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Thunderbolt IO-540 with Horizontal Induction?

burrm

Member
When I placed my order for my Thunderbolt IO-540 I (perhaps somewhat naively) selected the option for Horizontal/Cold air induction. When the Lycoming rep. called to confirm my order, he warned me that the stock Van’s cowling would not fit this engine. I assumed that one of the third party cowls (James or Showplanes) would probably work, but now I am not so sure as I’ve not been able to confirm with anyone who has used it.

Has anyone on here used the Thunderbolt IO-540 with horizontal induction, and if so care to share how you handled the cowling? One of the after markets? Custom/self mod?

I’m nowhere near ready for the engine and it’s probably not too late to change my Lycoming order, but not sure it’s worth going down the route of custom building my own cowl.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can offer any specific first-hand info.
 
Your options for using the CAS IO-540 are:
- ShowPlanes Cowl
- James Cowl
- Do it yourself modification of the stock cowl

Jimmy at James Cowl has modified his standard RV-10 vertical induction cowl for the CAS. He also is working on a new filter box to match this setup. This is what I will use on my RV-10 project. I used the vertical induction James Cowl on my first RV-10 project and liked it.

Note, the stock 13” Vans spinner does not work on either of these cowls so delete it from your order:
- The ShowPlanes cowl requires a 15” spinner. You can special order the Hartzell polished aluminum two blade spinner from Vans - price is around $1500.
- The James Cowl requires a 14” spinner. Jimmy at James Cowl is setting up to provide his fiberglass spinner for this. You can also order the Hartzell version from Vans.

Carl
 
according to my back of the napkin calculations:
with the same prop and standard 8,5 compressions
2% speed gain and 13% ROC gain
 
RV10 James Cowl with Forward Induction

I have the very first Sam James cowl on my RV10. It was installed by Sam James himself and features a Sam James plenum and a Fossett exhaust.

Barrett IO-540 with forward induction. 290 hp

It may only be a knot or two faster than other RV10‘s I have flown at the same power setting but it looks a lot better.

Climbing at 130 kts the chts easily stay below 400.

In cruise chts 360-380.


https://share.icloud.com/photos/05fTpZkXfP6Ze6At_n8ZKCf8Q

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0440nvouBPiq3_xDlmeGZ9n7w

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0aal_dw2hGtErafNSylWDzG_A
 
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