Benjamin Copeland wrote: > Is anyone currently running SCAT dual plug heads on a flying bird? For an > 1835, does it increase > the HP as significant as the ads imply?
I have no personal experience with SCAT heads, but I asked a similar question of Carl Vought, designer (from scratch) of the Buddy Twin ultralight engine (which was killed by lawyers before the first one was ever sold). He said SCAT heads had a reputation for being oil leakers, and that they were designed for racing, rather than long term steady state use, and that cooling was insufficient for prolonged high power applications such as airplane use. Having said that, I think Troy Petteway may have had an engine with Scat heads on it, and somebody out there uses them on aircraft engines, so they must work to some extent. I would think that at the RPM levels that we operate at (relatively) low, the stock heads (assuming dual port) would flow plenty, and that there would be little difference other than the advantage of dual plugs. A quick Google search for "SCAT aircraft head" turned up http://users.lmi.net/~ryoung/Sonerai/SCATHeads.html , which also expresses concern over the lack of fin area for SCAT heads, and echos what I was told by Carl. The fact that they were used by the ill-fated HAPI folks might be a bad sign, all by itself. Like I said, I have no direct experience, this is just an ignorant opinion seasoned by hearsay, but nobody else responded so here it is, and perhaps if nothing else, it's reason to look into a little more before you leap... Mark Langford, Huntsville, Alabama see KR2S homebuilt airplane N56ML at http://home.hiwaay.net/~langford email to N56ML "at" hiwaay.net
