D-Motor

[xair1159]

Having mastered posting photos, a few views of my own installation when the cowls were off for a service.

 

The engine was not prettied up for these, it stays quite clean and dry

 

Before I get rude comments, the old carpet tiles on the hangar floor make it easy on the knees and stop dropped nuts and bits disappearing.

 

Nick

 

 

 

 

 

[fly_tornado]

Nice

 

 

[Soleair]

That looks a very clean installation, Nick. Impressive to get the radiator snugly within the cowl line. Definitely an engine worth considering - shame they can't get the price a bit more competitive to offer a greater challenge to the dominance of Rotax.

 

By the way, my hangar carpet is much worse than yours, & I hope your squares avoid further problems with your testicles.

 

 

[Marty_d]

Rude comments? Us???

 

 

[facthunter]

I have problems with my spectacles too. Finding them to find the dropped nuts. Nev

 

 

[Marty_d]

They're probably on your head Nev. The spectacles.

 

 

[fly_tornado]

One thing I like about it, for a pusher the radiator outlets are on the right end of the motor.

 

 

[facthunter]

Thanks, I will look there. No really been there done that. I only use them for close up (reading micrometers etc) and they are only magnifiers of 1x, 2x so I leave them all over the place at$12 max each. Nev

 

 

[fly_tornado]

thinking about buying a D-Motor? this is worth a read

 

Svenska Flygfabriken AB

 

 

[facthunter]

Some heroic assumptions there. Pity as the motor has good aspects without "embellishing" it .Nev

 

 

[Downunder]

I expect the Rotax 915is will be easily in the $35-40,000 range when landed and has the FWF bits added.But could well be a lot more.

Just looked up the price in the US for a 914, us $28 000 (au $36 000) so yeah, over $40 000 is a good bet for the 915is.

 

The 6 cyl d-motor at max continuous of 121hp vs the 915is of 127 hp (from memory) norrows the difference.

 

Weights for both are very similar.

 

915is, 84 kg ( unsure dry/wet, exhaust, etc but would think all included)

 

6 cyl d-motor, 78kg plus 7 kg fluids = 85kg.

 

 

[bexrbetter]

Before I get rude comments, the old carpet tiles on the hangar floor make it easy on the knees and stop dropped nuts and bits disappearing.

I only have bare concrete floors, guess that's why my voice is deep.

 

 

[IBob]

I only have bare concrete floors, guess that's why my voice is deep.

I have wooden ones, so mine bounce.....)

 

 

[bexrbetter]

I have wooden ones, so mine bounce.....)

Must have been a terrible accident, sorry to hear that, you could probably get titanium ones these days.

 

Reminds me of one of our PE Teachers at Secondary School and one of Mornington Football Club Coaches, Mr Woodcock (true).

 

 

[onetrack]

Far better than our local hardware man, Mr Handcock. He took particular pains to remind those who pronounced his name incorrectly, that it was pronounced "Han-co".

 

 

[xair1159]

I shall obviously have to be very careful in future with words that I use. Anyway, the carpet tiles do give dropped bits a soft landing..............

 

On radiators, a number of installations in the UK and Europe are successfully using a Kawasaki bike radiator, don't know the model but a fairly thin curved design which can be fitted under the engine at an angle.

 

Still needs some sort of inlet scoop to be moulded into the cowling, but cheaper to use an off the shelf unit rather than one-off specials.

 

 

[facthunter]

If you google "heat exchangers" you will get plenty of options at much cheaper than spare parts prices. Nev

 

 

[Litespeed]

I went to school with two notable young fellows

 

Constantine Dominico ie Condom

 

And Wayne Cockburn naturally he insisted it was said Coburn

 

 

[eightyknots]

Magic! Thanks to fly tornado.Photos of the D-Motor 6cyl on its display stand at Popham. The red tape was just to stop it swinging round in the wind.

Weight includes every accessory except exhaust and fluids, the oil tank is on the rear of the plate.

 

Nick

 

[ATTACH=full]45100[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]45101[/ATTACH]

 

Is this similar to the CAA red tape applied to Jabiru engines?

 

 

[planesmaker]

Knew a man by the name of StJohn pronounced Sinjin but when someone told me his last name......... Turtle ....

 

 

[Bruce Tuncks]

The D-motor is too expensive for me, and I bet the spare parts are at ripoff prices like most EU stuff.

 

I just tried to get a fencing staple-gun from Sweden repaired. The quote was $750. You could buy a hobby lathe and make the main part yourself for cheaper than this.

 

Or you could buy a different staple gun for $650, which is also more than I want to pay. Also overpriced. Does anybody know of a Chinese fencing pneumatic staple-gun ?

 

 

[onetrack]

I have to agree with Bruce here - the cost of EU-produced, or sourced, items and parts is unbelievable.

 

I buy quite a few parts for various items of equipment, and even if a Euro manufacturer produces an aftermarket part for an American machine, it will still cost substantially more than any U.S.-produced aftermarket identical part.

 

I'm convinced a lot of Euro countries add a lot of hidden taxes to the cost of their products. I rarely buy anything from EU countries, they are purely and simply uncompetitive.

 

Bruce - the Freeman fencing stapler is available from the U.S. for US$299 (AU$393), with free U.S. shipping. It's the Chinese Stock-ade copy.

 

Get yourself a Shopmate address in Oregon from Australia Post, and you should be able to get it to Australia from Oregon for $50-60.

 

Freeman PFS9 9-Gauge 2 in. Pneumatic Fencing Stapler

 

 

[eightyknots]

.

 

I have to agree with Bruce here - the cost of EU-produced, or sourced, items and parts is unbelievable.I buy quite a few parts for various items of equipment, and even if a Euro manufacturer produces an aftermarket part for an American machine, it will still cost substantially more than any U.S.-produced aftermarket identical part.

I'm convinced a lot of Euro countries add a lot of hidden taxes to the cost of their products. I rarely buy anything from EU countries, they are purely and simply uncompetitive.

 

...

That is just the problem. The most likely options for ultralight/LSA/RA-Aus aircraft are:

 

 

 

1. Rotax (EU)

 

2. UL Power (EU)

 

3. D Motor (EU)

 

4. Jabiru (I won't say where this comes from but I will give you a clue: it's the same country where I am from)

 

5. Viking (Japan {Honda} + US based PSRU designed and added by Jan Eggenfellner)

 

6. BEX-2017 ...in progress (Australian designed, Chinese made)

 

 

 

(feel to extend the list if anyone thinks I have left a significant engine out)

 

 

[onetrack]

The site below has a 3-page list of ultralight engine manufacturers. Some of those listed, should not be, as they have production/financing/reliability problems.

 

Each link takes you to another page, where there is a link to the manufacturers website. A couple of the websites listed are no longer functional.

 

Ultralight Aircraft Engine Manufacturers | Light Aircraft DB & Sales

 

The Viking engine, for US$11,995 is the best engine for the money, for sheer HP output. Viking use the 1.5L turbocharged, fuel-injected Honda car engine.

 

The Honda has one major drawback, as set up by Viking, it uses the regular vertical position, thus making the installation tall and narrow, the opposite of the most practical aircraft engine installation.

 

IMO, if they laid the engine down and made it into a dry sump version, they would have a better aircraft engine setup.

 

 

[fly_tornado]

The Viking 1./ isn't a new engine 2./ its an auto conversion

 

both will kill the resale of your aircraft when you go to sell it compared to a proper aircraft engine