Geared Drives Customers Flying
with our engine packages, PSRU for V8 Chevrolet, or PSRU for Subaru
We have thirty some odd customers our there now, and many are set for first flights this year. We are always excited to share their successes with you and hope that you enjoy their comments and share in their excitement! Keep letting us know how you are doing out there and we will continue to post your news here!
Bearhawk - Frank Braun, Yucca Valley, CA
Congratulations on His First Flight, March 8, 2011
Frank Braun announced his first flight in his Bearhawk with Geared Drives LS1 engine package, and reports happily that the engine runs cool - in the 160's, and that the gearbox was too cool to get out of the "yellow" of his engine monitoring system. We explained that the gearbox will almost always hold temps that are cooler than the engine, and that is a good thing. Frank took Geared Drives advice and custom tailored his cowl for the best engine cooling. Take a look at the great job that he and his buddy Donald did in the photo below:
Frank interpreted our cooling recommendations to the letter and has achieved the cooling that this system was designed for. Note the front inlets are blocked off, the side scoops and large volume of exit air in the belly. Congratulations to the Braun's for what we believe will prove to be one of the best performing Bearhawk aircraft around!
To see more information on Frank's airplane,
log on to Facebook and search for "Bearhawk Airplane".
Check the photo section for more. You can also see Franks
first takeoff on
Youtube here.
RV-10 Bill and Lynell Gipson-Engine Package Owner
Oshkosh flight report from Bill and Lynell:
"Here we are at AirVenture 2010 with our Geareddrives LS1 powered RV10.
Lynell and I flew up from Conroe, Texas with a overnight stop at Iowa
City, Iowa. Lucky for us we arrived at Oshkosh as planned on Friday
afternoon before the show to find a nearly empty pattern, a dry parking
spot, and plenty of EAA vol
unteer help to get to our dry
campsite. There was great interest in the RV10 FWF package all week as
a steady stream of aviation enthusiasts as evidenced by the flattened
grass around the front of the airplane. This was our first long cross
country trip in our 10 and the Geareddrives LS1 ran great. We averaged
160 kts burning 12.5 gph for the trip adding
15 hrs to the Hobbs meter which now has rolled over to 120 hrs."
Bill and Lynell Gipson, Conroe, TX
"I feel like I can get in my airplane anytime I want and fly anywhere I want."
"...we just recently returned from our "Spring Break" vacation flying our RV10 down to Kissimmee, FL. for Astros spring training baseball, then north to Nashville to visit my daughter and family, and return to Conroe over a span of 11 days. We had a great time and the Geareddrives LS1 ran flawlessly.
The recent changes made to the cooling system replacing the existing singe radiator, two fans, and a cowl flap with two side mount radiators with fresh air scoops (no fans or cowl flap) worked like a champ. This trip was the first real test of the new cooling configuration and I'm happy to report that the water temps NEVER got above 198F in climb and stayed at a constant 192F during cruise and while taxiing. A thermostat is currently installed in the system and I'm thinking of removing it for the upcoming summer season. The old configuration based on my earlier experiences would have provided water temps in the 225-230F range. I'm much more comfortable with the new configuration as it gives me a temperature cushion which allows me to push the engine especially in climb without fear of overheating. Thanks to Bud for developing the necessary changes and providing his expertise to make this happen.
One other change made was to provide cooling air to the gearbox by drilling 3 small holes in the cowling. My gearbox temps before this modification reached 205-210F due to the hotter engine temps and the lack of air passing by the gearbox itself. During this trip the gearbox temps were running 165F in cruise and slightly higher in climb, but NEVER got above 185F.
Bottom line: The modifications we made to the RV10 LS1 cooling system and cowling have now proven successful and will undoubtedly result in better performance and longer engine life going forward."
Bill Gipson
N730WL
Geareddrives LS1 powered RV10 (175 hrs 3.24.2011)
Lee Apaka-200Z PSRU Owner
"...Yes 5k on the core engine...pulling 2550 on the
T.O.
I did my second flight this afternoon after balancing the prop.
Much better in the vib department. Super smooth.
I had a 24 kt headwind on takeoff and she leaped off the runway..
.I was
chasing the IAS trying to hol 110 kts for the climb but over 1600 VSI to
3000 MSL. This prop and gearbox IS WAY faster than my MT...here are the
#'s from today's flight:
Level at 3K with full throttle : |MAP 25.5 Prop 2117
Core engine 4500 RPM FF 13 gph
IAS 159 kts TAS 170 kts"
Big Grin ;^O
Lee
Ravin 500 Woodward Aviation-Engine Package Owner
"I stopped at Fayetteville,
Arkansas(FYV) with a mission in mind. I wanted to fly my Ravin, 913RA
and its LS1 engine on Mogas.
Fayettville had Mogas readily available on the field. A flying icon
also resided here, Jim Younkin and my last visit included flying with
him adjusting his designed TruTrak autopilot. What an unexpected
delight and pleasure it was to aviate with Mr. Jim Younkin. Regrettably,
I was on a mission and would not even have time for a visit.
Purposely, I had depleted the aircraft to slightly less than an hours
worth of fuel when landing. My intent was to fill up with Mogas for the
first time and fly cross country with the LS1 engine. I filled the
Ravin to the brim with 148 gallons of 91 octane with remainder of 12
gallons of 100 LL in my tanks. I didn't need this much fuel, but I
wanted to dilute as much 100 LL as possibly for this flight. Some speed
and climb performance is sacrificed with the increased fuel weight, but
for this trip the price of the mogas at more than a dollar less
actually seemed to be a bargain. Besides the Ravin is a true cross
country machine with 10 hours of endurance @ 1.jpg)
75
knots with the standard Lycoming IO-540. The LS1 equipped Ravin had
performed much better than the Lycoming in previous flights on 100 LL.
Rotating and climbing to 6400 feet with the airport within dead stick
landing distance, I contacted flight center for VFR flight following. I
was on my way and set a straight course on the GPS for
Conroe, Texas (CXO). September 28,
2010 and thermals were present @ 6500' with smooth air @ 8500' for the
remainder of the flight. Occasionally, I would play with the power
settings and I did not have an autopilot, but for the most part I flew
at 8500' with power settings near 24 squared .
The distance from FYV to CXO is 345
nautical miles which was traversed in 1.74 hours giving an
average ground speed of 198 knots on
mogas. I would guess the average tailwind was around 8 knots on this
flight. All in all a very impressive and pleasant flight beating the
pants off the Ravin with the IO-540 engine, Landing in Conroe, Bud,
Phylis, and Larry shared my enthusiasm as we viewed the
flight log on the Flight Aware website recorded for posterity".
Loyd Woodward
Copyright 2010 Geared Drives-All Rights Reserved
Phyllis Ridings-Webmaster