You gotta see this -

https://newyork.craigslist.org/que/pts/d/ma...7175449546.html

What could possibly go wrong?

Looks like it will do a good job at circulating the exhaust gases and hot air from the engine. Safe enough with no guard.

I saw this over the weekend - Prop NOT included.

What the heck was that thing cooling?

Well his shop of course

the prop had to be buried in the desert since it has 5 liters of DNA on it from the guy that walked into it ? Sell off the rest of the evidence...done !

It's not even a 914 motor. Just a Type III VW engine. Look at the exhaust port locations.

May have been used on an airboat at some point?

Many years ago, I rode in an airboat powered by a VW Type 1 engine.

Yep, that's a type 3 engine including the Solex carbs, so '67 or earlier.
Funny how he has a wire mesh around a 10" fan for the engine cooling and a 4 ft prop wide open...

Looks like Airboat engine to me also

Actually these types of engines are popular for the home builder entry level airplane/gliders.

-Nacho

With the way the prop is attached, I wouldn't even taxi down the runway with that engine. The thrust bearings in a VW motor are not designed with a propeller in mind. Remember, you are pulling all of the thrust created by the propeller against a magnesium engine case. Most home builders use a reduction unit of some kind, both to absorb the thrust load of the propeller and to lower the propeller speed to something that won't have the prop close to supersonic. 3K is about max speed for most fixed pitch propellers.

Looking at that picture, I guestimate the prop to have a 30 inch radius. So doing the math, the prop tips are moving at 536 mph at 3000 RPM. AT 5500 RPM (about redline in a VW pushrod engine), the prop tips would be at 767 mph, or Mach 1.2. It definitely needs a reduction drive to use it in an airplane.

Clay

It just reeks of crazy

Now that's air cooling.