reubenT
Well-Known Member
I heard years ago that subaru engines were sometimes used in small airplanes. My neighbor was a garage mechanic at a subaru dealer in the early '80's (head of the department, he had the whole parts book memorized) and I learned mechanics by working with him after he went independent, so between us we owned and worked on lots of subarus of that era. The cars we had have all rusted out and we've gone to other kinds, but I still have one of those 1.8 L engines running my john deer tractor. It runs so good I'm wondering if I could use it in an airplane. Those old gear driven cam engines were really long lasting if taken care of. I once met a man who was driving one with 750,000 mi on it. It was our opinion that when they went to overhead belt drive cam it ruined their reliability and low maintenance advantage and we gave up on subaru. Does anyone still use those old ones in planes?