a hobby I've been racing and building track bikes (esp. Honda)and racecar engines for long years before started flying. I do not own a plane yet (as a matter of fact I'm still doing my PPL), but have flown quite a few hours on various ULs, cessnas, two cherokees and a YAK-52.
Now the question:
Had anybody considered or done a fuel injected conversion on the cherokee family? By checking the lycoming webpage I have found basically similar engines O vs. IO family both in the 320 and 360 cu range. It would have been a logical upgrade as with the same engine capacity the fuel injected versions operate safer (no icing of carbs), no carb heating needed, and consume some 10-15% less than the carbed versions. Anyone holds an STC for this?
I can't say that I've ever seen it done in a Piper, but I know that there exist conversion from an O-360 to an IO-360 that have earned STC approval in other makes/models.
This already sounds promising. Any idea where should I start checking?
Tried to search the FAA stc database, but don't seem to find it.
I have also found a fuel injection system from Mattituck, but (even though it is not said explicitly) I have a feeling that it's only for experimental engines.
We developed a one time STC via the field approval process converting the O540 to an IO540 for a PA32 260, took approx 1.5 years and the cost was close to 6K.
Lycoming doesn't recommend operating Lean of Peak now, but perhaps they'll change their mind about it as fuel prices soar. You can run LOP in an injected engine, but not a carbureted engine, so maybe you idea will catch on.
DirkandAJ Wrote:
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> You can run LOP in an
> injected engine, but not a carbureted engine,
Sure you can, do it all the time as any number of other people on here do. A bit harder, and can't go as deep, but very doable. Almost every flight I do it on. One of the key things is to pull the throttle slightly back from WOT, at least in my case, so the air is more turbulant going past the butterfly vale, and it mixes better. I generally get diffs ranging from 25-50F LOP
