Is there any one else flying a C172 with a Franklin 220Hp, Would love to compare notes and sources.

I thought all those pretzel conversions were parked by the chevy vega's and the ford pintos. Glad to hear there are still some around, or at least one

I met a guy with one when I stoped for fuel and a burger at Westlake just east of Visalia, CA. Are you the same guy?

Tim

I've got a buddy with one in a C-175. I can put you in touch w/him if you want to PM me. His flywheel just broke of around the bolts that hold it to the crank. Put out a lot of metal. Now we know how he will spend his Xmas vacation.

He noticed a vibration. Has just changed the prop and thought that was the problem.

Wrong

Gary

172heavy wrote:Is there any one else flying a C172 with a Franklin 220Hp, Would love to compare notes and sources.

Theres a 175 owned by a Dodge Dealership In Las Vegas with a 220 Franklin up front. I myself have access to a NEW Franklin 250 HP Turbo charged engine. I'm trying to put it in my 182 ----

182 STOL driver wrote:I myself have access to a NEW Franklin 250 HP Turbo charged engine. I'm trying to put it in my 182 ----

What's the matter Bill, your existing 300 foot takeoff roll and 45 degree climb angle's not enough?

EZFlap wrote:

182 STOL driver wrote:I myself have access to a NEW Franklin 250 HP Turbo charged engine. I'm trying to put it in my 182 ----

What's the matter Bill, your existing 300 foot takeoff roll and 45 degree climb angle's not enough?

Right now it's 150 ft. takeoff roll and 45 degrees -- I want to cut that down to 50 ft. roll and 60 degrees up the hill .Then cruise at 24K
at 190 Knots.Carl has the engine in his garage -now if I can just get the field approval thru the MIDO -probably cost me some Pizza's and buy some of there kids candy for the school band. Got to deliver props to Johnsons and come down for Jeff's Annual -probably before x-mass. 210 is coming back to Boulder ---- Alaska here we come again.

I flew one a few times, used to be based in Nevada at 0L9 (near Bill) then was owned by Dave up at S27 in Kalispell. Not sure where it is now. Almost bought it - twice!

Now I fly a Franklin 165 in front of a C170.

It looks like I'm in a small club with a Franklin powered 220Hp C172 w C/S p. It's a shame that there are not more around with plentifull parts to be had. It's a real grin to fly one thats running right.

There is a fella back in Atlanta that is said to have a lot of parts for the Franklins. If you are not aware of him, I can get some contact info for ya.
Gary

172heavy wrote:It looks like I'm in a small club with a Franklin powered 220Hp C172 w C/S p. It's a shame that there are not more around with plentifull parts to be had. It's a real grin to fly one thats running right.

Franklins are super smooth and light weight. 220hp. weighs less than a 0-470- by almost 90 lbs . If a Franklin ain't leaking it isn't running.
Parts are hard to get and some are not available at any cost -like new crankshafts and cases . Cylinders are ??? Valves I have access to several dozen exhaust and intakes.Rings and pistons are available -new but pricey . I also know how to up the power of a 165 hp to approx 180 hp with 3 parts. Most of the Stinson 108's that need overhaul are going to Lycomings (0-360,435-or even 540's) because of hard to find decent parts and service. There's a place in San Antenio that has the REAL Frankling parts and service ---- all otheres are
wanna-bee places IN My Humble opinion--- IMHO .

One of the things I think is cool about the Franklins (6A-350 at least) is the inspection cover on top. You can gain access to the inside of the case without splitting the case.

I have a 165 heavy case and a good crank if someone is in need, pm me
GT

So who is the mystery guy in San Antonio? Do you have a phone number and name? I have 180Hr on my 6A-350 with no leaks. I used to work on British cars, If I can build a Jag that doesn’t leek oil, I can build a Franklin that doesn’t.

If you have a Jag (or any British Car) that dosen't leak oil, it is out of oil and you need to put some in it.

A friend without a pilots ticket owned one locally for a few years. It was on floats mostly, but we did put it on wheels one winter. The long constant speed prop was very close to the ground, i imagine it wasnt legal on wheels. It was a great performer on floats. Really liked the backward turning tach. Nothing quite like the noise of a big franklin echoing on a mountainous lake takeoff. I logged around a 100 hours in it and really liked it.

The 220 Frank is pretty impressive-- 220 horsepower out of only 350 cubic inches. High compression & high rpm is how. The price you pay is a lower TBO & no (legal) car gas -- a reasonable tradeoff. The Franklin has some cool features: the peek-a-boo trapdoor in the case that Zane mentioned & replacable cylinder liners among them. They're supposed to be real smooth, as are a lot of 6 cylinder engines. Close to the power of a 470 or 540, with less weight- sounds good to me.
I've met a couple of 170 & Stinson guys who run the 220 Franklin, but didn't heard about how happy they were with the engine. Maule used it in the mid-60's M4-220, the guys who own those seem happy with it.

Eric

I have a Stinson 108/220 and the setup never fails to amaze me. I agree with the grin.

PM with that contact too Gary.

In regards to the Franiklins, my feeling has been, everyone that has them, seems to love them. And anyone that doesn't have them, is worried about parts availability.

My buddies 175/220 Franklin, which he just converted to a TW, was a great performer. But did not like autogas. Seemed to have erratic/high egt's/cht's.

I had never heard of the flywheel problem, but now hear that it happens. Although not quite the way this one did. This seemed to be a pretty unique occurance.

Had a friend that used to be on here that had one in a Maule, and said they were very reasonble to major.

Gary

shortfielder wrote:.....everyone that has them, seems to love them. And anyone that doesn't have them, is worried about parts availability. ...........

Sounds ike the Lycoming O-290-- everybody talks about how parts are non-existant, but the owners seem to be able to keep them running and even overhaul them without too much trouble.

Eric