New Bolly Sky Blazer with Harley Engine

[turboplanner]

There are props and there are props, and if the hub is going to fracture, there would be other causes too, like the erratic behaviour on a geared engine at startup and shut down, backfiring etc.

 

 

[facthunter]

The cylinders fire on alternate compression strokes, not on the same stroke although that sort of thing has been done on hill climbers to get better traction. Ducati's and Motoguzzi's have a 90 degree angle which is greater than the one used on the Harley and Guzzi's are ok for aircraft, even with a greater variation in firing pulse. Some flying flea's had single cylinder motor cycle engines, though a specially built aero Scott engine of 2 cylinders as a 2 stroke was the preferred engine. Nev

 

 

[petetheprinta]

Sorry for me prattling on folks, but as you have probably realized I am very enthusiastic about Harley. One of the things you can do with a Harley is by the simple addition of a plug in crane fireball system is adjust the ignition on the fly (pardon the pun) you can advance, retard, adjust timing between cylinders, limit or increase RPM tune for economy or power. The mind boggles.

 

I promise to shut up now. :-)

 

 

[fly_tornado]

I would have thought if they where going to go down the homebuilt engine path a water cooled inline 4 cylinder would be a much better option.

 

 

[old man emu]

the old pan heads and knuckleheads went out of production many years ago.

Yeah, I told you so. I knew those newfangled panheads and knuckleheads wouldn't last. My 45 cub. in. flathead is still pounding the blacktop even though it's coming up for its 70th birthday next January. "Solid reliable, low revving last forever. That's a 45 Harley.

 

 

OME

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

But will it fly OME ..that is the question. And will there be over 400,000 of them worldwide giving reliable daily service in 10 years time ?..........................................................Maj...

 

 

[boingk]

I would have thought if they where going to go down the homebuilt engine path a water cooled inline 4 cylinder would be a much better option.

Why?

 

More cylinder equals higher revving, more weight and a larger engine.

 

Water cooling often makes a heavier engine and requires placement of radiators, which in turn give drag to the airframe.

 

Again, why a watercooled four?

 

- boingk

 

 

[fly_tornado]

cheap, you can get a almost new 100-120hp engine from a small car for < $1000. harley engine is almost as expensive as VW conversion

 

 

[boingk]

Might be cheap but also may not be viable due to weight and subsquent further weight with redrive etc.

 

- boingk

 

 

[petetheprinta]

cheap, you can get a almost new 100-120hp engine from a small car for < $1000. harley engine is almost as expensive as VW conversion

I don't know if I would want an almost new 2 nd hand water cooled 4 banger and all the cooling etc that goes with it in my aircraft. A brand new 120hp Harley, Revtech or S&S engine is less than half the cost of a rotax, and cheaper than a Jabiru 4 cylinder.

 

Another advantage of course, whilst having the power of a 4 cyl or even a 6 cyl. There are half or a third of the number of moving parts. Much less to worry about, much less to maintain. A win win and win again (if it works of course)

 

 

[turboplanner]

That's the million dollar question

 

 

[boingk]

As I said before - if someone can make an 18hp Briggs & Stratton airplane cruise at 100mph *reliably* then I'm sure that a HD can be made to work *reliably*. Its just a matter of engineering prowess and, as they say, we have the technology.

 

 

- boingk

 

 

[fly_tornado]

You are right boingk, you can make anything fly, this is running a 1.4L Puegot diesel. The question is whether or not you want to spend the money making it work, when you can grab a used 912 for the same or less money.

 

 

 

[Guernsey]

Well guys and gals this thread is supposed to be about a new Aircraft and Engine, but we've only discussed the engine.

 

Now we know that the new Harley is well balanced with no vibrations and because it is a Harley we could expect it would require a service every 5,000 hours with a major overhaul or engine replacement at 50,000 hours, so my question is:-

 

How many new aircraft would we have to purchase to attach to this engine during the life of the engine?

 

Serious Alan.

 

 

[boingk]

Dunno mate.

 

Awful lot being written off lately, or so it seems.

 

- boingk

 

 

[facthunter]

Any U/L airframe with more than 3,000 hours would want a good system of inspection I reckon. Not talking about c-150's etc as I feel apart from corrosion in some planes , the airframes have proven themselves. I trust Jabiru's not to fall apart, if you look after the nosewheel. 3,000 hours is a lot of flying but there are quite a lot of Piper Commanche's around with high airframe hours and are considered well built and corrosion proofed. We have a lot of aircraft flying that were built in the late 50's and early 60's. It was never really envisaged that they would be still flying 60 years later. Nev

 

 

[jetjr]

Maybe the link on the website to the turbo prop T62-27 is a hint to the future?

 

I like the laser bucket in the background - shows all development isnt done in major centres.