Litespeed

I reckon Ole will put in any suitable engine he is agnostic.

Hit with a feather

My vote goes to a kit from Ole , damn fine machine and very tough with suspension that can take anything a sensible pilot could throw at it. And local so no exchange rate costs. I could be a great deal cheaper including freight and fees.

Nice, Real bargains to be had on forced sales. Pity I am several buckets of money short

Marty knows the right way to do it- real homebrew. Having good bending and cutting gear makes it so much easier and far more accurate . A big bender and shear are wonderful things and can be had cheapish used. Will pay for itself many times over a build and is ready to use anytime. Having to pay for sheet metal work and the travel, waiting etc sucks . A smallish investment in gear say $3,000 will really save you heaps of money,time and anguish. Then sell them when finished and get your money back if needed. The same goes for a good compressor and air tools including riveter and a good rivet gun for solid rivets. A investment in the right tools make building fun

Hard to argue with that. Naturally some will get the deluxe screwing with lube others will get sand and be expected to appreciate it. No one screams for their entitlements like a baby boomer or their inherenting offspring

Belts that run in oil? that is different. I guess it is a real good high temp kevlar type belt. Striving for compactness and weight reduction can lead to many paths. However Ford really did a good job with the eco boost so it might be Okay. Bex you mentioned the holdin together V6 and the Mitsushitsu engine- nasty stuff. I have seen rubber bands hold tension better. Motors from a time that Holden and Mitsu proved Australia was run by accountants and real engineers were kept locked bound and gagged in the broom closet. When a first gen Hyundai excel sold by Alan Bond was far more reliable....................the mind boggles. One of the best things about Chinese and Korean stuff these days is they accepted German engineering know how happily- they accepted the Germans know and followed the path. It has meant some factories are pure german bar some local staff. You don't see the chinese throwing money at the Americans or Us to build engines. I know I digress and off topic, but I would happily have a chinese or korean built motor if it is built with all the good stuff engineering/metals wise whether it is a German, Italian or Japanese design/technology. As a further tangent- most of the mega high pressure you beaut injection systems are actually Italian and Fiat group gets a lovely royalty for everyone sold. That is why the euro's have kicked Japans butt for diesels and economy /power for petrol. I would happily look at using a Fit/civic motor but think Jan is asking too much much for a 2nd hand motor and re-drive set up. Back to the vid motor, just look at how nasty the packaging is for the turbo /exhaust- I bet a smoother flowing setup would liberate a few ponys and should be a easy mod with no downside. It has a small turbo- it wants bugger all restriction not a cramped setup. What HP figure would be good for this motor in a aircraft, lower the revs and push for a fat torque curve and 140-150hp could be happily provided or more for WAR power settings.

Airbus have also been in on this, they certainly see a future for distributed electric and the potential safety benefits. Bring on the future before some idiot with a big red button trumps us all to hell.

Yep, gotta hate a cam belt. A mate just has his replaced and the fool mechanic forgot to time it- One dead diesel van and a huge bill- now in court. Whats better than a timing chain? A duel row timing chain- like old BMW sixes- never break and even at 400k plus kms are still within spec. Meanwhile most toyopets are on the fifth belt- the cost adds up hugely over lifetime of a car and they do almost always kill the motor on failure or even slipping a tooth. Just like motorbike engines- if it has gear or chain driven cams- cool. If it has belts- get some lube and prepare for rodgering by a dealer.

It does not look like a model to me- the scale is correct for a actual real size one. I do not think this is vapour ware in any form- the Germans are a very serious bunch and do not take engineering lightly. They have a long history in performance management of engineers but have softened up since WW2. I would happily bet a team of Germans with the same budget and tech will make this work when others are still making investor money grabs. The Europeans are the ones to watch for new developments and amazingly the Chinese as well. Mind you- the Aeromobil is also European but is way to expensive and impractical, but I guess there are plenty of fools with big deep pockets. I look on with great interest.

Meanwhile the Germans show their take- which is much better in my mind and a lot more practical been VTOL. Lilium plans five-seater air taxi after successful unmanned flight

One big thing i noticed- that I like a lot....... A real timing chain- none of this belt crap that breaks and kills everything.

A good trick to help quieten a turbo system is the plumbing of the blow off valve back into the exhaust flow just aft of the turbo. It can be more efficient and a lot quieter- most systems are designed just to dump the excess and costs power and noise-mainly noise. Systems set up like street machines are not what you need. They make great power part of the time but come at huge fuel cost and weight. Overall- it should be remembered it all comes down to physics - we can not create energy , we can only transform it into heat, motion and sound. The trick is to reduce the losses of heat and sound and maximise motion. Some are horribly inefficient and loud. Every reduction in sound if down correctly will help boost power or reduce consumption, if the system is designed right. It is a science and black art combined.

If money and sense was no object............. A Risen- very sexy, fast and a real smooth skinned beauty, Mmmmmmmmmmm

Just to keep you fellows up to date with the latest training scheme. It has been endorsed by the Minister Max Payne as a breakthrough that will equip our pilots for the new F35. enjoy

Yep the later /7 r series motors are great. Mine was a r100cs, it was a factory custom picked up from the factory itself. Basically a R100rs motor with added light flywheel, wire wheels, 40mm Delorto pumpers, and bigger forks, luftmiester triple clamp and beautiful handstriped paintwork. It was a absolute ripper and scared many a Ducati and Guzzi. Unfortunately these models now are very collectable and all the rage for cafe racers- BMW is now one of the biggest brands for modded old machines. As such prices are ridiculous- it is easy to pay $8,000 for one that needs lots of work and was only $1,000 a few years ago as a box of bits. Bloody BMW- how dare they become cool. Must form hunting parties for Hipsters and free the BMW's from the tryanny of stupid beards and earings.

BEx, I was assuming you go right through the engine and tidy everthing up, nice flow job, coated heads/pistons/exhaust etc and maybe better pistons. Since it is so cheap to do I see it as worthwhile to out the best engine in- might as well have more reliability bit more power and smoothness.

My bro has one of these engines in his chinese copy of a Russian copy of a WW2 BMW it is a Chiang ? I wish they actually had 45hp, the better version is more like 32hp on a really really good day. But his does have reverse gear which can be fun, was designed for a sidecar. The brakes are best described as a optimists folly- big drums and better to carry a anchor to thrown out. Top speed is about 100kmh but at least it sounds mean enough to get a clear road- the traffic parts for you. Before you think about it Bex...............no it would not be a good motor for a aircraft.

Certainly some companies can put marketing above engineering and have been guilty of failing to look properly before leaping. And some have been down right piss poor with customers and reliability, others just ravage your hip pocket but we accept it as normal. Then some are actually worth the bucks, but there is the rub which one? If you can get a rebuilt or low hour rotax cheap enough then sure hard to beat until it is many hrs later and the rebuild cost looms. But then you just get another rotax etc.... The actual engine part of a rebuild for many a non rotax engine could be only $2000 plus labour and that is a huge difference for do we not seek low cost? That is why we seek alternatives and for the fun, difference, power......

I am hard of hearing but thought someone said- where is the real motors for real hp and speed, Not that grandpa grey hair stuff............ Keep your shirt on whippersnappers........... This would be even better with a turbo or small supercharger to drop the revs and boost power. Sure looks damn sexy in that sultry carbon Cruise is 173 mph and it only weighs ................704 lbs empty ..................................................................................................................................................... I do think It could do with more grunt though- so the BMW 1600 cc 6 cylinder with turbo and intercoolers with 250-300 hp should suffice at much nicer revs and smooths as you like.

A R1100 motor in Rusia on a trike; nice install and note how well it just sits at exactly the set 3,900 rpm. Smooth.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whSTUQgvj04

And here is a R 1100 motor- so late gen injected oil/air cooled 85hp at 6, 800 rpm and 78kg as a package. Re-drive is via big wide belthttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3dAF6Ozp4Q

more of the old school motor short vid sounds like no fuel bar the float bowls- but nice.

And now with some shiny stuff:drool:

More Guzzi the better, I have loved many and my Mk3 le mans modded to be usable and comfortable was a beast that could not be killed. The engine was over 200,000k and the problem- bloody rear main seal leaking onto the big dry clutch plates. Mind you I did have a dyna sealed electronic ignition and as new Delorto pumpers- reliable was a understatement. Brought up to BMW standard for electrics , carbs etc and they are fantastic. I remember the absolutely massive main rear bearing for the crank been a huge machining in the back of the crankcase- the case was one piece so you had a big tunnel for the crank to come through. This bearing at 200,000 hard kms looked like new- bellissimo