Subaru EA 81

[BenG]

Does anyone still run the EA81 engine with a wade cam ? 
I run a stock motor with Weber carb and dual redundant twin ignition WOT is 4800 rpm. It gets about 340 to 370 lbs of thrust dependant on the day.

i am wondering what the difference would be to upgrade the cams and the known head mods, hopefully someone can chime in to enlighten me.

thanks for your time ! 
Ben 

[facthunter]

Getting old now. Why try for extra power?   What's your redrive?.Nev

[BenG]

Well it flys ok I’ve put 300hrs on it and I have another motor on another gyro I would like to resurrect and get flying if this wade cam get me a little more rpm and  or hp why not ?  
Rotax type E with 72 inch warp drive prop on my current machine. 

I was reading some older posts here and thought some of the lads could answer these questions I had 

[BrendAn]

On 28/08/2024 at 10:30 PM, BenG said:

Well it flys ok I’ve put 300hrs on it and I have another motor on another gyro I would like to resurrect and get flying if this wade cam get me a little more rpm and  or hp why not ?  
Rotax type E with 72 inch warp drive prop on my current machine. 

I was reading some older posts here and thought some of the lads could answer these questions I had 

You might do better to go on the asra website and search the archives. Should be plenty of info on the ea81 . Mine was 100 HP but I don't know how much modification was done to get that. The blokes that built my gyro and engine are all gone now.  I think most gyro people use the ej25 these days, around 150 HP.

[BenG]

Thanks BrendAn,

your right but unfortunately I’ve scoured their website and others including 20years of magazines which didn’t turn up the answers I was chasing. May cam grinder can’t answer it either so the only way forward is someone that has data or records of the operating paremeters of their engine which would help me greatly in making the right decisions. Yeah a lot of the gyronaughts are on ej22 and 25’s now with good success, again their still heavy and ide thought they would struggle to make the empty weight of 250 kgs without sacrificing fuel capacity. If I do that I’ll put my rotax 912 in.

[BrendAn]

38 minutes ago, BenG said:

Thanks BrendAn,

your right but unfortunately I’ve scoured their website and others including 20years of magazines which didn’t turn up the answers I was chasing. May cam grinder can’t answer it either so the only way forward is someone that has data or records of the operating paremeters of their engine which would help me greatly in making the right decisions. Yeah a lot of the gyronaughts are on ej22 and 25’s now with good success, again their still heavy and ide thought they would struggle to make the empty weight of 250 kgs without sacrificing fuel capacity. If I do that I’ll put my rotax 912 in.

I would using a 912 over a Subaru any day. Then you have the light weight and fantastic reliability.

My gyro was built in Sydney by some old blokes that used to fly together. Jack Allen done a lot of their work but they are all gone now and the knowledge they had with them. Those blokes all flew ea 81s.

There is a bloke in NZ that makes heads and performance gear for them but I don't remember his name. He might not be doing it now either. Sorry I am not much help. 

[will kirkbride]

Hi. I have a modified EA81 in my Zenith CH750. The wade cam grind is used but was reground by Clive cams who used to be the main guy before Wade was taken over. I have a spare

reground cam if you are interested. My engine is much modified with a fuel injection system and crank triggered ignition. Happy to fill you in with any questions you may have.

I agree that the engine is getting old now,but has proven to be reliable so far.

[BenG]

Hi there will,

thanks for the feed back. If you do have a spare I’m interested otherwise I’ll strip one out of engine and send down to Clive cams.  They are great to deal with. What is your wot rpm s as I’m wanting to check all this before I go do the change over. My engines currently do 4800 rpm. 

[will kirkbride]

Hi. BenG. My engine does 4600 static. It will rev to 5000 if I let it but I have the prop set so it cruises at around 4500. It is totally different

in a gyro of course. I have built 2 engines for gyros. You are restricted by the size of the intake manifold and the port size.

I will try to find my spare cam and give you the grind number or the specs if you want to get your own ground. Let me know if you want anything else.

Cheers

[will kirkbride]

Photo of the cam and spec card