You are trying to do this with a very small displacement
engine(almost half
the size of the 3.2L), which means you will really have to wind it
up tight.
That makes for great power numbers in road and track, but not good
for an
airplane engine. The reason I settled on the rotary is the lack of
exhaust
valves and the basically bullet proof design. Don't get me wrong,
I love the
sound of a finely tuned piston engine, and nothing gets me excited
as much
as a low flying Merlin at full bore, but facts is facts. Those
aircraft
piston engines were specifically designed for the task at hand and
differ
greatly from your auto, which is designed to use the cheapest
possible
materials, and barely survive with grandma at the wheel. Just let
boy racer
get ahold of one for a couple years, and you will see smoke at
least, if not
parts out the tail pipe. The piston aircraft engines of yore also
required a
LOT of maintenance to keep them flying and did not have long
TBO's. They
were designed to go to war and be maintained by Uncle Sam's deep
pockets.
(If they didn't get shot down first). There have been many people,
including
government funded corporations that tried to adapt the auto piston
engine to
an aircraft (Orenda) and had a lot of trouble.
Just be careful if you continue with the ford 6. Use an airport
with lots of
places to land (like a dry lake bed) I know that this can be a
harsh crowd
if you are not a rotor head, but I assure you our criticism is
only intended
to be constructive. I hope you make us all look like fools,
because I hate
to be the bad guy, but I also worry about the safety of your
engine choice.
Monty