Howdy all;
I am new to this site, but have been on the kitfox site for awhile. Those guys are great over there, but they are "Rotax only" folks, and don't think too much about VW or any other power for the Kitfox, so I figured I would join this group too, and see if I can get some good advise from others here.
Well, I finally got a VW engine for my Kitfox model 4, 1200 lbs gross plane (converted to Tri-grear), and boy is it a doozy. A real Cadillac of VW engines, it’s the coveted direct drive Great Plains 2400 cc Type-4 VW engine, also known as the Poormans Porche engine, used on the Porche 914. It boast more power, greater cooling capacity and is race-track strong engine case (or so I hear).
It’s one of 20 special type-4s produced by great plains VW a while back, and features a high dollar custom forged crank, Force-one main bearing and Dual ignition. And the best part, it was a lousy $1,800 bucks !!! Of course, the cheap guy I am, I bought it stripped down, so I had to buy a bunch of new accessories, but I figure I still only have (decked out with dual ignition) about 6K total investment (counting a prop, engine mount and custom cowling). Also, I am told that set with a compression to run 87 octaine car gas, it will still produce around 80 HP and turn my 62x32 cullivar prop well.
And yes, it does weight more than a rotax install, but cost 1/5 as much, and there are a few tricks to dropping the weight (plus I have adjustable counter weights in my tail, if need). I will get some pics for you, but mostly it looks like a type 1 VW, except the exhaust does not exit the sides of the head, they exit the bottom with both spark plugs on top of the engine.
Roger
I am new to this site, but have been on the kitfox site for awhile. Those guys are great over there, but they are "Rotax only" folks, and don't think too much about VW or any other power for the Kitfox, so I figured I would join this group too, and see if I can get some good advise from others here.
Well, I finally got a VW engine for my Kitfox model 4, 1200 lbs gross plane (converted to Tri-grear), and boy is it a doozy. A real Cadillac of VW engines, it’s the coveted direct drive Great Plains 2400 cc Type-4 VW engine, also known as the Poormans Porche engine, used on the Porche 914. It boast more power, greater cooling capacity and is race-track strong engine case (or so I hear).
It’s one of 20 special type-4s produced by great plains VW a while back, and features a high dollar custom forged crank, Force-one main bearing and Dual ignition. And the best part, it was a lousy $1,800 bucks !!! Of course, the cheap guy I am, I bought it stripped down, so I had to buy a bunch of new accessories, but I figure I still only have (decked out with dual ignition) about 6K total investment (counting a prop, engine mount and custom cowling). Also, I am told that set with a compression to run 87 octaine car gas, it will still produce around 80 HP and turn my 62x32 cullivar prop well.
And yes, it does weight more than a rotax install, but cost 1/5 as much, and there are a few tricks to dropping the weight (plus I have adjustable counter weights in my tail, if need). I will get some pics for you, but mostly it looks like a type 1 VW, except the exhaust does not exit the sides of the head, they exit the bottom with both spark plugs on top of the engine.
Roger
