CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

Lycoming O-360

flat-four piston aircraft engine family

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 5, 2026
Entity authorityQ1777769 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Lycoming O-360 is a family of four-cylinder, direct-drive, horizontally opposed, air-cooled, piston aircraft engines. Engines in the O-360 series produce between 145 and 225 hp (110 and 170 kW), with the basic O-360 producing 180 hp (130 kW).

The engine family has been installed in thousands of aircraft, including the Cessna 172, Piper Cherokee/Archer, Grumman Tiger, and many home-built types. It has a factory rated time between overhaul (TBO) of 2000 hours or twelve years. O-360 family engines are also widely used in airboats, most notably in the Hurricane Aircats used by the US Army during the Vietnam War.

The first O-360 certified was the A1A model, certified on 20 July 1955 to United States CAR 13 effective March 5, 1952 as amended by 13-1 and 13-2. The Lycoming IO-390 is an O-360 which has had its cylinder bore increased by 3⁄16 inch (4.8 mm), developing 210 hp (160 kW).

Series

The O-360 family of engines comprises 167 different models with 12 different prefixes. All have a 361 cu in (6 L) displacement and 5.125 and 4.375 in (130 and 111 mm) bore and stroke.

O-360 carbureted series

HO-360 horizontally mounted series for helicopter installation

LO-360 same as O-360, but with left-hand rotating crankshaft, for use in pairs on twin-engined aircraft

TO-360 turbocharged series

LTO-360 turbocharged left-hand rotation series

IO-360 fuel-injected series

LIO-360 same as IO-360, but with left-hand rotating crankshaft

AIO-360 inverted mount (dry sump aerobatic) fuel-injected series

AEIO-360 aerobatic fuel-injected series

HIO-360 horizontally mounted fuel-injected series for helicopters

LHIO-360 left-hand rotation, fuel-injected, horizontally mounted for helicopters

TIO-360 turbocharged and fuel-injected series

Variants

Applications

O-360

LO-360

Beechcraft Duchess

Piper PA-44-180 Seminole

IO-360

LIO-360

Piper PA-34 Seneca I

Diamond DA42

AIO-360

Stephens Akro

AEIO-360

Aero-Cam Slick 360

Aviat Eagle II

American Champion Super Decathlon

Extra EA-200

FFA AS-202 Bravo

Great Lakes Sport Trainer

Grob G 115E

Mudry CAP 10

Peña Capeña

Pitts Special

Tech Aero TR 200

Valmet L-70 Vinka

Zlín Z 242

HIO-360

Enstrom F-28

OH-23 Raven

Schweizer 300

LHIO-360

Silvercraft SH-3

Silvercraft SH-4

Specifications (O-360-A1A)

Data from Type Certificate Data Sheet E-286

General characteristics

Type: Four-cylinder, dual magneto, horizontally opposed, four-stroke aircraft engine

Bore: 5.125 in (130 mm)

Stroke: 4.375 in (111 mm)

Displacement: 361 cu in (5.9 L)

Dry weight: 258 lb (117 kg)

Components

Fuel type: 91/96 avgas minimum grade

Oil system: 8 US qt (8 L) wet sump

Cooling system: air-cooled

Performance

Power output: 180 hp (130 kW) at 2700 rpm

Compression ratio: 8.5:1

Fuel consumption: 7.8 US gal (30 L) to 9 US gal (34 L) per hour

See also

Superior Air Parts Vantage

Related lists

List of aircraft engines

References

External links

Lycoming Homepage

"Operator's Manual O-360, HO-360, IO-360, AIO-360, HIO-360 & TIO-360 Series" (PDF).

Editorial summary

“Lycoming O-360” enters the record as flat-four piston aircraft engine family. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Lycoming, O-360 and flat-four can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2000, 1955, 1952—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Lycoming, O-360 and flat-four.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Lycoming O-360” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Lycoming, O-360 and flat-four provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1777769. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2000, 1955 and 1952.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Lycoming O-360”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Lycoming O-360 primary sources, Lycoming O-360 archive and Lycoming research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Lycoming O-360”?
  2. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
  3. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Lycoming O-360” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.