This is one of the many projects that has such great history and a builder with insane determination. Read Paul's story and send us you own Titan™ story to share with others here.
I started building my RV-7 when I was 19. I was a full time aeronautical engineering student at Cal Poly and was working a full time job at a small engineering firm building UAVs. Over the course of the build, I bought into a lot of hype about automotive conversion engines, and bought a Subaru package. From start to first flight took about 7 years and around 2000 hours of build time. During that period, I continued to work full time for the drone company, graduated from Cal Poly (with a business degree... didn’t quite finished the engineering), and courted and married a young woman willing to put up with my airplane project.
While at Cal Poly, I managed to convince the Chair of the Aero department that the university should build an RV, as well. I taught a lab class for a couple years and made pretty good progress through the kit. The project stalled for awhile, but was ultimately completed and is now used to teach flight test.
I flew my RV with the Subaru for about 360 hours. By RV standards, the plane was heavy and slow, but it was a still an RV, so not all bad. I enjoyed a lot of local flying with family and friends, and in 2012 flew back to Oshkosh.
In late 2012, I decided that I’d had enough of the Subaru, and was ready to make the change to a Lycoming. I bought a used engine with the intent of overhauling it, but it turned out to be quite the basket case. I sold off the good parts, and bought an “overhauled” engine instead. As it turned out, the overhaul was rather poorly done. The shop warrantied their work, but after 6 months waiting for the rework to be complete, I finally realized I would be best served by buying a new engine. After collecting quotes from several vendors, I concluded that Titan™ offered the best value proposition, and the IOX-370 was clearly going to give me phenomenal performance.
So, with a proper engine and prop (Hartzell blended airfoil), the only logical thing left to do was put some paint on the plane, call it done, and get back to flying!
Airframe Type
Experimental RV-9A
Performance
Maximum Continuous HP185
Max. RPM @ full power2700
Maximum Recommended TBO (hours)2,000
Number of Cylinders4
Bore (inches)5.125
Stroke (inches)4.500
Displacement (cubic inches)371.0
Compression Ratio8.1:1
CHT - maximum500° F
CHT at max. cruise (recommended)425° F
Spark Plug Boss
18mm / 14mm
Fuel
Delivery SystemFuel Injection AFP-150
Aviation Grade, Octane (recommended)
100/100LL
Dimensions
Height (inches)20.36
Width (inches)33.41
Length (inches)29.07
Weight
(estimated dry weight in lbs.)255
Oil Temperature
Desired T/O180°F
Maximum Oil Temperature T/O245°F
Normal Operating Oil Pressure,
psi (Max/Min/Idle)90 / 60 / 25
Engine Mount
Dynafocal Type 1 (Conical optional)
Propeller
Constant Speed (Fixed Pitch optional)
Prop Governor
LocationRight Rear
Crankshaft
Flange.44 thick
Stroke4.375
Bushings (prop bolt size)1/2-20 UNF
Oil Capacity8 quarts
Induction PlenumPlenum Hot
MaterialAluminum
Base Price
Subject to change$22,775.00