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What ACE-Performance is doing to the Lycoming 320…..

Relentless

Registered User
San Luis Obispo, CA (for now)
If I learned one thing this past year about engines is that "less is more". If you look at the first 10 R Series engines we are shipping they are R409s and a few R360s. The problem is for every customer I have for these performance monsters I have many more that told me when/if we ever apply this tech to the 320 to call them. Well, the phone is going to start ringing!


Andrew and I have gone ahead and pulled the trigger. As I write this post our factory that produces the AX50 cylinder is building up the tooling for the AX40. While this will share all we have learned building the AX50 for 360/409/540s are planning on taking advantage of a few "tweaks" as we build up another set of tooling for this cylinder.


What we visualize is the ability to convert any wide deck 320 engine into a 335cu in, light weight wonder. If Andrew's projections are as spot on as they were on the R360, we are expecting between 170-180hp, same improved cooling, and unleaded fuel compatibility all for scant 225lbs…


We are not sure if this will be available through Titan as of yet but initially we plan on offering these as part of our ACE overhaul upgrade program. I have been running the numbers and feel as part of an overhaul of a 320 the cost to upgrade to a 335 will be in the low 20k's.


Here are some renderings of the 335 with our new sump and pressure recovery plenum.


This pic shows the inegrated fuel injector rail.
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Note the AX40 plenum can accept either updraft or forward injector servo. Andrew spent many hours getting the flanges in the same position as a stock engine while still creating the area inside the plenum.
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This version should come in around 225lbs!!! That is not much more than the Lycoming 233@115hp :confused:
 
Nice work kevin.I like the intake pressure recovery plenum.It is something long overdue in the aircraft industry.
If you get short on things to do the small 0-200/C-90 Continental would be a great candidate for cylinders as well.:smile:

Bill
 
Omg, why am I seeing a vision of my next engine? Its coming in so clearly it must be HD!
 
Cool. How will this compare to the Titan/Cub Crafters CC340?

Good question. The 340 is a stroked 320 built with traditional cylinders and needs 9.0:1 compression to make 180hp.That means the 340 will not run well on low octane and unleaded fuel. The lightest version 340 is 243lbs for Cubcrafters, our ACE-335 will be around 225lbs. The 340 is an excellent engine and we sell many of them but Andrew and I just feel that we can do better. Even the Lycoming 233 is really just the same old tech newer ignition bolted on.

This is what innovation feels like!
 
Nice work kevin.I like the intake pressure recovery plenum.It is something long overdue in the aircraft industry.
If you get short on things to do the small 0-200/C-90 Continental would be a great candidate for cylinders as well.:smile:

Bill


:pop:

Glenn
 
Good question. The 340 is a stroked 320 built with traditional cylinders and needs 9.0:1 compression to make 180hp.That means the 340 will not run well on low octane and unleaded fuel. The lightest version 340 is 243lbs for Cubcrafters, our ACE-335 will be around 225lbs. The 340 is an excellent engine and we sell many of them but Andrew and I just feel that we can do better. Even the Lycoming 233 is really just the same old tech newer ignition bolted on.

This is what innovation feels like!

Thanks for the updates on your new projects. It looks like exciting stuff.....

As an owner of a CC O-340 built by Bart and crew in BC in 2011 what do you consider low octane? Is 91 octane car gas without ethanol suitable to burn in this engine if diluted with some 100LL?
 
First off, if you have an engine built by Bart Lalonde then you have a very special engine. I have never met anyone who knows more about building a traditional Lycoming clone engine than Bart.

As for your comment, I am not a fuel engineer. All I know is that I tried running 91 octane fuel in a stock 340 in our break-in dyno and it ran like crap. Mixing in 100ll and even running 91 at cruise settings can work, its just that there are so many variables out there that no engine manufacturer to date, can say anything but an aviation grade fuel will work.

ACE Performance on the other started designing our parts from the beginning to use materials and designs that would allow us to run on a wide range of unleaded fuel and even ethanol fuels. I have been running 91 octane auto fuel in both my R360 and R409 for some time now and aside from slightly higher CHT temps (7-8ish) I can see no difference.

Titan has just starting an ASTM certification program with a R360 and in a few months we will have all the data necessary to back up my experience thus far.

Stay tuned.;-)
 
designs that would allow us to run on a wide range of unleaded fuel and even ethanol fuels.
Really appreciate your progressive thinking!!!!
 
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Quote "We are not sure if this will be available through Titan as of yet but initially we plan on offering these as part of our ACE overhaul upgrade program. I have been running the numbers and feel as part of an overhaul of a 320 the cost to upgrade to a 335 will be in the low 20k's."
So what does the total end up for one of these engines?
And then how long before you do The O235C? What an engine that would be!
 
A good friend of mine has done a lot of dyno work on the 0-360 engine and has told me that the stock lycoming updraft sump is not that efficient at flowing air. Essentially all of the intakes are "gasping" for air and that they are robbing from each other as they take turns. The volume of the area directly above the carburetor ie plenum, isn't big enough. By making a larger plenum as many of the "cold air" sumps have done, they see higher air flow and more horsepower. This is my understanding of the subject. Hope it helps.
 
Intake tracts can be tuned the same as an exhaust system can.Pulses move back and forth in the pipe.Picture the intake valve open with a column of air moving along the tube into the cylinder at quite a velocity.
Now slam the intake valve closed against that rapidly moving mass of air.The energy of the column has to go somewhere so it bounces a wave off the valve and sends that pulse back down the pipe towards the plenum/carb.
If you can construct the plenum size and shape correctly you can turn that energy into a positve pulse and send it back up the pipe toward the intake valve again.
Shape of the plenum and length of the pipe is critical to to timing of the pressure wave arriving at the back of the intake valve as it begins to open on the next cycle actually helping to charge the cylinder.
Wrong dimensions can seriously hurt cylinder filling at certain rpm.

Exhaust tuning is exactly the same principle.On an aircraft engine making max torque at 2600 rpm you would ideally need about 80 inch primary tubes for each cylinder to optimize the waves to rpm.Of course this is not practical so engineers do the best they can within the confines of the engine compartment.

No doubt in my mind that these guys get it and are doing something about the poor design of the intake system and cylinders.

Bill
 
So this is a fuel injected engine? Never heard of ACE, I met you at Sun & Fun while visiting with Bart and saw what I think is the start of this new engine technology on display.
 
So this is a fuel injected engine?
Looks like automobile type injectors. I think I'll slip over to Bill Rusk's and swipe his new airframe when he's not looking and then get one of these engines. Would be a sweet setup and using cheap fuel a real plus.
 
Bill,

Thank you for your description. You are spot on and I assure you Andrew my partner get this. FYi we are build our third intake trumpet tubes right now, getting the right shape and length seems to be a bit more than a simple math problem.

Thanks again.
 
Rev3 pressure recovery sump. ACE

Here is latest pressure recovery sump with stainless tapered tubes for electronic fuel injection. New trumpets are in the post, should be able to test entire setup when I return from installing first R409 in Anchorage. This sump can accept EFii, mechanical fuel injection, or carb.

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Here is v1 on the first R360 going to ASTM testing at Titan, this has AFP150 mechanical fuel injection in the forward facing configuration.
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Feel like kid waiting on Christmas, and its finally here. Latest version of tapered tubes and trumpets for pressure recovery plenum finally arrived, can't wait to get this on my ACE 360r...

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I've been following these post,this looks like the cats meow,can't remember if this engine can be certified?And maybe by the time I am ready to put my - 12 back together you will be doing the O-235C
 
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Looks like you have a good start kevin.It would be interesting to run a stock 360 sump on the dyno and then do some pulls with just the new sump and tubes.May be a worthwhile upgrade by itself.
Now if you had a REAL tuned exhaust to compliment it instead of a farm tractor exhaust system things would really perk up.

Bill
 
Titan is in the middle of a 400hour certification run on a 360r version for ASTM test. This will give us 2000 hr TBO confidence and lots of good info. Beyond that certification someone will need to buy me out cause I have no interest in the certified market.
 
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Just received this image from the casting factory, our first AX40 casting next to freshly minted AX50. The significant reduction in size will be more obvious once the casting is machined. We expect the smaller AX40 to save another 2.9lbs per cylinder for our bolt 320 to 335 conversion.
 
Kevin,this is for non certified? You are only working on certifying the O360 if I understand correctly?
And Everything you are doing is Totaly Awesome
Gary
 
Those parts are nice. I'd like to stand at the window of the CNC machine and watch one being made. The reciprocating general aviation engine world needs fresh thoughts. Hope to see some of your parts in person, maybe at oshkosh.
 
To be clear the only certification plans right now are for ASTM certification of our 335 and 360 versions of our cylinders for the lightsport category. If there are any investors with a large fortunes that would like to make them smaller, we are open to a joint venture to certify our cylinders for specific applications.
 
To be clear the only certification plans right now are for ASTM certification of our 335 and 360 versions of our cylinders for the lightsport category. If there are any investors with a large fortunes that would like to make them smaller, we are open to a joint venture to certify our cylinders for specific applications.

Thanks Kevin
So how much will a complete 335 with your preasure recovery sump cost?And can it be installed on a certified PA-12 or only on new light sport aircraft?thanks watching this progress is great and if the time and money was spent on making your new engines instead of trying to make a new type of gasoline for the old inefecent engines everyone would be money ahead.
What has your fuel burn per hour been so far on your test flight of the 360?
Gary
 
I realize this is an OLD thread but am wondering what ever happened with these engines. I ask because I recently noticed this website (www.ac-aero.com/ax4050-cylinder-kits) after reading about it in the engine article of the latest Kitplanes magazine.
 
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