To Turbo or not to Turbo that is the question

[sean44]

Ready, set, GO with your opinions and why. Those who converted their 80hp themselves I’d really like to hear from you. Especially those who have done so in the last few years!

[tps8903]

Ready, set, GO with your opinions and why. Those who converted their 80hp themselves I’d really like to hear from you. Especially those who have done so in the last few years!

I've never flown the 80hp model. I started it up in my driveway, and decided I would add the turbo. I have 10 hrs on my Turbo now and love it. I think there was some growing pains for folks in the early stages, but those issues seem to be worked out now. It looks to me like I'll have no issue getting the factory published numbers.

[Bryan Cotton]

Five years ago Josh Bardell gave me a ride in his turbo A model. Climb performance was outstanding. My 80 HP Aerovee doesn't climb the same, but it gets the job done. I'm cruising at 100kts and 4GPH down low. The economy is outstanding. So I'm happy with my naturally aspirated choice.

[Jerry09w]

I live at 4500 ft, with summer density altitudes at 7000-8000 feet at the airports in the lower valleys. I added a turbo kit for take off and climb. I use it to turbonormalize the engine, just maintain the 30"mp at high altitude. I had already added the top oil cooler and oil filter so when I added the turbo all I had to add was the turbo. Just adding the turbo system went quickly, and has given no problems. It allows me sea level take off at places like Leadville (9927 msl). By not exceeding normal sea level power I still run mogas. I have kept the original propeller. I have not installed the water cooling system,

[gammaxy]

Those who have the turbo, did you make larger cooling vents? On my normally-aspirated Aerovee, I run out of cooling and have to limit my climb angle, but I just have the vents sized according to the plans.

[sean44]

Thanks everyone - keep the comments coming. I won’t be doing a lot of high PA flying but I do like the added climb performance of the 100hp. Is keeping the water cooler off an option initially to add on if needed?

[Onex107]

A friend of mine is building time on a Onex, Aerovee, turbo and has included the water cooling system. It does a good job of controlling the bearing temps after stopping the engine. Another Aerovee turbo at our airport, without the cooling system, experienced the cokeing problem and had to rebuild the bearings. So we have some turbo history at 3MY. The numbers we found say that the oil starts cokeing at 450 degrees and up. So we added a thermocouple to the outside of the center housing to give us an indication of how hot it gets after the engine is turned off. And it does go over 450 degrees. The outside of the center housing is not the true temperature of the oil in the bearings, but it is an indication of what's happening. Running the engine at idle for five minutes does not do the job. The EGT, even at idle, is around 1100 degrees and the heat from the hot side casting will soak into the bearings after the engine stops. The water cooling system is only needed for the 20 minutes after the engine stops. My opinion, your turbo will begin to freeze up and will not run when you start. That's the way it happens.

[Onex107]

Another few thoughts. We, the owner of the Onex turbo and I, expect to have to add additional outside air in some manor this summer. The Onex bottom cowl has no outside air inlet, just the air flow down through the cylinders. On my non-turbo Aerovee Onex I had several failures, voltage regulator and ignition coil mounted on the firewall, which I attributed to the temperature. I, and one other Onex owner, added NACA vents to the sides of the bottom cowl directing outside air to the firewall. I did not see any increase in CHT as a result. Fresh air to the AeroInjector should also be a plus.

[karmarepair]

I have no personal experience to bring to this question.

I wonder why the turbo has such high suggested valve clearance. To me, that suggests that the valves are growing due to heat, and if I'm right, no good can come from that.

Rumor has it that a turbo powered airplane that was at Oshkosh this year came home on a truck due to engine troubles. If anyone has any credible insight, please share.