I notice your engines do not use the overhead intake manifolds. Would those fit under the engine covers? Or maybe would not be beneficial to have those?
You are correct, Colemill Bearcat II STC uses IO550A engines with intake manifolds on the bottom, otherwise there isn't enough room for the engine in the nacelle. If you look at the new engine at ua-cam.com/video/aAyLnJOVdMM/v-deo.html, you'll see the breather tube across the front underneath that connects both sides of the manifold. Manifold gets attached when the engine is mounted, so its not in the video.
Hello @marykelly3108. Good question. Before all of these changes, the empty weight (no fuel, no people, no cargo), was 3,581 lbs. It will probably be lighter when all of the new avionics are installed. The max gross weight is 5,500 lbs, so that leaves about 1,919 lbs for loading. It carries 978 lbs of fuel (163 gallons @ roughly 6 lbs per gallon), so it will carry 941 lbs, depending on how you load it. I rarely carry more than 4 people, including me, so weight is rarely an issue. If I carry a 5th or 6th person, depending on how much they weigh, I can leave fuel off to meet my loading requirements. There are lots of calculations before every flight to determine weight and balance, takeoff distance, stop distance, and so forth, that help me determine how much fuel to carry and where to put people/cargo in the aircraft.
Truly an interesting and informative video. Your wealth of knowledge is very impressive. Looking forward to future videos.
I notice your engines do not use the overhead intake manifolds. Would those fit under the engine covers? Or maybe would not be beneficial to have those?
You are correct, Colemill Bearcat II STC uses IO550A engines with intake manifolds on the bottom, otherwise there isn't enough room for the engine in the nacelle. If you look at the new engine at ua-cam.com/video/aAyLnJOVdMM/v-deo.html, you'll see the breather tube across the front underneath that connects both sides of the manifold. Manifold gets attached when the engine is mounted, so its not in the video.
do you know what the weight of the plane is when it is all together?
Hello @marykelly3108. Good question. Before all of these changes, the empty weight (no fuel, no people, no cargo), was 3,581 lbs. It will probably be lighter when all of the new avionics are installed. The max gross weight is 5,500 lbs, so that leaves about 1,919 lbs for loading. It carries 978 lbs of fuel (163 gallons @ roughly 6 lbs per gallon), so it will carry 941 lbs, depending on how you load it. I rarely carry more than 4 people, including me, so weight is rarely an issue. If I carry a 5th or 6th person, depending on how much they weigh, I can leave fuel off to meet my loading requirements. There are lots of calculations before every flight to determine weight and balance, takeoff distance, stop distance, and so forth, that help me determine how much fuel to carry and where to put people/cargo in the aircraft.