01-28-2014, 03:12 AM
I totally agree. Radials would be awesome!
They're not ideal for use in cars but would still be cool.
Also, they'd integrate well with a suggestion I made elsewhere about government contracts for aircraft engines being included in the government car and truck contract mechanics.
On the note of size, boat diesels have been made with up to 112 cylinders but the most ever used in an aircraft was 56 buy the russians and that was in very limited numbers. Anything more than two rows in a radial starts to become insanely complicated as they have to go to water cooling (MUCH more difficult in a radial than an inline engine) as front cylinders block off air flow to back rows. I would say there'd be no point in allowing any more than 4 rows and there should be a fairly sizable jump in weight, cost and production time for anything beyond two rows.
They're not ideal for use in cars but would still be cool.
Also, they'd integrate well with a suggestion I made elsewhere about government contracts for aircraft engines being included in the government car and truck contract mechanics.
On the note of size, boat diesels have been made with up to 112 cylinders but the most ever used in an aircraft was 56 buy the russians and that was in very limited numbers. Anything more than two rows in a radial starts to become insanely complicated as they have to go to water cooling (MUCH more difficult in a radial than an inline engine) as front cylinders block off air flow to back rows. I would say there'd be no point in allowing any more than 4 rows and there should be a fairly sizable jump in weight, cost and production time for anything beyond two rows.