Wrongway John
Well-Known Member
I wanted to post this here as well as the Hummelbird cite to see if anyone might have experience with this engine. I read the Contact magazine (issue 81) article on it some time back, and it seems to have solved a hell of a lot of problems. This engine was designed to be a airplane engine; especially for light aircraft. Google will get you plenty of material as well if this post peaks your interest. Here is one such cite.
Here are some of the stats on this engine.
2 cylinder Nickies
60 HP @ 5,750 rpm
45 HP @ 75% power
Only 22.7 inches wide, and the cylinders are directly in line, but the article claims the engine is completely balanced and doesn’t have the vibration and rocking problems that a lot of in line engines have. This engine is really compact, all of the dimensions on it are: 22.7” wide, 20.6” deep, and 14.6” high.
98 lbs which includes starter, alternator and the PSRU weight. For comparison, the cast iron 1/2 Vee dubers that are out there are rated at 87 lbs. That’s without a starter and alternator. And for the other nickies 1/2 vee dubya's, you can knock off another 4-6 lbs.
Fuel Injection
4 valves per cylinder
TBO rated at a conservative 1,200 hours. Their test stand model was at 1,800 hours and was still running strong.
Price of overhaul...Estimate $800.00 Rotax 2 cycle engines get overhauled roughly every 200 hours, so the one time cost of this engine should easily offset the costs of a half a dozen or more Rotax overhauls before you needed to overhaul this one once.
Price $8,800. Not cheap by any means.
Many are putting the 3 bladed carbon props on this particular engine.
What does anyone else think about this engine? I’ve read all of the company reports, it would nice to finally find somebody that had actual field experience with this engine. They seem to be putting them in quite a few different aircraft. If anybody has any feedback on this engine, positive or negative, and espeically has some actual flying experience with it, I hope you will share. It seems like a good candidate for a Hummelbird, but has about 32 more HP than what most Hummebirds are flying with. Besides having to balance out all of the controls, I'm not sure what other modifications would be involved.
wj
Here are some of the stats on this engine.
2 cylinder Nickies
60 HP @ 5,750 rpm
45 HP @ 75% power
Only 22.7 inches wide, and the cylinders are directly in line, but the article claims the engine is completely balanced and doesn’t have the vibration and rocking problems that a lot of in line engines have. This engine is really compact, all of the dimensions on it are: 22.7” wide, 20.6” deep, and 14.6” high.
98 lbs which includes starter, alternator and the PSRU weight. For comparison, the cast iron 1/2 Vee dubers that are out there are rated at 87 lbs. That’s without a starter and alternator. And for the other nickies 1/2 vee dubya's, you can knock off another 4-6 lbs.
Fuel Injection
4 valves per cylinder
TBO rated at a conservative 1,200 hours. Their test stand model was at 1,800 hours and was still running strong.
Price of overhaul...Estimate $800.00 Rotax 2 cycle engines get overhauled roughly every 200 hours, so the one time cost of this engine should easily offset the costs of a half a dozen or more Rotax overhauls before you needed to overhaul this one once.
Price $8,800. Not cheap by any means.
Many are putting the 3 bladed carbon props on this particular engine.
What does anyone else think about this engine? I’ve read all of the company reports, it would nice to finally find somebody that had actual field experience with this engine. They seem to be putting them in quite a few different aircraft. If anybody has any feedback on this engine, positive or negative, and espeically has some actual flying experience with it, I hope you will share. It seems like a good candidate for a Hummelbird, but has about 32 more HP than what most Hummebirds are flying with. Besides having to balance out all of the controls, I'm not sure what other modifications would be involved.
wj
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