Turbo Sparrowhawk?

[ventana7]

Hey Jim Mayfield,

Awhile back you reported you were ready to test fly a Sparrowhawk with a Turbo'ed engine- do you have any reports for us yet?

You may have heard I bought Terry Eilands AAI modifed RAF and I am still interested in either the turbo or the 2.5 soob.

I plan on spending most of the winter in your neighborhood so will see you soon.

Rob Dubin

[KenSandyEggo]

Wonder how an O-320 would work. That 125 h.p. Continental with Fadec would probably work well for us near sea-level flyers.

[Chopper Reid]

Rob,
What sort /type of turbo engine are you thinking about ? I had a factory EA 81 turbo and it was a continual headache. Switched to a EJ 2.2 EFI and now have 1400 hours up. Have put a new water pump on, thats the total sum of repairs.Know a fellow that did 3,800 hours with a 2.2 and it was still going okay.
I reckon that Sparrowhawk canopy looks just great. The RAF canopy seating position didnt thrill me but they look pretty cool !

[Mayfield]

Chopper Reid,

Sorry it took so long for me to respond.

The EJ20 turbo installation that one of our customers asked us to look at did not work out.

Too heavy. Too much power: Would have forced me to go to a 100MM drive system which would have moved the propeller back which would have ........???

In addition, the PRA exemption requires normal aspiration. The customer wanted to be able to use the aircraft for training.

We'll probably fit a normally aspirated EJ25 for him.

Jim

[ventana7]

Chopper and Jim,

I just bought a my machine (AAI modified RAF) with a carbed 2.2. I am still in Queensland Australia so I have not even flown it yet. But I am planning on flying it for a few months in Arizona at about 1000 altitude but then will likely swap it out for a 2.5 EFI engine before flying in Colorado and elsewhere with over 7,000 feet Density altitudes. I have concluded that the turbo is NOt the way to go.

Rob