At 02:52 PM 12/3/98 -0800, susan dawson wrote: >I just talked to a gentleman from Winchester Va. who has fitted a 120hp >franklin engine to an ercoupe!!!! It even fits the stock mount! does >this give anyone ideas?......jolly
Yeah. Of smacking someone in the back of the head. The Ercoupe is a lovely, balanced design. It all plays together. In particular, the design depends on a balance of power and torque to make it work right (that's why the engine offset is a bit unconventional). Fred designed a 65HP airplane. To pull the electrical systems and accessories that were gradually added 75HP was certainly welcome. And 85HP made sense to drag metal wings. And 90 was probably better as amenities and density altitude went up. Coupe owners with O-200 engines seem to be really happy with the balance. That's already a 70% power increase from the original, though! So 20% more power over the tried and true, evolved, tested, maximum seems to have no real use other than to change a good design into an indifferent one. At some point, returns diminish. Increased cruise and rate of climb taper off, fuel consumption starts to out-pace the capacity of the stock tanks, and useful load goes DOWN because the structural limits are the limiting factor, not climb ability. Though it might fit on the original mounts, what about cooling? 20% more power means 20% more heat. Where's it going to go? Coupes aren't known for having a lot of extra flow up there. And what about Franklin parts? It would be generous to describe the history there as 'spotty.' There have been years and years where Franklin owners hoarded every part they could find. Granted, some things (like cranks) are getting wierd for the Continentals, but not that wierd. And it seems more likely that some enterprising soul may begin to make new ones, versus what could happen with Franklin/Pietzl (are they in or out of business this week?). For the price of getting a F120 in place, you probably could fit the world's best O-200 conversion, Millennium cylinders, new Bendix electronic ignition, super-duper valves and heads, and all. Seems like the C90 or O-200 are perfectly adequate to move an Ercoupe or Alon right along in the way the designer intended, while preserving the fundamental character of the airplane. Why mess with it and chance turning a wonderful bird into a dud? Greg
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