This is a coffee table made from an original Lycoming O-540 aircraft engine, specifically this is a Lycoming TIO-540 engine which was a higher performance turbocharged and fuel injected variant.
The air-cooled flat-six O-540 was first introduced in 1957 and remarkably it remains in production today in updated form. It has a 541.5 cubic inch (8.9 liter) displacement and variants were made producing anywhere from 230 to 350 bhp.
The air-cooled flat-six O-540 was first introduced in 1957 and remarkably it remains in production today in updated form. It has a 541.5 cubic inch (8.9 liter) displacement and variants were made producing anywhere from 230 to 350 bhp.
History Speedrun: The Lycoming O-540
The Lycoming O-540 engine series debut in 1957 as a six-cylinder version of the earlier Lycoming O-360 four-cylinder aircraft engine. Both engines are air-cooled, horizontally opposed power units with a great deal of emphasis placed on reliability and low weight over raw power figures.
Initially, the Lycoming O-540 was a simple carbureted engine targeted at aircraft that were a little too big for the smaller four-cylinder unit. The O-540 had a displacement of 541.5 cubic inches (8.9 liters) from a bore x stroke of 5.125 in (130.2 mm) x 4.375 in (111.1 mm) and it had a total dry weight of 438 lbs (199 kgs) – remarkably low for an engine of this displacement level.
The low weight was achieved through the use of aluminum alloy for the block and heads, as well as air-cooling which simplified the design and meant it only needed heat sinks and not a full water jacket, coolant, and a radiator etc.
The Lycoming O-540 proved reliable and soon became the engine of choice for a significant number of aircraft manufacturers, it was used extensively in both fixed wing and helicopter applications, in dozens of aircraft types including the Northrop Grumman Firebird, Mooney M20, Cessna 182, Beechcraft Bonanza, Piper Saratoga, Pitts Special, Velocity XL, and dozens more.
The engine remains in production today in updated form, and variants have been produced with carburetors, fuel injection, turbocharging, and supercharging.
The Lycoming O-540 Engine Coffee Table Shown Here
The coffee table you see here was built around an original Lycoming TIO-540 aircraft engine, that “T” and “I” prefixed to the name stands for “Turbocharged” and “Injected,” as this version is (predictably) both fuel-injected and turbocharged.
The coffee table you see here was built around an original Lycoming TIO-540 aircraft engine, that “T” and “I” prefixed to the name stands for “Turbocharged” and “Injected,” as this version is (predictably) both fuel-injected and turbocharged.
The engine was sourced from a Piper Navajo PA-31 series aircraft, and it’s now been refinished with a silver crankcase, black cylinders, and a blue accessory housing, as well as red valve covers, red ignition wires, and a red magneto housing.
It has a tempered glass top that measures in at 48″ in diameter, and the engine assembly itself is 35″ long, 38″ wide, and 24″ tall. It’s now being offered for sale out of Miami, Florida and you can visit the listing here of you’d like to read more or place a bid.
Images courtesy of Bring a Trailer
Articles that Ben Branch has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
