Buying an F-1 with the IO-550

I am buying a very nice F-1 with an IO-550 installed. I have searched the internet as well as this forum for details on this installation. I would greatly appreciate any information that may be available. Thank you in advance.

Contact Mark Fredericks in Texas. He is the one that came up with that concept.

Sounds awesome. In for details

I sent Mark a note on this forum but have not received a response.

From my conversations with Mark, he was doing that to offer another engine option for the F1 Rockets. Its was also to get the hot rod IO-550 in these birds for Racing. Side exhaust to get better air flow dynamics out of the cowling as opposed to under the belly (similar to all the old warbirds). Bed type engine mount has less flexing then the Lycoming dynafocal mounts hanging the engine off the back end. That was what I remember for highlights to get 350 hp on the front of an F1.

Aden Rich said:

From my conversations with Mark, he was doing that to offer another engine option for the F1 Rockets. Its was also to get the hot rod IO-550 in these birds for Racing. Side exhaust to get better air flow dynamics out of the cowling as opposed to under the belly (similar to all the old warbirds). Bed type engine mount has less flexing then the Lycoming dynafocal mounts hanging the engine off the back end. That was what I remember for highlights to get 350 hp on the front of an F1.

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I looked at an -8 set up with that bed mount a few years back. Didn't end up buying, one reason (dim recollection) was limitations on acro. Might what to check that if its a concern.

Thank for the insight. I would be very interested in any performance comparison to the IO-540.

260hp Lyc weighs about 383 lbs. Conti 550 weight is about 450 lbs normally aspirated. A turbo would add 40-50 lbs. However, I am not Conti expert but the Lycs will most likely burn way less fuel (12-14gpm) and run closer to 2000 hours without much issues. I haven't seen too many 550's out there on the market making it that long. Usually you will see them doing a top overhaul at 700 hrs or so.
I doubt that you are going to get that much more performance in cruise. It's the cube root of the horsepower increase. Maybe about 15mph @ 16-17gph in high cruise. GAMI's may get that down to 15. But that comes at the cylinder life span. I've read many articles with fleet aircraft trying LOP operations trying to save fuel and end up replacing cylinders left and right. The money didn't pan out in the long run compared to running ROP and also your bird is down for a long time (especially nowadays). Lycs were on the lower end of costs and the Conti's and turbo Conti's really chewed through the cylinders. If you have ever looked at the general layout of the Lyc versus a Conti, you can see that there is a $hit ton of items stacked in front or on top of the engine, really blocking smoother airflow over cylinder fins. Lycomings are mostly set up with all the assy and other parts on the back or bottom of the engine, leaving the cylinders in realitively undisturbed air. Even the oil cooler is remote mounted and the Conti's are right in front of the cylinders.
Conti's are probably more expensive to maintain longer term. Nice thing about Lyc's 360/540's is they share almost all the same cylinder parts. So there is TONS more parts out there compared to 550's.
If you are into one off airplanes then it's probably ok, If you want to have more support for your bird, including your engine installations that someone like Vince Frazier can help with, then get a different airplane. Several other beautiful Rockets for sale right now. It's really what fits your fancy. Maybe someone on here has better Conti information. Several of my buddies with Conti's all swear by the IO-470 for power, efficiency and costs. Most that has 550's had lots of problems and drained their wallets.