I found this very informative......take it for what it's worth. Adobe doc.
Marc

http://www.autopsrus.com/

A stock Chevy V8 is unlikely to put out a constant 400 HP for more than five or ten minutes.
There have been dozens of attempts to use Chevy V8's in aircraft over the years.
All have failed.  Including the Thunder/Orenda.

BW probably stands for Bud Warren. Bud and his daughter died in a Chev powered airplane.

105 pounds or even 70 pounds  is ludicrous for an aircraft engine reduction gear.
Typical for a spur gear transmission.

A planetary is six times stronger for the same gear width and much much lighter.
The Ross weighs 35 pounds.

The off set is incorrect for a rotary. Makes the thrust line too low reducing
the prop clearance.

The offset causes a gear mesh problem when the aluminum gear box warms
up and expands.

Paul Lamar


That definitley looks like a Bud Warren derivative. To be fair, Buds second crash, the one that killed him, was not due to gear box failure.  I believe it was a fuel line too close to the exhaust, but that may have been the first crash.


However, there was another crash of BW gear box back on the East Coast in a velocity or Lancair that killed the pilot.  That crash probably was caused by the gear box.  The thought was that the using the clutch to dampen the power pulses and harmonics wore the clutch out.  When it finally stated to slip the situation quickly deteriorated and the clutch completely wore out within seconds. Witnesses say the aircraft was not climbing despite very high RPM of the engine.

David Leonard

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