Many will be familiar with the AM10 3 cylinder engine that had been in development with Aeromomentum for several years. It is based on a 3 cylinder Toyota/Daihatsu engine used in subcompact cars in Japan, Philipines and several other far eastern countries. It was never sold in the US. I am attaching a few pictures from how the engine was exhibited at the Aeromomentum booth at Oshkosh and Sun and Fun over the years. A gearbox was developed for the engine, but the means of attaching the prob hub proved to be inadequate, thus it will require the development of a splined output shaft to accept a splined prop hub to resolve one of the known issues with the package.
Aeromomentum has seen increased demand for their Suzuki G13 and G15 based engines, especially the new turbo version of both that have been in development. Their new gearbox with 3 gears and higher prop centerline also makes the vertical application of the engine possible which leads to a less expensive engine, further increasing demand. Given these circumstances, they have not had the resources to put into further development of the smaller engine.
I was made a very generous offer to take over the assets of the AM10 engine and I could focus exclusively on the completion of any remaining engineering issues and bringing this engine to market as a competitor to Rotax and Jabiru. I am one of many current Jabiru owners who recently discovered that the factory in Australia had discontinued making parts for Gen 1-3 Jabiru engines, meaning that most people will have trouble at the 1000tbo because the cylinder heads are the parts that most commonly fail and there have been no new heads available already for over a year.
From a logistical point of view, new engines are available to purchase in China, but I personally (based on decades at an Automotive parts supplier with offices in China) do not trust the quality of a Chinese product when sold to a small outfit like myself. The route I have chosen to go is to import JDM used engines and on receipt tear them down and do a refresh (pistons, rings, bearings, seals) before starting the conversion. Many of the Japanese engines (like in the USA) have only 20k miles on them. There is never a demand for reliable engines from salvage yards so it is difficult to find buyers for them.
As per Wikipedia, the engine won the "International engine of the year" award several years running. It is also used in PSA, Citreon and Subaru vehicles. It is an engine that should be available in the EU since Poland was one of the places where it was built.
There is a website that provides detailed info on this engine: Toyota KR series engines
There is also a factory turbo version of the engine with VVT which is rated at 97hp by the factory. This variant will also be explored to see if it could be rated for 110hp as a Jabiru 3300 replacement.
Aeromomentum has seen increased demand for their Suzuki G13 and G15 based engines, especially the new turbo version of both that have been in development. Their new gearbox with 3 gears and higher prop centerline also makes the vertical application of the engine possible which leads to a less expensive engine, further increasing demand. Given these circumstances, they have not had the resources to put into further development of the smaller engine.
I was made a very generous offer to take over the assets of the AM10 engine and I could focus exclusively on the completion of any remaining engineering issues and bringing this engine to market as a competitor to Rotax and Jabiru. I am one of many current Jabiru owners who recently discovered that the factory in Australia had discontinued making parts for Gen 1-3 Jabiru engines, meaning that most people will have trouble at the 1000tbo because the cylinder heads are the parts that most commonly fail and there have been no new heads available already for over a year.
From a logistical point of view, new engines are available to purchase in China, but I personally (based on decades at an Automotive parts supplier with offices in China) do not trust the quality of a Chinese product when sold to a small outfit like myself. The route I have chosen to go is to import JDM used engines and on receipt tear them down and do a refresh (pistons, rings, bearings, seals) before starting the conversion. Many of the Japanese engines (like in the USA) have only 20k miles on them. There is never a demand for reliable engines from salvage yards so it is difficult to find buyers for them.
As per Wikipedia, the engine won the "International engine of the year" award several years running. It is also used in PSA, Citreon and Subaru vehicles. It is an engine that should be available in the EU since Poland was one of the places where it was built.
There is a website that provides detailed info on this engine: Toyota KR series engines
There is also a factory turbo version of the engine with VVT which is rated at 97hp by the factory. This variant will also be explored to see if it could be rated for 110hp as a Jabiru 3300 replacement.
