Corvair engine site needed

I bet the Honda Civics and some of the Subarus have some pretty neat
light engines in them.

The past decade or two's "rice rocket" obsession in car customizing
should have some neat impact on light, powerful engines and parts
available to the airplane homebuilder.

"David E. Powell" wrote in message
...
I bet the Honda Civics and some of the Subarus have some pretty neat
light engines in them.

The past decade or two's "rice rocket" obsession in car customizing
should have some neat impact on light, powerful engines and parts
available to the airplane homebuilder.

Keep in mind that most of those super hot little engines are run at full
power for applications similar to drag racing. Presuming that they can
"last" that way, 50 hours is likely to be a very old engine.

Just so you know, I was a long time advocate of automotive conversions and I
really do still like a lot of them; but, like so many of us, I am getting
old--to the point that, if I do finally get to build, I am likely to chose
something like an RV-9 and a Lycoming O-235. The problem is that there are
a couple of old rules of thumb--that still seem to work pretty well--and the
RV-9 has replaced the Tailwind, the Vari-EZ, and a couple of others as the
established design that comes closest to meeting or beating the probable
performance and efficiency of everything on my personal scratch pad.

Now, admittedly, there are still a few designs on that scratch pad that are
a lot faster--and a few that would probably be more fun including feeding my
personal pride--but I still have to admit to myself that "dispatch
reliability" is a very real component of both performance and efficiency,
and I also know that those old type certified "dynosaur" engines can run as
lean as you please below about 60 percent power--and the RV-9 have very good
published numbers at 55 percent. When you want to really cover the
distance, for those few long trips per year, you just rev it up and pour on
the fuel. Still not super fast; but fast enough to be a seroius contender!

That's just the real world as I see it.
Peter

On Dec 4 2009, 6:41*pm, "David E. Powell"
wrote:
I bet the Honda Civics and some of the Subarus have some pretty neat
light engines in them.
...

I believe the Civic CVCC engines have had cast iron blocks and
they may still be cast iron. Subarus were always water cooled
and still are, right?

I am surprised that motorcycle engines, like the BMW footwarmers,
are not a popular starting point for conversions. I'm sure there are
good reasons for that, just don't know what they are.

--

FF

Fred the Red Shirt schreef:

I am surprised that motorcycle engines, like the BMW footwarmers,
are not a popular starting point for conversions. I'm sure there are
good reasons for that, just don't know what they are.

Whatever the reasons, they must depend on local factors, such as
availability of engines, spares, workmanship. Here in tiny Belgium I
hear about spreading use of a BMW bike engine conversion.

http://www.asa-be.com/images/PhotoGa...G01/OO-G23.JPG

shows an example - observe the extra cowling width, and the very long
exhaust pipe.

jan olieslagers schreef:
Fred the Red Shirt schreef:

I am surprised that motorcycle engines, like the BMW footwarmers,
are not a popular starting point for conversions. I'm sure there are
good reasons for that, just don't know what they are.

Whatever the reasons, they must depend on local factors, such as
availability of engines, spares, workmanship. Here in tiny Belgium I
hear about spreading use of a BMW bike engine conversion.

http://www.asa-be.com/images/PhotoGa...G01/OO-G23.JPG

shows an example - observe the extra cowling width, and the very long
exhaust pipe.

Can't be sure but might well be from this place:
http://www.takeoff-ul.de/
(and good luck with the Teuton lingo...)

On Sun, 17 Jan 2010 01:30:28 +0000, jan olieslagers
wrote:

jan olieslagers schreef:
Fred the Red Shirt schreef:

I am surprised that motorcycle engines, like the BMW footwarmers,
are not a popular starting point for conversions. I'm sure there are
good reasons for that, just don't know what they are.

Whatever the reasons, they must depend on local factors, such as
availability of engines, spares, workmanship. Here in tiny Belgium I
hear about spreading use of a BMW bike engine conversion.

http://www.asa-be.com/images/PhotoGa...G01/OO-G23.JPG

shows an example - observe the extra cowling width, and the very long
exhaust pipe.

Can't be sure but might well be from this place:
http://www.takeoff-ul.de/
(and good luck with the Teuton lingo...)

I looked into this a while ago.
there are no engines available as spares so the only way of obtaining
one is to buy a bike and throw away the frame.
the bikes cost $33,000 australian dollars
a jabiru engine is less than half that and it was designed as an
aircraft engine.
does that make any sense to you?

Stealth Pilot

Stealth Pilot wrote:
I looked into this a while ago.
there are no engines available as spares so the only way of obtaining
one is to buy a bike and throw away the frame.
the bikes cost $33,000 australian dollars
a jabiru engine is less than half that and it was designed as an
aircraft engine.
does that make any sense to you?

Stealth Pilot

German ebay lists quite a few for reasonable price:
http://cgi.ebay.de/Motor-BMW-R-1100-...item1e57ed6b9c
http://cgi.ebay.de/Motor-BMW-R-1100-...item3ca8d64508
http://cgi.ebay.de/BMW-Motor-R850-R1...item2ea8f7c2ff
http://cgi.ebay.de/BMW-R-1100-GS-R-M...item53dae8c437
http://cgi.ebay.de/BMW-R-1100-GS-R-M...item53dae8c46d
....

"Ralf Mueller" wrote

German ebay lists quite a few for reasonable price:

How much would it cost to find someone who would crate and ship on to the
US?
--
Jim in NC

On Jan 17, 6:32*am, Ralf Mueller wrote:
Stealth Pilot wrote:
I looked into this a while ago.
there are no engines available as spares so the only way of obtaining
one is to buy a bike and throw away the frame.
the bikes cost $33,000 australian dollars
a jabiru engine is less than half that and it was designed as an
aircraft engine.
does that make any sense to you?

Stealth Pilot

German ebay lists quite a few for reasonable price:http://cgi.ebay.de/Motor-BMW-R-1100-...ne-TOP_W0QQite...
...

If I'm not mistaken, those are all BMW "OilHeads" as opposed to the
older "AirHeads". One nice thing about either is that parts are still
available. The Airhead engines are a LOT simpler (aircooled 2 valve
pushrod), but make less horsepower. They may well be lighter too. I
weighed one of my R100 engines many years ago, I think it came in
right around 100 pounds without the exhaust system. I don't know what
they 'claim' for HP, but it isn't much.