Teams up with The Thielert Group of Germany to offer new version of XP-360

Superior Air Parts today announced at AirVenture 2004 that it will introduce a new engine to the sport aviation market, the XP-360-Plus. The engine is an upgraded version of the XP-360 with advanced roller rocker arms developed and manufactured by The Thielert Group of Hamburg, Germany.

"This is a direct response to requests by the experimental aircraft community to have an engine that offers the engineering, quality and value of the standard XP-360, with the added efficiency and reliability of advanced roller-rocker arms," said Tim Archer, Senior VP. "Thielert has been a valued supplier of many of the advanced engine components we use in the XP-360 and other Superior products for years. When you look to introduce best-of-breed technology, the place to start is with the company that's best at producing that technology."

Thielert's President and CEO, Frank Thielert, explained that the new cams combined with automotive-inspired roller lifters are what allow the conventional 180 HP XP-360 engine to meet its new performance goals. With a more aggressive lobe profile, roller cams have great advantages over flat tappet cams," said Thielert. "Compared to Superior's flat tappet cam of the same duration, which have already been optimized to a higher performance level than the competition, the new roller cam has the same low-end torque and idle, but the high-end performance is equal to a cam of much longer duration."

Thielert also said the specially-designed hydraulic roller lifters that are used in the new engine outperform traditional flat tappet designs thanks to the reduced friction and added performance of the roller tip.

The company is now taking orders at Oshkosh for a limited number of engines available for the rest of 2004 equipped with the Thielert roller rocker arms.

FMI: www.superiorairparts.com