How bout a 1.6 turbocharged 4cylford/merc.

Thinking about a buttercup with a DOHC 1.6L Merc XR2Capri motor.Plugs up,belt redrive tall up. 16 valve turbo charged, injected.. Light, torquey,powerful, heat,A/C, electric start, cheaper than a Conti.Any thoughts. All will be appreciated and considered.
Steve.

 

Sounds cool. Biggest problem I can forsee is fitting the thing under the cowl as they are IIRC rather tall. DOHC doesn't help shorten the sucker either. Are you planning to use an intercooler or plumb it of the turbo into the intake mani? Using the intercooler (some would prefer to call it an AFTERcooler) would help lower intake temps significantly so you could use autogas otherwise you may be forced to run avgas to prevent detonation. Plumbing the radiator and making a shroud for it would be a pain, not that it's overly hard, I just hate working with fiberglass and finding -20AN fittings is difficult (and costly.) You'll most likely need an aftermarket ecu which could be expensive unless you go MegaSquirt. In all, cool project if you decide to go with it.

Side note: most auto conversion don't end up saving you ANY money. When you factor in the cost for all the custom parts, redrives, time to put it all together, etc., you could have gotten a used lyc or conti for the same price or less. That said, auto conversions are just way cooler.

 

Given your talking about a buttercup, you would only need about 90-100hp. Try Firewall Forward or Raven Rotorcraft & Redrives : Geo Metro Suzuki Aircraft Engine Conversion : Ultralight & Rotocraft if you really want an auto conversion. To be honest, in your case, you may be best off with a used O-200. Just throwing ideas out there. Whatever you do, keep us updated as buttercups are such cool looking planes.

 

Or a Corvair engine. Relatively inexpensive, pretty well proven and you can buy all the parts ready to go. www.FlyCorvair.com - Home of the Recognized Authority on Corvair Powered Flight has a bunch of info.