A lofty v8 Conversion Options

[Cracker]

...specifically an LS conversion!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpcI3XudnX0

[Dave_Darling]

Engine management and fuel control would be about as simple as you can possibly get, and very mechanical. It may have centrifugal advance for the ignition, but it might be wholly or completely manual! Fuel will generally be delivered by a carburetor, with a manual mixture control.

The emphasis is on simple and reliable, and secondly on giving the pilot control.

Remember that aircraft engines run in pretty narrow RPM ranges, and quick transient response is not required. It is generally fine if it takes 10 or 15 seconds to get to full power.

Supercharger boost would be the primary power control. They ran up to something like 30 PSI of boost at maximum. The Merlins had large two-stage superchargers on the aft end of the engine.

The Allisons were built for turbocharging, and not that much work was done on mechanical supercharging. The turbo systems would up being problematical to fit in a single-engine fighter aircraft, which kind of neutered the setup in the P-39, P-40, and early Mustang. It worked pretty well in the P-38 Lightning, at least in the Pacific where it didn't really see cold weather.

Don't know what kind of setup the replica has on it, but it wouldn't surprise me if it's just a single carb and mechanical-only distributor.

EDIT: Just looked at the "exhaust" video. It shows stock-type coil-on-plug ignition and a fuel-injection manifold. So it looks like standard street-car type stuff.

--DD