Ron's RV7 Aircraft Factory


Welcome to my personal blog. This site was created as an informal description of my build progress in the construction of a Van's RV7 aircraft. A place where family/friends/builders/curiosity seekers can follow along. It is not intended to be a detailed description of every step in the building process as that would be much too time consuming. There are plenty of sites that do a great job in that arena, that is not my intention with this site. My intention is for this to be a philisophical/motivational/inspirational account of the emotional ups and downs of the life changing journey...and it will change your life. I hope this will give you an idea, through my eyes, of what its like to make this transformation. A note to other builders, I am not an expert so do not put your safety at risk by attempting anything you see on this site until you have done your own research, or send me an email so we can discuss it. Any deviations from the plans are not approved, nor endorsed by Van's Aircraft or myself. Thanks for visiting.



Thursday, September 3, 2009

New Aerosport Engine HOBBS: 125.5 hrs

Originally when I started the build process I wanted to install a 210hp IO-390 in my plane. At the time, the price was about $32,000, which was steep. But I really wanted the extra power and I felt like if I can afford it, I may as well have what I want. Well, not long ago, for reasons I am not fully aware of, the price of the 390's shot up to $37 or $38K. Thats when I kinda said enough is enough, aircraft engines are already way overpriced in my humble opinion...but thats just crazy!

So Aerosport Power has started to market a 'new' (actually the owner Bart says its been around about 5 yrs) engine, the IO-375. Here is some info on it,


It is essentially a 360 with a longer stroke producing between 195 and 205hp depending on compression. There are quite a few things that excite me about this engine. First, it is the same price and size of the 180hp IO-360 but with 15-25 more hp, gotta love that! Second, I have the option of running 'mogas' if I go with the lower compression 195hp version...still debating this but its a nice option to have. Lastly, its the same weight as the 360, which is about 30 lbs lighter than the IO-390. In the land of aircraft design, power-to-weight ratio is golden! My friend Pete Vinton is putting one of these in his RV8 in a few months, cant wait to get some feedback to see how he likes it. For now, I am a little ways off from engine selection time, so I am just keeping an eye on this engine.

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