Hello From SE QLD

[JimG]

Hello everone , Iam Jim from Burpengary on northern outskirts of Brisbane . At 46 years young Iam looking forward to a change of speed in my hobby/interest and following my life long interest in ultralight aviation. Having enjoyed building lots of different things in my life so far I have decided join RA-AUS , start flying lessons and comence scratch building my own aircraft. The aircraft I have choosen after months of search internet sites and talking to people is the J6 Karatoo and the engine will be either a rotex 912s or something I build myself (subaru ea81 or chev corvair) . Iam a self employed Engine Reconditioner and now mostly do racing engines, so I feel that aviation engine is something I can adapt to although I fully realise that aviation engines have special requirements. I look forward being involved in this forum and getting to know many people.

 

Cheers JimG

 

 

[Captain]

Welcome Jim.

 

You'll find them to be a good mob here, particularly with sharing data and I look forward to learning stuff from your experience too.

 

And seeing pics of your build as well.

 

Regards & feel free to contribute here in any way that you feel inclined.

 

Geoff

 

 

[Guest J430]

Dont let this guy work on your engines, particularly Jabiru's.........mine has never been the same since Jim did the heads and barrels.

 

YOU WON'T HANDLE ALL THE EXTRA POWER!!!!!!!!!

 

Gooday Jim, she is still rocketing along should have 25 hrs on since rebuild this weekend.

 

Glad to see you on here mate! Actually get off here, and back to the shed out the back building your plane bits......these guys will only distract you with much interesting reading on the forum. Very distracting!

 

J;)

 

 

[blueshed]

Hi Jim

 

Hello from SA, good to see, do you have a pic of a Karatoo ? no idea what one looks like! Welcome and have fun.

 

Cheers Guy

 

 

[Sky Gazer]

Guy,

 

I was thinking the same thing and came accros this NZ site.

 

http://karatoo.recwings.com/aircraft/j6cul_karatoo.html

 

Peter

 

 

[barryk]

Hi Jim and welcome (I'm new to this forum as well).

 

If you do a corvair check out http://www.flycorvair.com/ and http://home.hiwaay.net/~langford/corvair/

 

regards

 

Barry

 

 

[JimG]

Thanks Guys , have visited those sites b4 ,their good value. I'm also a member of corvair home builders forum that has a dozen or more imputs daily . I'm wondering though if a similar forum exists for subaru?

 

Cheers for now

 

 

[JimG]

Thanks for the plug j430, I was however a little nervious when reading the third line though!

 

Cheers J430

 

 

[alanwallace]

You're a braver man than I am ... I would NEVER try to fly anything I had built! Medical tranining just doesn't quality you to build planes ;)

 

 

[vk3auu]

Hi Jim,

 

Others might have different opinions, but I would think the Subaru and Corvair engines are too heavy for a Karatoo, even if they are cheaper than a Rotax912. Nice airoplane though. Good luck with the building.

 

David

 

 

[Guest J430]

Rotax or Jab............I will have words to my mate Jim if he thinks otherwise!

 

J

 

 

[barryk]

You're a braver man than I am ... I would NEVER try to fly anything I had built! Medical tranining just doesn't quality you to build planes ;)

Bravery has nothing to with it. It is a only a matter of research, research and more research and then making some test pieces and testing them (till they break) and when you are happy do the job for real.

After crashing my KR2 it took me 4 months to fix the spar, 3.75 months of research and testing. One week to do the job working after hours. My test piece made from aircraft grade spruce (well it is a spar) failed beside my joint, I used a 3 tonne jack break it and it took more effort than jacking up my 4 wheel drive.

 

My KR2 will fly again and soon, I can hardly wait. :-)

 

 

[barryk]

Hi Jim,Others might have different opinions, but I would think the Subaru and Corvair engines are too heavy for a Karatoo, even if they are cheaper than a Rotax912. Nice airoplane though. Good luck with the building.

David

I would not use a subaru, a mate of mine has and it is a lot of work to get the cooling right for the radiator and the weight is a big sacrifice. Just think of the weight in terms of a percentage. GROSS = 250kg of which Jabiru 2200 is 60kg, motor is 24%, now increase motor to subaru of about 115kg including water, GROSS is now 305kg and motor is 38%. Not only have you reduced your payload but you power to weight ratio is shot out the door along with fuel consumption.

But on the other hand ther is cost, thats where the corvair comes in.............I suppose.

 

How much will you really gain with the big horsepower (and big fuel consumtion)?

 

This was the decision process that lead me to my Jabiru 2200 in the KR2. Weight wise I could have hade the 3300 but what would I really gain, a few not more knots speed, a slightly better climb rate and about 5 litres an hour more fuel burn.

 

This is just more information to confuse the decision, sorry :;)2:

 

 

[vk3auu]

There are a couple of traps that some people fall into with the cooling of the Subaru.

 

There is a small pipe which comes from the centre of the top of the engine which must be connected into the plumbing somewhere ahead of the thermostat and the pipe which goes to the heater should also be connected and not blanked off. If the little bleed pipe is not connected, the block will fill up with air and the water left in there will boil.

 

Tom Wickers in Bayswater, a suburb of Eastern Melbourne seems to have all the clues about Subarus.

 

David

 

 

[JimG]

Thanks for the tip David , as I am keen to research all avenues with the different motor options . Is it possible to contact Tom Wickers

 

Cheers JimG

 

 

[vk3auu]

Tom is the bloke who runs Cobra Aviation 0397206966.

 

David

 

 

[JimG]

Tom is the bloke who runs Cobra Aviation 0397206966.David

Thanks David , I will give Tom a quick call .

Cheers Jimg

 

 

[Sean]

Hi. Are you interested in any Rotax engine work coming your way?

 

Sean.

 

 

[JimG]

Thanks for your inquiry Sean. I am very interested in becoming more involved in air craft engines for work and pleasure. However I would always consider each job carefully to ensure it isn't outside the scope of my experience. Contact me via private e-mail if yoiu wish.

 

Best Regards

 

JimG