Help understanding solid or hydraulic lifters

[Herm]

Well I am a happy man tonight. I just purchased my first 3 axis aircraft. I have purchased an as new sk 2.2 Jabiru that only needs a couple of weeks work to finish Her. She's a real little ripper and will be ideal for me.

 

I have a new factory re-built 0 hours 2.2 jabiru motor with solid lifters. I have been reading lots and am not sure if the general trend is to stay with solid lifters or update to hydrolic. Thier is so much tall poppy cutting on one of our own local products, it makes it hard to make sense of it all.

 

I would love to here from others that have had direct experience with these motors so I can try to do what is best in the long term.

 

Regards

 

Mardy

 

 

[eightyknots]

I have a new factory re-built 0 hours 2.2 jabiru motor with solid lifters. I have been reading lots and am not sure if the general trend is to stay with solid lifters or update to hydrolic. Thier is so much tall poppy cutting on one of our own local products, it makes it hard to make sense of it all.

I'm interested in the difference between solid and hydraulic lifters too, particularly on the Jabiru 2200. I especially would like to know, which is better and why?

 

Great to hear you have your own plane Herm!

 

 

[facthunter]

I would prefer to run solid lifters myself. It doesn't suit everybody. That is doubtless why Jabiru went over to hydraulic. It simplifies servicing. That is the short answer. Nev

 

 

[brilin_air]

Solid lifter motor will be fine Mardy, just keep the maintenance happening and you should have trouble free flying like most of us.

 

Brian

 

 

[facthunter]

You have the right motor. Keep a record of all the tappet adjustments that you do and you can find something going wrong before it gets too bad, that way. Always pull your motor through before flight for a compression check. Learn what feels right. The tappets have to be done initially at quite short intervals and should settle in by 50 hours,or so. Nev

 

 

[Louis Moore]

Agree with above, solid is a great way to go if you don't mind adjusting them every now and then.

 

 

[Guernsey]

It must be the only 'brand new' Jabiru aircraft of that vintage in Australia, unless somebody else hasn't finished their build project.

 

Alan.

 

 

[Dieselten]

I'd strongly urge staying with the solid lifters. Learn to do the tappet adjustments, it isn't rocket science. The engines with hydraulic lifters are having far too many issues for my liking (including mine!). The Jab 2.2L solid-lifter engine with the fine-finned heads is the best incarnation yet.

 

 

[facthunter]

We all seem to agree on the solid ( manually adjusted tappets ) Lifters. Are they available from the factory that way? Can't see that there would be any difficulty building a few ( or a lot) if the demand was there.

 

From what I am hearing the settings of the hydraulic ones should be checked (leakdown) too. IF they runout of travel you will have a problem there. That is also without coming to any conclusion whether the stud breakages are more common with the hydraulic lidters. Nev

 

 

[skeptic36]

Are they available from the factory that way?

I don't think so Nev. Ben Mcguinness, the bloke who built the Waiex featured in this months Sport Pilot, bought a factory reconditioned 3300 for it but changed the hydraulic lifters back to solid and modified the plenum chamber prior to installation. So I guess he would have got them factory installed if it where possible

 

 

[facthunter]

You have to use a diferent camshaft if you swap over, as well as pushrods? Perhaps they will do a rebuilt motor for you . It would seem to be a bit of an effort to pull a low hours motor down and change it, unless you would have done that for another reason at the time. Nev

 

 

[Yenn]

The time you spend adjusting solid lifters will not be onerous. You will probably find that adjusting at somewhere less than 10 hours they will all need adjustment, then again at 25 hours and from then on they will probably be stable

 

 

[billwoodmason]

Mardy, You'll have a lot of fun with your new Jab, but you will have to do tappet adjustments at regular intervals. As I understand it Jabiru went to hydrolic lifters to prevent having tappet adjuster failures caused by ham fisted owner/operators. I've owned both types and I used to think that although a relatively simple task, adjusting the tappets was a pain in the you know what. I don't believe there is sufficient evidence to suggest hydrolic lifters are a backward step, only speculation in some quarters. Initially they did have to change the profile of the camshaft and I think they had a couple of versions before being satisfied. The key to safe operation is to be vigilent with maintenance (use an L2/LAME where necessary)and get the cowls off often for a good visual inspection for anything that may need attention. Do leakdown tests every 100 hrs and keep a close eye on the oil level as it will use 50ml/Hr or more - don't overfill as it will expel excess oil out the breather. It's a good idea to do a pull through before each start of the engine and get a feel for what's normal and you'll be able to pick any problems before they arise. Common sense really.!!

 

Cheers and happy flying,

 

Billwodmason.

 

 

[Herm]

Thanks all for your advice. I am still in the final build stage with mainly electrics to be fitted out. So many wires and so little free time. Anyway I'm off to the hanger,,,, I've got a plane to finish!

 

 

[Sapphire]

I've had a lot to do with hydraulic lifters on a 0-200 Continental. If the clearance is wrong either your valves are going to stay open or not open enough. The clearance is fiddly to get. Blockages from sludge etc will cause problems and they are expensive to replace. Simple solid lifters will last the lives of the engine and more and are simple to adjust. They are noiser, but you would never hear them over a straight through exhaust.