Story ID: 
LoPresti Unveils SR20 Diesel Cowl Design
By: Matt Thurber
Caption: LoPresti Speed Merchants expects to receive an STC for installation of a DeltaHawk diesel engine in the Cirrus SR20 early next year.
Word Count: 258
LoPresti Speed Merchants expects to receive an STC for installation of a DeltaHawk diesel engine in the Cirrus SR20 early next year. The modification will include a new LoPresti-designed cowl system, new Hartzell propeller and fuel system adapted to jet-A and biodiesel-type fuels.
DeltaHawk is expecting FAA Part 33 certification of the turbo-supercharged 180-hp DH-180A4 engine by the end of this year or early next year. “We’re working on a number of STCs on a number of aircraft,” said CEO Dennis Webb.
For the SR20 program, said LoPresti business manager RJ Siegel, “Our target is to outperform the SR22 on two thirds of the fuel consumption.” The STC will include new performance parameters in the POH, he added. Critical altitude of the DeltaHawk diesel is 18,000 feet. 
LoPresti Speed Merchants has been developing the new cowl system that will be used on the diesel-powered SR20 for the past five years, according to Siegel. The cowl system lowers total cooling drag by two thirds, he said. Air flows into the cowl through a “shark mouth” underneath the propeller. “Directed flow” design minimizes airflow inertia losses, according to Siegel, and cooling ability increases during a climb, which may eliminate the need for cowl flaps. Two xenon LoPresti BoomBeam lights are mounted on either side of the top of the cowl, completing the face of the shark with what appear to be its eyes.   The engine, cowl system, new Hartzell propeller, fuel system modifications and installation in the SR20 will cost less than $100,000.