Engine Questions

And if you really want to see what you can do with a Corvair engine,
take a look at: http://www.visionaircraft.com/CorvairCraft

Greg Piney
Vision#33
Tom Cummings wrote:
" jls" wrote in message news:j7dPb.38883
Are Corvair engines still around with as few

Corvairs that were produced I would think the supply would be
limited (along with parts)

Corvair engines are plentiful as well as the parts. We are talking rebuilds.
Use '64 through '69 engines and view http://www.flycorvair.com/
and http://www.corvaircraft.com/ for more specifics on selective cases and
heads to use.
Corvair College V was just held this past weekend at Hanover, CA.
Tom

Try Barnstormers.com, Trade-a-Plane, and Ebaymotors.com for old
Continentals. We just found one, an A-65 we can convert to A-80, nearby
for just over 1k and will put about 2k in it for rebuild. For 3k you
can't
beat it. Subarus will work too, as someone suggested. You probably
need
a redrive for a high-turning Soob engine. Corvair engines are plentiful
and parts are not hard to find. And believe or not there are plenty of
old
A-Model Ford engines, but I don't know the price. I'll ask a friend who
just bought one.

I do recall an A-65-powered Piet with a big lead weight bolted to the
front
of the engine. I wouldn't want that so when you build the Piet designed
for the heavy Ford engine, you have to be careful about W&B.

When I first read about lightwieght engines on the Piet I also
thought of a front end counter wieght
but I was thinking more along the lines of beefing up the firewall
with maybe a heavier gauge metal
covering.



Just keep shaking the bushes and you will find it. Get somebody to send
you the old articles from Mechanix Illustrated where Bernie Pietenpol said
he could have you flying for about $500 and you'll be sold. Or was that
$200? 50?

On Mon, 19 Jan 2004 21:17:11 GMT, "Bill A."
wrote:

So the question's are.does anyone have experience (good or bad) with a VW
engine in an Aircamper? What other scratch build planes work well with VW
engines other then the Volksplanes? What other engines would fall into the
same price range has a VW (which I would be getting used and rebuilding
myself)?

I strongly suspect you won't get enough thrust out of the VW. People have
tried them on Fly Babies and they haven't worked well at all.

Best airplanes for VWs are those which were specifically designed for them.
Ryan Young maintains a good list:

http://users.lmi.net/~ryoung/Sonerai/rant.html

He also has a ton of good information on the engines themselves at:

http://users.lmi.net/~ryoung/Sonerai/Engines.html

Ron Wanttaja

If you want low-n-slow, check the Texas Parasol.
Remenescent of the Pietenpol Scout, VW powered.
All aluminum construction with fabric cover.
Nice flyer too.

Check www.flash.net/~lamb01

Richard Lamb wrote in message ...
If you want low-n-slow, check the Texas Parasol.
Remenescent of the Pietenpol Scout, VW powered.
All aluminum construction with fabric cover.
Nice flyer too.

Check www.flash.net/~lamb01



************************************************** ******************************

Our EAA Chapter 1156 is building a Piet which will have a Suburu. I
don't know the model,etc. but there are more around with the Suburu
engine.

Bob Olds
Charleston,Arkansas

************************************************** ******************************

I agree with your choice, and fly VW myself.
If you don't mind a redrive, VW Gene Smith offers an
excellent version for type 1 VW which will turn a big prop and produce
100 hp at 200 lbs. installed. If you build it the cost is aproaching
$3000.00 bucks.
A direct drive (for aircraft like Texas Parasol, Teenie, M-19, or
VP-1 etc.) can be built for 700.00 bucks if you start from a good core.
VW type 1 is the most proven engine in the world considering it's
billions of hours time in ground vehicles and a lot of airtime as well.
No engine design ever built even comes close to the aftermarket
development data, performance data, endurance data, cost economics, and
parts availablility as the type 1 VW. ..........None.

"Marvin Barnard" wrote in message
...
I agree with your choice, and fly VW myself.
If you don't mind a redrive, VW Gene Smith offers an
excellent version for type 1 VW which will turn a big prop and produce
100 hp at 200 lbs. installed. If you build it the cost is aproaching
$3000.00 bucks.
A direct drive (for aircraft like Texas Parasol, Teenie, M-19, or
VP-1 etc.) can be built for 700.00 bucks if you start from a good core.
VW type 1 is the most proven engine in the world considering it's
billions of hours time in ground vehicles and a lot of airtime as well.
No engine design ever built even comes close to the aftermarket
development data, performance data, endurance data, cost economics, and
parts availablility as the type 1 VW. ..........None.


I put around 100 hours on a VW-powered Karatoo with redrive. We never
really got it dialed in but I was impressed with that big prop out there
ticking over and acting like an airbrake on final. And when you shoved the
throttle in, that thing could do some climbing too. The redrive used a
cogged belt which gave some trouble but could have been tweaked out with
time and effort. It was not my project but I enjoyed flying it. One time
I was out over Lake James when the VW engine seized from overheating and
barely made it to dry land. Plenty of power from an EA-81, and then an
1835cc VW. The VW engine always got too hot, but now that I look back on
it, it was because they hadn't cowled and baffled it right and should have
used a bigger oil sump and oil cooler. I had a 3-liter Porsche Targa which
held about 10 or 15 qts. oil and a big cooler up front for cooling it. You
have to educate yourself and look around, be circumspect.

Yeah, I'm sold on those type 1 VW engines --- simple, durable, light, cheap,
fun to rebuild and tinker with and you can run them forever. But if you
turn one up to 3k-3.5k rpm, you're going to have to be especially careful to
cool it. Have you seen the Piet with that huge radiator up front to cool
the Ford engine? If I were building a Piet I'd go with the Ford and be
patriotic about it. Besides, that low-revving guttural engine purr is,
well, indescribably sonorous.

"Marvin Barnard" wrote

No engine design ever built even comes close to the aftermarket
development data, performance data, endurance data, cost economics, and
parts availablility as the type 1 VW. ..........None.

Cough cough, sputter, cough.

Is there a full loon, err- moon out?
--
Jim in NC

Be nice!........;-)

Morgans wrote:

"Marvin Barnard" wrote

No engine design ever built even comes close to the aftermarket
development data, performance data, endurance data, cost economics, and
parts availablility as the type 1 VW. ..........None.

Cough cough, sputter, cough.

Is there a full loon, err- moon out?
--
Jim in NC

Well, I guess in the general sense he is right.

There are skads of after market stuff for VW Street Use builders

But for an aero engine, there's only Great Plains.

Richard

I hate it when it goes Cough cough, sputter, cough.