Pumperdemon

I did see the Gary spencer v8 version, it looks pretty neat. From what I see, the TDI will have comparable power in direct drive as the v8 does (his was direct wasn't it? I forget), it has a little less weight, and a bit smaller profile. As seen in Gary's bird, weight and balance can be figured and adjusted for. An o320 sits around 270 or 290 and puts out around 150 hp, if memory serves, so the HP increase should counter the weight increase. My only question would be where the center of balance for both engines would be. I can only imagine that an i4 would bee further out from firewall, but just how much, and can it be set farther enough forward to compensate is my big question.

I've been looking into this myself lately, and from what I'm seeing across the interwebs: Weight: 1.9 TDI (ALH version) weighs in around 290 dry and accessory free - give or take, or 330ish with the flywheel (making a test stand runnable engine) Throw in another 50 for plumbing, fluids, and alternator (playing loose on the high side) - so around 380 for a runnable engine package. Power: the US spec of 110 hp is grossly underpowered by global standards. The engine was built for, and comes stock with (in other countries) up to 245hp for use in cargo vehicles. It still maintains longevity just fine. Longevity: On these engines, the first thing to go south is usually the turbo at around 200k miles. I just rebuilt the wife's turbo at 230k miles - it gave lots of warning and didn't fully fail, it just got noisy and smoky. Found 1/4" of play in the center section on teardown. She drove it like that for about 6 months and isn't one for keeping up on maintenance. I drove it to work one day and about lost my mind when I heard the racket and saw the mosquito fog out back. Needed for reliable aircraft use: (humble opinion colored by research) the flywheel is needed to smooth out reversion. A DMF might be better for harmonics, but that's usually a response for vehicle drivetrain rollover and not harmonics. Wood prop takes a lot of bite out of harmonics. I'm thinking something along the lines of a motorcycle rear wheel cush drive to ease the last of the harmonics. Its proven and easily available. Power upgrades would be EGR delete to remove the carboned intake tract problems, MAF sensor delete, injector upgrade, aftermarket chip to run off the MAP sensor exclusively, and possibly a turbo. These mods will give around 200 hp very reliably, and fairly cheaply. I know a slightly stupid non-mechanic who has done these exact things and is currently giving hell to the local subaru crowd - until they get above 80mph and he runs out of steam! 😁😂