LS7 Powered "Humminbird" Helicopter
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LS1Tech Editor
Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 57
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LS7 Powered "Humminbird" Helicopter I know the LS fits in everything, but this is a surprise even for me.
It's called the Hummingbird 3000. It's full blown kit-helicopter that's equipped with and LS7 (!). While you might be able to go faster in a Corvette, the Hummingbird will happily take you up a solid 14,000 ft before it hits it's service ceiling.
Of course, the LS7 in this thing isn't stock. It has forged internals, a specialized camshaft, and revised cylinder heads. Interestingly, it's been derated to make 280 horsepower at up to 12,000 ft. The best part is that it'll run on regular, 87 octane unleaded. You could fly this thing to your nearest Chevron to top it off. Theoretically.
Top speed is 100 mph and it sucks down fuel at 10 GAL/hr. I imagine that's about what people are getting out of their blown Camaros anyway.
Dang...87 octane is a blessing for any type of aircraft!
With normal small engine flight like Cessna's and standard single engines, your at the mercy of aviation fuel and guzzling more then that....this is an AWESOME alternative...plus you can land that lil thing in your back yard!
With normal small engine flight like Cessna's and standard single engines, your at the mercy of aviation fuel and guzzling more then that....this is an AWESOME alternative...plus you can land that lil thing in your back yard!
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TECH Resident
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 856
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From: Elizabeth City NC
With that being said, the availability of a off the shelf dry sump, steel main caps, replaceable cylinder liners and titanium connecting rods. Its a great out of the crate factory engine.
Like said above aircraft engines run at constant RPM so my guess they limited it to only 3-4K RPM to give it some life. That is why they want the large cubes. Last article I read about LS7's in aircraft also said they aren't approved for overhaul. So once it hits the maximum number of hours it is time to buy a new unit. I would imagine it also has dual computers. Not a cheap hobby.
That is an odd angle. Even with the dry sump you have to wonder if there isn't other oil system mods.
That is an odd angle. Even with the dry sump you have to wonder if there isn't other oil system mods.
It's not so much that the engine is detuned, it's that the HP rating is given at 2,500 rpm, and not max hp. So 280hp is actually pretty good.
By comparison, a 580 cubic inch Lycoming flat 6 aircraft engine makes 315hp, and costs well over $120,000!
On The Tree
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 190
Likes: 0
badass helicopter Pretty neat helicopter, pretty reasonably priced too. An r22 only seats two, has a higher fuel burn rate and a lower overhaul period and costs about the same as this humminbird. Most aircraft use 100ll fuel that's about $6 a gallon. This chopper can probably be compared to the r44 helicopter in size/useful load, the 44 has a 540 cubic inch flat six engine that puts out 260hp but makes about 500 lbft of torque Its fuel burn rate is about 18 gallons an hour(100ll) and it costs around $400,000. Usually an aircraft engine is derated to increase longevity, move the powerband lower to ~3000 rpm and sometimes the rest of the aircraft's frame/driveshafts/gearboxes/rotors and hubs cant take the stress that higher horsepower may put on it. The redneck in me wants to see what it sounds like doing a low fly-by with flowmasters on it
