ttiros

P51D Mustang With Corvette LS1 Engine

Fastbird

Seen that before. IIRC it's a 2/3 scale. Pretty neat though.

Vetteman Jack

That's a good looking plane they built. Pretty that they used an LS1 engine for it.

Mickeyrx70

The P51D is my all-time favorite airplane; certainly the best WWII fighter.

jackthelad

The Rolls Royce Merlins the P51's had were V12's, so a V8 is 2/3 size as well. Apart from the fact that the original was 27 liters, of course.

maj75

I got to fly the Merlin powered original! One of the greatest experiences in my life. It was fitted with dual controls. Her name is Betty Jane.

Pounder

hope this is not a dumb question, is it air cooled ????

maj75

Neither one is air cooled. The Merlin is liquid cooled with a radiator under the wing.

FX VETTE

crazystevex

Awesome!

Fastbird

I have been patiently waiting my entire life for the same opportunity.

jcgunn

For you guys who are unfamiliar with piston aviation engines, they are designed to be run at 75% power continuously. That is tough duty for an auto engine. They probably run this P-51 replica at 5,000 RPM for takeoff and then something like 4,000 RPM for cruise. (there is a also a gearbox to slow the prop RPM to something less than a max of 2,500-3,000 or so)

For comparison, the fuel injected IO-540 produces 300 HP for takeoff and 225 at cruise at 2,500 RPM and it needs 540 cubic inches to do that.

TrackAire

Do you know how this LS1 engine would cope with oil control, etc during high G maneuvers? I would think this plane would be used for rolls, vertical climbs, maybe even upside down....I sure would like to know how they're keeping the oil pickup from sucking air. I've been in a small plane that could dive with enough negative G's that anything not strapped down was floating....I would think the oil in the sump would do the same.

Pounder

use the LS dry sump version ???

TrackAire

But will that work if the engine is laying on its side or upside down? You would think that if somebody had the ability to put together such a specialized airplane, they would probably have an answer to the oiling question. It would be cool to find out how they did it. I hope it works out for them because it is a cool plane and there is a LOT of money tied up there.

I don't know..... I'm not sure if an LS based motor is the best idea for an aviation application, especially when you see what aviation certifications are on everything from the motor to the air conditioning compressor and everything in between.

jcgunn

With engines without inverted oil systems they are typically limited to 5 seconds of negative g. I have no idea what the oil in the lifter valley of an LS engine would do while upside down. The other thing they have to do is lean the fuel mixture as the aircraft climbs, don't know how they do that either...

Rob 02

The lifters aren't in the valley in on a ls1 they are underneath it. There is a guy making V12 LS1's for this purpose, by welding parts of two engines together.



The sound of the V8 is all to familiar. The sound doesn't go with the aircraft for me.

Awesome video though. Thanks!