The P85 is the result of installing powerful, light, all aluminum liquid cooled V8 engine technology into the solidly engineered Radial Rocket airframe. We look for this to result in a new and exciting combination of performance, economy, simplicity and utility.
The focus of the P85 is on a simple, relatively low cost V8 firewall forward powerplant option. Toward this end, the P85 cowling has been lofted around the LS series of high performance V8’s.
The engine installed in our first P85 is a 402 CID LS2/LS3 hybrid designed to deliver 400+ HP to the prop at a reasonable 5000 crankshaft RPM. A 1.8:1 ratio PSRU (prop speed reduction unit) reduces prop rpm to 2800 max. This rugged, single mesh gearbox drives a Catto 3 blade, 80 inch diameter fixed pitch propeller – simple, light, and much less expensive when compared with a constant speed set up.
Also contributing to our goal of simplicity is single-lever power management – no mixture or prop controls to manage, thanks to electronic fuel injection controlled via an ECU.
