We are having a Pponk O470-50 conversion installed in our 182. I am sold on the conversion, but have questions regarding the prop. Any ideas on the performance comparison for a 3 blade vs. a 2 blade C58? With the additional power I don't think we'll need the extra climb performance the 3 blade would deliver.....How about cruise?.....Fuel burn?

Appreciate any feedback.

First off congrats on the decision to put the PPonk 0-470-50 in your C-182. I have a 120 hours on mine and love it! I simply can not say enough good things about the power, efficiency and overall smoothness of this engine. You will not regret this decision

I have a 1959 C-182B w/ a PPonk and a 3 blade Hartzell Scimitar. I do not have any other experience w/ other prop's w/ this engine configuration. I really like my configuration and I would highly recomend the three blade prop over the two blade, but I am not married to the Hartzell one way or another. I think the guy on http://www.bigtirepilot.com has done some extensive prop evaluations w/ his PPonk and has posted some results on this forum.

Good Luck !

Thanks for the reply DBI........Engine is out of theplane and is going up to Pponk Aviation for rebuild on Friday. We are excited about the Pponk engine. We also have a 1059 C182B.......Great airplane!!

Thanks again.

BTW- Just a couple of my observations;

1.) I do not know if it is specific to my airplane or airplane engine/combo but I need to be very vigilant about managing my CHT's. I target 380 and take immediate action if I approach 400.

2.) If not careful this baby will suck some serious avgas!!

3.) I always pull the power back in cruise and when I am around 20 MP and about 2150 RPM and appropriately leaned at altitude I can easily manage fuel at about 11.5 gph.

4.) Even at the above power settings I can usually get 123 kts - 128 kts TAS. This is still true even with my 850's dragging through the wind

Aktahoe had a thread about prop tests. He ended up going with the mt, and as the test results show, I would too. Hopefully he chimes in here.

Clearance is a factor for me. Looking into a pponk for my 182 since I only have about 500 hours remaining. They told me my 3 blade scimitar won't work so I'm interested in this topic too. I'd like to go with a three blade again though to keep it out of the dirt.

I don't believe the C58 is one of the approved props with the Pponk STC for 182's. I am certain it is not for the c180. On the c180 it was possible to get an FA, although I am not sure you could pull that off in today's FAA.
On the c180 it makes a pretty good prop. For my preference, what it does for the W&B over rides a lot of the benefit vs a metal 3 blade. *however* that is assuming you can run the long blades, which I don't believe would be a candidate on a c182. I can tell you for certain that the 82" blades are not enough prop to make use of your new found power. I have run that prop on a motor Steve built. It will run fine and work, it will just have a bunch of power that you aren't making use of... My experience with the 2 blade MT was similar, but not quite as bad.

Take care, Rob

I have this conversion on my c180k I have tried different props if you want more info contact me 250 2611883

Hi Chipz, good to see you on this forum too. Like I said on PNF, I'd ask Knopp what he recommends, and also look into an MT.

The C66 is the only two-blade approved for the PPONK.
I tried the Mac, Harzell and MT 3-blade props.
The takeoff and climb with the 3-blades is better than the C66.
The MT was about as fast as the 2-blade in cruise. The Mac was several knots slower.
The MT weighs 1lb less than the C66 while the Mac was 25lbs more.
Getting 25 lbs off the nose and the increased cruise speed made me choose the MT. I may think differently if I was operating out of lots of unimproved strips.
Also, I think the Mac would improve in speed on high altitude operations. It has a VERY thick cord compared to the MT and Hartzell. It's made for a T206.
I liked the Hartzell blended airfoil 3-blade. It's blades are indexed differently than the Mac and it shook the plane. Steve was working on getting an alternate Hartzell hub certified that indexes the blades the same as the Mac.
RP

Pulled the trigger on the Pponk conversion and should have it back end of March. Thanks for all the comments, I truly appreciate them. I'll let you all know how I like it when my plane returns.