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400 HP RV-7

EMBpilot

I'm New Here
Hey guys. A quick question for y'all. I was at my father's house recently and I read an article in one of the magazines about a man who had converted a Corvette engine for his 7. But for the life of me, I can not find the issue, or even remember what magazine brand it was from. Anybody know off the top of their head the magazine (kit planes, custom planes, etc) or month it was published. Or if the company has a website. Thanks in advance, I am pulling my hair out searching his house for it.
 
Wierdness

All that I could find was a guyon e-bay selling a RV-10 with a 600h.p. 'vette engine. Seemed pretty sketchy.I get Kitplanes magazine and the EAA mags but I can't remember ever reading about RV-7's with Corvette motors.Good luck.
 
V8

There used to be a guy, I think he was in Arizona, selling a chevy v8 conversion package. I think he called himself "Predator Aviation." I don't think the package went beyond a prototype. I sent him a couple of emails and he was in the middle of moving, if I remember correctly, up to the NW U.S., possibly Idaho. He said he would contact me after getting settled but never did. His web site no longer has information about the v8 conversion.
 
Thanks for the info guys. After more searching of the house I finally found the old magazine. Guess I didn't notice the date of Sept 2004 (CustomPlanes) the first time I read it. But looking on the web doesn't bring back much. It's a shame because it looked like the engine had a lot of promise. I'm not sure if there is an RV data base but the 7 he had that beast in was N577AZ. Thanks again for the help.
 
Gary Bricker

I talked to a vender @ OSH or Sun n Fun and he was working with the same guy with the 7a and they were working on a 10. Must be what you are talking about. He never got the FWF put together for the 7 other than his own. I was going to Arz. and fly the 7 about the time he moved. Haven't heard about him until today.
 
RV7

It was Predator Aviation. They were formerly based in AZ and had a 7 with the engine. It was butt ugly, extremely heavy and down right scary.

I talked with the guy and when he made the statement that the 500+ pound engine package had no impact on the CG, I walked away. I also remember he had the gross weight at 2300 lbs!!

The airplane was later listed for sale and I don't know what happened to it.
 
Its a small world

That is what is so great about the Web and sites like this, sharing info to help others avoid mistakes.
 
COOL!

I saw the RV7A with the Corvette several times at Glendale airport and Casa Grande.
It had air conditioning, and needed it because the plane was painted ALL BLACK.
Robert Ruggles
Surprise AZ
 
found a link to the story written by Ron Kibler, in customs planes on the corvette engine and rv7A. go down to the story Solving the High Cost of Horsepower.

http://ronkilber.tripod.com/stories.htm


The story about his trip up to alaska in an air coupe make me want to start packing..let's see a nice coat, shotgun, food, tent.....$$$$$$$$$
 
There is an 8 owned by a couple that lives at an airpark somewhere in the middle of FL. It has a belly scoup and looks beautiful and reminds of a P51.

An article will be written about it, probably for EAA engine's section.
 
RV6 with 300hp Lyc for sale

Have a neighbor, co-worker, with one of these for sale, flying, if anyone is interested. $95k unpainted (being repainted right now) was last price I heard from him. PM for his contact info only, I'm not an airplane broker!
 
RV7- chevy LS-1

It was Predator Aviation. They were formerly based in AZ and had a 7 with the engine. It was butt ugly, extremely heavy and down right scary.

I talked with the guy and when he made the statement that the 500+ pound engine package had no impact on the CG, I walked away. I also remember he had the gross weight at 2300 lbs!!

The airplane was later listed for sale and I don't know what happened to it.



Good Day,

I am the current owner of said RV - 577AZ. Happy to chare info I have on it and if anyone else has more information on it, Id love to hear from you.

To answer your questions she flys great in my opinion. Ive never flown a "regular" rv7 but the weight and balance is done pretty well and she has tons of power. I have been working on making it lighter. Ive gotten rid of almost 100 pounds with some major items and looking to continue dropping that.

I have consulted some well known test pilots and engineers and they told me not to worry about dropping weight.

The G rating has been reduced from 6G to 4G's. I have personally flown it to 3.5G's and thats about the most Id want to go.

I came from cars and love the LS engine, yes its heavy and isnt the perfect match for the application but I love it this way.

look forward to hearing from you all.
 
Lot's of HP...

I, for one, would love to see performance data.

Pick an altitude, say 6500ft; what's the manifold pressure, crank RPM, propellor RPM, fuel flow in/out, fuel burn, and...True Airspeed...

Happy Holidays.

B
 
I ran across this airplane a few years ago at Long Beach, CA.

IMG_1044-M.jpg
 
The fact that it is still flying after all these years is impressive. I wonder a bit about the power. The highest GM rated the engine was 345 HP at 5600 RPM. At 4000 I would expect the engine is under 300. Still in a RV7 the performance should be great. It sounds much more suitable for a 10.
 
Good Day,

I am the current owner of said RV - 577AZ. Happy to chare info I have on it and if anyone else has more information on it, Id love to hear from you.

Pictures?
Cruise speed at 75% power cruise at 8000ft?
Interested in Rate of Climb numbers.
CG location at Max Takeoff weight?
MTOGW?
 
I also wonder about the structure where the engine mount attaches. It's only designed to handle so much thrust and torque. I'm sure there's healthy margins on the 215hp Van's has approved with the IO-390. Where do those margins end? 400hp is almost double.
 
I wonder what the empty weight is... cough :rolleyes:

Many find with an auto engine their empty weight is significantly greater than Van's spec. and they end up with a low useful payload limit. The solution by builder/owner is they arbitrarily up Van's gross weight limit with nothing more than pencil whipping.
 
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