[jandrese]

Typically they are equipped with either a Continental O-300 series engine from the 40s, or a more modern Lycoming O-320/360 from the 50s. They hark back to an era of magnetos and manually adjusting the fuel mixture. On the plus side they're so mechanically and electrically simple that there's very little to break. On the downside they're pretty inefficient and carburetor icing is still an issue. Also, they need leaded gas still.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_O-300

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lycoming_O-320

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lycoming_O-360

I'm not kidding about the efficiency either. The Lycosaur O-360 is a 5.9L engine that produces at best 225hp. You can get 245hp out of a 2L Ecoboost in an economy car today. This isn't an apples-to-apples comparison, but it gives you a sense of how far engines have come since the 50s.

A Cessna 172 retrofitted with a modern engine could probably get more than a 50% increase in range, and also cabin heat.

[jhayward]

You can get a 172 refitted with a 2L turbo diesel engine which gives about a 38% improvement in range. [1]

[1] https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2015/february/p...

[walrus01]

I did a bit of research on this about six months ago, after watching a video of some guys who ferried a Cessna 172 via Nunavut and Greenland to Western Europe.

Google "thielert diesel engine" and you'll find a lot of good info to start from.

https://www.google.com/search?client=ubuntu&channel=fs&q=thi...

[thedrbrian]

They don't use magnetos because they're scared of modern tech, its because magnetos self excite and don't need an external power source to start or keep running. And that modern 2 litre engine isn't going to put out max power like the aero engine will.

[jandrese]

The aero engine is also air cooled (so no water pump or radiator) and generally simpler all around. But at the end of the day it has a hilariously large displacement for the horsepower delivered. It's not like the thing is using fancy variable timing or partial charge ignition or cylinder deactivation to save fuel either, it has to fill those cavernous cylinders with a combustible mix on every fourth stroke.