Some of Andrews points questioned
Some of the things encountered in aircraft engines that would not be acceptable in a car engine:
- manual mixture control. My car engine automatically runs lean cruise (lean of peak) when power settings allow.
Does it? How do you know? When did you last take your car to 10,000 feet or even go through a wide change in atmospheric pressure? You may want the mixture dumbed down, I don't.
- worries about shock cooling
I don't worry too much about this, Jabba will pipe up shortly, shock cooling is mostly an old wives tale, not an issue.
- having to strip an engine or check the crank after any sudden stoppage.
This is safety issue, not an engine issue! and how often does your car engine suddenly and instantaneously stop while developing 75% or more power? Having kicked around the industry for a while, I have seen engines suffer a prop and go straight back into service numerous times. Most engineers will tell you that a prop strike at low power settings is highly unlikely to cause damage.
- a manual primer pump, or the incantations required to start a hot fuel injected engine. Chokes on cars disappeared decades ago, if you told people a fuel injected engine could be harder to start than a carby engine they would think you are mad.
Hard to start engines can be a problem for some pilots, I have always been able to get them started without major problems. Cars aren't impervious from this problem either.
- new engines making metal with the frequency that seems to happen with aircraft engines
How many car filters have you cut open?
- worries about corrosion in engines that sit unused for a while
Made of metal? It will corrode. This problem is in all engines.
- changing a cylinder etc. way before the projected engine life.
Not all that common when the cylinders are correctly prepared before service
Andrew, old technology does not mean bad technology. Current piston aero engines are outstanding devices. If it aint broke there is no need to fix it!