LS1 Engine Engine Information
LS1 Engine Wiring Schematic
LS1
Engine Wiring Manual
LS1 HP vs Torque
LS1 Percentage of Power
Using the LS1 in the conservative way affords us a large portion of reserve power when used in aircraft. Compare this to traditional aircraft engines which typically operate at or near 100% power. LS1 engines also offer 30% better fuel burn vs. IO-540 as proven recently in a head to head fly off. Watch Kitplanes Magazine in the next few months for the feature article by Rick Lundstrom.
The LS1 Chevrolet engine claims 350 HP at approximately 5800 RPM. When used in an experimental aircraft the most HP we will likely ever use is 300 HP at takeoff. Throttling back to cruise RPM of 3400 means using only about 230 HP of the available 350. This constitutes conservative use of the engine, extending engine life and offering good fuel economy. Operating the LS1 at higher engine RPM can be done successfully, however higher engine RPM will increase fuel burn. It would then be left to the pilot’s personal opinion to determine if the additional fuel burn is worth the negligible improvement in speed or performance.
The engine operating range that we recommend for the Chevrolet LS1 for the best performance and fuel burn is between 2800 and 4200 RPM, therefore we refer to 4200 RPM as our 100% power setting. This simply means that 4200 RPM is the top of the power range we use of the available power we have, leaving more HP in reserve.
| Geared Drives BW350 on LS1 Chevrolet | |||||
| Percent of Power vs HP | |||||
| Engine RPM | Ratio | Prop RPM | % Power | HP | Prop Torque |
| 4500 | 1.667 | 2699 | 100% | 300 | 584 |
| 4400 | 1.667 | 2639 | 97% | 292 | 581 |
| 4300 | 1.667 | 2579 | 95% | 284 | 579 |
| 4200 | 1.667 | 2519 | 92% | 277 | 577 |
| 4100 | 1.667 | 2460 | 90% | 269 | 574 |
| 4000 | 1.667 | 2400 | 87% | 261 | 571 |
| 3900 | 1.667 | 2340 | 84% | 253 | 569 |
| 3800 | 1.667 | 2280 | 82% | 246 | 566 |
| 3700 | 1.667 | 2220 | 79% | 238 | 563 |
| 3600 | 1.667 | 2160 | 77% | 230 | 559 |
| 3500 | 1.667 | 2100 | 74% | 222 | 556 |
| 3400 | 1.667 | 2040 | 71% | 214 | 552 |
| 3300 | 1.667 | 1980 | 69% | 207 | 548 |
| 3200 | 1.667 | 1920 | 66% | 199 | 544 |
| 3100 | 1.667 | 1860 | 64% | 191 | 540 |
| 3000 | 1.667 | 1800 | 61% | 183 | 535 |
| 2900 | 1.667 | 1740 | 59% | 176 | 530 |
| 2800 | 1.667 | 1680 | 56% | 168 | 524 |
But Isn't
the LS1 Heavier Than
an Airplane Engine?
The
answer is no. GM lists the 5.7L Chevrolet LS1 engine as weighing in at
409 lbs right out of the crate. We remove the steel exhaust
manifolds and other accessories not utilized in aeromotive application
and we end up with an engine weighing 375 lbs. Once we add our
engine mount, ECU and harness, radiators and all accessories, PSRU, oil
and water, we end up with a ready to fly weight of between 488-493 lbs
depending on the application.
We have weighed an Eggenfellner six cylinder turbo right off the
airplane on certified aircraft scales, also ready to fly, at 510 lbs.
Most IO-540's out weight the LS1 FWF package by Geared Drives and don't offer but a fraction of the torque to the prop.
In fact, most
certified manufacturers will not even tell you how much torque is
actually applied at the prop. The Geared Drives LS1 FWF engine
package offers over 580 ft lbs of torque to the prop at take off at 4200
RPM, and at cruise at 3200 RPM only slightly less due to the
nearly flat torque
curve on this engine.
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