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LS6 in a Seaplane....awesome conversion..............

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Old Oct 31, 2011 | 07:26 PM
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Default LS6 in a Seaplane....awesome conversion..............

I was in Dallas 2 weeks ago at my annual Captain recurrent simulator training school, we met this other pilot that was in our class, he did this conversion. He said its a monster now with a ton of power. I think he said the factory engine had like 225 HP. It has a reduction gear transmission and a specially made set of headers/exhaust. It gets off the water in like 6 seconds now........

My question to him was about failing Crank Shaft Position sensors and failing Cam Shaft Position sensors....these cause the engine to shut down when they fail or act up. NOT good for an airplane........ He was wondering if theres a way to put dual sensors on the engine somehow for redundancy.....

He'll be chiming in here when he gets a chance......

Pretty nice set up though..........

























.

Last edited by LS6427; Oct 31, 2011 at 07:54 PM.
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Old Oct 31, 2011 | 07:30 PM
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I always thought those planes were neat.
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Old Oct 31, 2011 | 09:25 PM
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He may want to replace those redundant plastic zip ties on the overflow reservoir with some metal banding.
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Old Oct 31, 2011 | 09:53 PM
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You couldn't pay me to ride in that. Nothing against the builder or anything, just not for me!
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Old Oct 31, 2011 | 10:04 PM
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Originally Posted by enganeer
He may want to replace those redundant plastic zip ties on the overflow reservoir with some metal banding.
Are those bolts that are holding that top on?

One picture shows white zip ties, other picture shows black ones....maybe they are just holding something in place during the project.

There's 11 of these SeaBee LS6 conversions out there, this one I think is #12.........

Yea, I wonder if they replaced them with metal bands though, if they need bands at all for that.

.
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Old Oct 31, 2011 | 10:05 PM
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Originally Posted by Tainted
You couldn't pay me to ride in that. Nothing against the builder or anything, just not for me!
Built like a tank............engine runs, it'll keep flying.

.
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Old Nov 1, 2011 | 12:53 AM
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That's bad-***..

Engine shut-down would suck..put a JATO Unit on it for an emergency backup for glide time..lol..
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Old Nov 1, 2011 | 05:43 PM
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Wow, that looks great.
I'd like to see some video of it in action. I wonder what it sounds like.
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Old Nov 1, 2011 | 05:57 PM
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Originally Posted by Tig
Wow, that looks great.
I'd like to see some video of it in action. I wonder what it sounds like.
The owner will be on here soon, he probably has a video of it. Probably sounds sweet.

I think he told me it only cruises under 3,000 rpm......can't remember.

When you deal with propellers you can't let the tips of the props go super-sonic or things will get ugly...lol......

.
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Old Nov 1, 2011 | 11:36 PM
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I love sea planes. What does a SeaBee cost that is stock?
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Old Nov 1, 2011 | 11:54 PM
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Originally Posted by gnx7
I love sea planes. What does a SeaBee cost that is stock?
I'm not real sure, their classics. I fly corporate jets and airliners........

I was going to get my Sea-Plane ratings a few years back at a place that uses a Multi-Engine SeaBee and a Single-Engine SeaBee....but never got around to it.

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Old Nov 2, 2011 | 11:08 AM
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If you like this. Go to geareddrives. Ls swaps for half a dozen airplanes or so. They just dont develop new aero angines like they do for cars. Thats why the ls engine is more powerful and more efficient than you stone old lycomings.
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Old Nov 2, 2011 | 12:49 PM
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Originally Posted by gnx7
I love sea planes. What does a SeaBee cost that is stock?
35k- 70k. That's a big price range, I know.(bad shape to excellent shape, if you want to call it that)
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Old Nov 2, 2011 | 01:02 PM
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Check out WWW.Quietaviation.com Cessna 172 with LS motor there. Talk about a very interesting conversion. I did some interior work on this and the Owner of the company says on take off you have to climb out by "throttle feel" because the plane wants to "torque" over from the power out put.
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Old Nov 2, 2011 | 02:02 PM
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Originally Posted by 2nd Gen Fl 'bird
the Owner of the company says on take off you have to climb out by "throttle feel" because the plane wants to "torque" over from the power out put.
I instantly had a cartoon vision of an airplane flopping over on it's back . I guess I've spent too much time watching Bugs Bunny.
How stringent are FAA rules regarding these type of engine swaps?

Ken
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Old Nov 2, 2011 | 02:16 PM
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Always wanted to get my license for a single engine plane, but it just seemed like every other week or so I read about someone getting killed, crashing into a house or landing on a nearby street...lol. Its not a good excuse but it keeps my *** grounded.
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Old Nov 2, 2011 | 02:52 PM
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Very Nice..

I would not think he could put any factory type of Redundant Crank sensor on, but he might be able to pin the balancer and put an external crank sensor on. CAM, Maybe change the front timing cover to allow a later model CAM Sensor in the Timing cover (this is a LS1 right ?).

I don't see any O2's or MAF on.. so I assume its a S/D tune !?

What would that black tube with hose be above the right side exhaust ?
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Old Nov 2, 2011 | 04:28 PM
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Originally Posted by Kenova
I instantly had a cartoon vision of an airplane flopping over on it's back . I guess I've spent too much time watching Bugs Bunny.
How stringent are FAA rules regarding these type of engine swaps?

Ken
The kit itself has been approved to sell already but, the plane is still in the experimental catagory so alot of FAA rules are out of the equation. Getting an STC approval takes hell and forever to get but, if you look at the site, Al Aden has quite the credentials and got it done quickly. Can't say enough about the LS platform.
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Old Nov 2, 2011 | 04:31 PM
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That the coolest thing I've in quite a while. It must climb pretty damn fast too. Maybe he'll turbocharge it when he gets used to the power
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Old Nov 2, 2011 | 08:46 PM
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Originally Posted by Kenova
I instantly had a cartoon vision of an airplane flopping over on it's back . I guess I've spent too much time watching Bugs Bunny.
How stringent are FAA rules regarding these type of engine swaps?

Ken
There's different categories of fixed-wing planes....some are in the Experimental Class....which means you can do whatever the hell you want and go fly it.

An old GM engineer names Jim Rahm that helped design engines for cars...got into the aviation engine field. He builds a Twin Turbo Chevy Small Block for the Lancair IV-P kit plane. It beats an airliner from Miami to New York City. Seats 4 and its fully aerobatic. A/C and pressurized. IIRC, it does like 390 Kts at FL 290 (29,000 ft). It has a 5 bladed prop and they use a cockpit avionics package like full glass cockpit jet uses.

Its a beast......

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