Below is a short video of Paul Salter’s Panther running in front of his hangar.
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The first think that sharp eyes will notice is that the engine has it’s cooling baffles in place, but it doesn’t have a scoop to force the air through the engine. I tell people to never, ever to run engines like this, and if you look at pictures from our colleges, every single engine has the green cooling shroud in place.
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Here is the critical difference: This isn’t a “New” engine. It is the same 3,000 cc/ 120 HP Corvair that flew in prototype Panther for about 200 hours. ( The prototype has been upgraded to a 3.3 liter Corvair.) Unlike a brand new engine, it is OK to run this engine for short 30-60 second runs at low power without the cooling baffle. The reason why this is never done on a new engine is because lots of short start and stop runs are murder on a new cam. On a new engine, you ideally want to start it once, and run it without stopping at all for 20-25 minutes at 1800 – 2200 rpm. After that, the cam is set to go and the engine can be run for short runs without issue.
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The purpose of running the engine in the video was to verify wiring connections and system on the plane. Other people might not like this type of a video because it is a “bad example”, but I trust our builders to be intelligent people who understand differences between new and broken in engines when it is explained. I don’t like being treated as a kindergarten student, and I don’t treat people that way either.
