Diesel powered flight ???

[DennisB]

I've seen some material about the 1930 Pietenpol air camper looks like a nice little slow fly around the neighborhood have fun sort of plane .. It shows it using Ford Model T motor my question is does anybody out here have any input about the possibility of using a small 4 cylinder Kubota turbo diesel about 1.5 to 2.2 liter size instead of a Model T engine . At work my experience with them is they are reliable beyond belief and have fantastically long engine life I've seen some still running strong with over 20,000 hours never had any mechanical breakdown and never been rebuilt. I would like to here anybody's thoughts on the subject ???

[Aaron Novak]

I've seen some material about the 1930 Pietenpol air camper looks like a nice little slow fly around the neighborhood have fun sort of plane .. It shows it using Ford Model T motor my question is does anybody out here have any input about the possibility of using a small 4 cylinder Kubota turbo diesel about 1.5 to 2.2 liter size instead of a Model T engine . At work my experience with them is they are reliable beyond belief and have fantastically long engine life I've seen some still running strong with over 20,000 hours never had any mechanical breakdown and never been rebuilt. I would like to here anybody's thoughts on the subject ???

Actually it is a modified "A" engine, not "T" that is commonly used. Diesel aircraft engines are nothing new, if the power/weight ratio works out, and the final conversion itself is reliable, why not? Don't fool yourself though and think its going to be easy . Especially considering those kubotas aren't exactly feathers. A good ol' A-65 is under 200 lbs dry, what does a 2.2 Kubota weigh, over 400 by the time you get it converted......?

[DennisB]

Thanks I didn't realize that the Model T Engine was that light weight And I'm familiar with the Model A engine the Ford 9&8N farm tractors used a modified version of the Model A motor .. I've had 2 airplanes in mind and trying to decide on which one either a Pietenpol air camper or a VP2 Volks Plane did any of the Aircraft engine manufactures Continental Lycoming Franklins Ect.. ever build an engine suitable for either of these planes ???

[jhausch]

What is the rated hp and rpm of the kubota?

[DennisB]

The DT1803-cr-t Kubobata is 47 HP. @ 2700 RPMs and max RPMs is 2700 from factory and weighs 410 lbs all accessories including the flywheel aircleaner exaust pipes muffler. What I've found is the Ford Model A engine is rated at 40 hp. and weighed 350 lbs without aircleaner exhaust pipes muffler and no flywheel. The Kubota 3 cylinder turbo might be able to compete with a Model A engine in a Pientenpol never come close to an A-65 continental but it might do the job to replace the original Model T and Model A engines

[Ron Blum]

It would be a unique sound for an airplane. Cool idea, though.

[DennisB]

I got to see an old Packard 9 cylinder aircooled radial diesel airplane engine one time they worked and they flew.. They had a unique feature they only had one valve per cylinder the same valve worked both intake and exhaust !!!

[jhausch]

Were there any modifications to the bearing closest to the prop in the Ford engine? Has anyone heard any issues with prop resonance on the p-pol?

I like this kubota idea. I had 3 cyl turbo yanmar diesel genset on a boat I worked on. Ran like a top....

I posted another thread on here about a company called flyeco. That looks like a promising small ac diesel solution...

[DennisB]

The Yamar diesel and the Kubota diesel are very similar in quality John Deere buys all there small diesel engines from Yamar all there 20 to 50 hp. tractors are running Yamar engines.. These little engines with reasonable care seem like they run forever and are super reliable that's why I'm thinking along these lines .. A little slow hopefully easy to fly airplane for sunny day local cruises .. And being economical to fly and a long engine life will add to the fun..

[jhausch]

I posted elsewhere on this forum about flyeco (www.flyeco.com, I believe). That looks like it might be promising, but the only info I have found is from Aero 2013.