Originally Posted By: expat
"The racing sea furies have all been re-engined with Wright 3350s"
I did notice that, my guess was availability of parts?
I should have actually noted that there are TWO (Dreadnought and Furias) that use the P&W 4360.
In talking to a few guys in the sport and reading articles about the sport, it seems that the Centaurus is probably more reliable dead-stock than a 3350. But when you start running it beyond recommended power or at maximum power for more than the recommended time (as they do in pylon racing), it begins to have problems with the sleeve valves seizing in the bores. It also requires more cooling airflow than a 3350, meaning more drag induced by air going through the engine rather than around the cowling. On top of that there's fact that it rotates the opposite direction (meaning that the plane flies very differently when turning left around the pylons than all the other aircraft with props that torque the plane to the left), the fact that parts are getting scarce, combined with the fact that there's only one propellor that works with it (Rotol 5-blade)... it just doesn't make sense for racing, or even for a Sea Fury being used as a hobby/sport/show plane. Only the very "correct" restorations are using Centaurus engines now.
But 3350s are getting more scarce now, and they've always had their own reliability issues which is why the R2800 may be the next big thing in Sea Fury conversions. Stock to stock, its only has a few hundred less HP than a 3350, weighs less, and is one of the most reliable piston airplane engines over 2000 horsepower ever made:
http://www.sandersaircraft.com/restoration_seafury-r2800.asp
