On Jul 2, 1:24 pm, "Stuart & Kathryn Fields" wrote:
"JohnO" wrote in message

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On Jul 1, 8:51 am, "Stuart & Kathryn Fields" wrote:
"JohnO" wrote in message

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On Jun 24, 4:13 am, "Stuart & Kathryn Fields" wrote:
Does anyone know where the kickstarter is for this group?
stu

Stu, How about getting us some more info on the relaunched GM LS7
engine option for the Hummingbird?

John O hows this: After numerous inquiries over the years I decided with
much thought to bring back the GM engine as an option. The main reason is
fuel. Price and availability. The new LS7 has a lot of changes over the
previous GM that we were using. We can now get 427 cu. in. from an
aluminum
small block that weighs the same as before. Redundant electronic ignition
and fuel control, titanium connecting rods, titanium valves, composite
intake, made to produce 505hp at 6300rpm. We are only turning this engine
at
3400rpm and we are not using a reduction unit. Direct drive into the
transmission. All of this weighs the same as the Lycoming and produces
280hp. Burns 9 gallons per hour 91 octane fuel. With the price of
Lycoming
engines as they are, about $60,000.00 retail and fuel costs going up and
availability of 100LL in the future, if this industry is to move on then
it
looks like we have to do it ourselves. I have the LS7 priced at
$24,920.00
ready to install with all accessories, mounts, etc. More to come.

That was direct from Brad Clark. Sounds like he is on top of things as
usual. Brad does not have any flies on him. This makes the Hummingbird
ever
more attractive. Watch out R-44s

Stu

Wow!

If the HB was it a wee bit faster it would eat the (magnificent) R44
for breakfast. But when doing the fuel burn and mantenance calcs you
always have to figure that the HB is flying for about 25% more hours
to get there, and thats if there's no headwind!

But with the current numbers on the LS7 package, it is a very
compelling package. Not sure how much longer I can hold out.

I see they have a quickbuild fuselage for sale on their website....+

John: The maintenance costs. You can't get a Home Depot part and use it in
an R-44. A friend got a couple of pieces of aluminum angle from Home Depot
and put them on his Rotorway as strakes. Total cost $12. Another friend
bought the strake kit for his Bell 206A. Looked just like the Home depot
parts, $8500!!! Over 700% mark up. The repair parts are expensive. So is
the A&P and IA that the R-44 requires. Further you can't own an R-44. You
can only kind of lease it. Both Robinson & FAA tell you what parts you can
use and how much they cost and when you have to change them. Like
biodegradable rotor blades. They have a calendar life as well as a useful
life. No, if I had the cash in hand to buy a new R-44, I would buy the
Hummingbird. We don't know how much longer 100LL is going to be available.
If you can call $6.00+/gal available.

stu

Oh yeah, I forgot about the 12 year rebuild.

I know what you mean about certified parts - thats why I mentioned in
the other post that the LS7 rebuild would presumably be a lot cheaper
than the lycoming option.

I'm really fascinated by this V8 option. Auto conversions have
promised a lot for a long time but never seemed to really 'get there'.
This one looks good but I just need to know what one of those engines
looks like inside after each hundred or so hours up to a couple of
thousand or whatever the rebuild time is (what is it?) before I will
feel genuinely comfortable with hanging from one.

On the face of it this engine is not going to be stressed in it's HB
life (is that the same as de-rated?) so I expect it to pan out well as
long as its supporting components such as electrical, water and oil
systems also work as reliably.