First airboat

[Schoolinjon]

Good morning all! I have a Panther airboat and I’m slightly confused on my engine powering it. On the crank case the numbers are 534736, on the opposite end below magneto is 532868, and on the same end on the block 534770. It’s a continental on the covers on the cylinders just not sure if it’s the 520 or 470. The gentleman I bought it from said it was a 520.

 

[Dirtman]

from the looks of the flanges on the jugs it appears to be 520 but I'm no expert.

 

[rick]

Same here on it being a 520 IMO.

I've always been told that the 520 barrel goes around the nuts like shown in your pics, but not on the 470 like in this pic of my grandson's aircraft 470.

Rick

 

[John Fenner]

Correct, it is a 220/520 conversion, they are great platforms when built correctly, the Achilles heel of them is the thrust plates as they were not designed to spin a prop but just a flywheel, keep a close check of the end play of the crankshaft, also be sure to pull the main oil screen and inspect and clean it thoroughly, use Aeroshell oil, a quart of Lucas oil stabilizer, it will last a very long time.

 

[Schoolinjon]

Awesome information guys. Thanks! The motor has 103 hours on it since it was built and she runs very strong. I have a carbon two blade sensenich on it right now. I was thinking about getting a 3 blade for more low end push.

 

[Schoolinjon]

Correct, it is a 220/520 conversion, they are great platforms when built correctly, the Achilles heel of them is the thrust plates as they were not designed to spin a prop but just a flywheel, keep a close check of the end play of the crankshaft, also be sure to pull the main oil screen and inspect and clean it thoroughly, use Aeroshell oil, a quart of Lucas oil stabilizer, it will last a very long time.

With me living in central Florida (Brevard County) should I be using W100 or W120? Thanks!

 

[John Fenner]

W100 is fine.