Sapphire

I am "the best engine available man". The converted VW engine sounds best to me.

I know the quick method to deflate the Continental lifters but don't know how reliable it is. All the info I got is from the published Continental bulletin available free on the internet. What I put in my post is from that bulletin. The issues regarding the Jab sound valid based on my experience. They have improved the engine but it is still not acceptable. Seen a brand new Jab need top end replacement after 350 hrs and the pilot was very conservative and had it serviced by factory trained mechanic. Another Jab in the club had this done even more often but the pilot used two throttle positions-idle and nearly full bore. If you buy the machine, don't grumble-it was your choice.

Mechanical valve lifters just have an airspace of a few thou which has a simple screw adjustment to adjust for even the most exaggerated wear in the valve train. As an example of the nightmare of hydraulic valve lifters, I'll use the Continental 0-200. To set it up you have to deflate the lifters first. By Continentals method you have to remove and dissasemble each valve lifter to drain out the oil and reasasemble. That means taking the cyl head off, removing the retaining circlip holding the lifter and lifting it out, disaasemble, clean out oil, install, and replace cyl head. Now you have done this to one cyl head [two lifters], do this again times the number of heads there are. Remember lifters don't come apart alway easily-some are bastards to get apart. Ok you have the lifters deflated and you measure the tappet clearance which must be between 30 thou and I think 110 thou. If not, start looking around for spare pushrods which vary a bit in length. No luck, start replacing parts in the valve train including the valve it self, if the stem is not the right length. That means taking the cyl head off again. All this can be adjusted out with the turn of a screw in mechanical valve lifters. Mechanics fee to adjust 4 cyl with mechanical valve lifters=about two hours labour[if competent] half that time to position a/c, remove and reassemble cowling. Mechanics fee to set up hydraulic valve lifters-get an estimate, double it, and prepare to to hand over LARGE wads of dough. If he is not honest he will try to con you into a major overhaul, "just to be sure"

Compered to mechanical tappets, hydraulic valve lifters are unreliable and expensive. Even when working as designed they can fail at high revs. Dirtly oil makes them fail, as well as normal wear. Mechanical tappets are adjustable for as many engine lives as you want. Hydraulic valve lifters have silent operation but over the roar of an a/c engine you wouldn't know the difference. Bad choice if you want to move the valves reliably.

I am not a fan of valve lifters- they have made otherwise good engines expensive and unreliable. As far as I know, their only advantage is quiet operation. My last a/c had straight through exhaust-what an overkill.

Don't be p--sed off, do the research. I've got more hours than the inflight testing they did for that engine. Actually most of it was on a test bench. Guess who completed the testing at great expense-the buying public. Think before you rant and rave.

Cramped up like a sardine in a can on a 13 hr flight is not short haul discomfort. The pax on level two paid a lot more for their bed-I would just bring my own cot next time. The 747 is still the most comfortable with ample standing room next to the exits. Soon, maybe, the guy standing there will be paying for it. What is a "no maintenance feature"?

I don't think you would need a twin endorsement for two engines on the thrust line. The front and rear engines would be two independent engines with own fuel tank. Could be a Sapphire with an engine at the front in addition to the one on the back. Also concentrate on the quick single handed fold down onto a trailer bit. A hanger would cost more than the plane.

Did your lawnmower engine break down?

I like the idea of making a twin with two simple cheap single ignition lawn mower type engines, mounted rear and front. Now you have safety in numbers and no assymetrical thrust.

You're riding a high, Nev. Even I gave you a "like"

The 1600 Jairu engine I think was the first engine they came out with-it was a dog. Rip it out and replace with a Rotax, if you got the plane for next to nothing.

I read error in wiring up some electronic component. It is considered a very complicated a/c. You gain performance but decrease reliability. Anyways, it's a new design. The wide bodied jets when they came out had to be rewired, I read. The engines on the A380 had a tendency to blow up. I like to wait a few years before riding in some new technology. Talking about the A380, I rode in one to Europe a few months ago and it was the most cramped, uncomfortable flight I've ever had. The Singapore Airlines flight had a metal footrest and you couldn't put your feet under the front seat. There may be even a more cramped layout with Air India. The have an A380 that holds 800 people-all economy class Indian style.

You can do a sloppy landing at some isolated strip where there is not any life in sight except the flies and scrub, and the next day someone will ask how you got caught out a bit on that landing.

We were all real worried about that piece of barbed wire:wtf: No barbed wire was injured in the making of this post.

He coud have gone on a nav elsewhere and done some touch and go's-what a waste.

I knew a tow pilot with only one eye. He used to take his glass eye out in the bar as a bit of a party trick.

All sounds like the safety development of the car. Thousands died before seatbelts were available, collapsable steering columns, crumple zones etc. The safety dept at GM was probably the size of a phone booth and the new flashy car dept would share a big space with the big profit accounting dept.

FH said: Now if it gets around that you did it, your life may change markedly as some will not like what you have done, but you may save an innocent passengers life. Nev Better believe it. You belong to a club and the "club predators" will roast you alive, especially if the misfit is a mate which is usually the case -similar mentality. Your supporters will be too scared to defend you. There are only three places I am in aviaton-on the forum, in the air, on the road towing an a/c.

Correct, if you find youself with an idiot pilot, throw up all inside his plane:evil grin: I knew an ex world war two pilot with glider and power qualifications coming out of his ears. Me and some senior club members saw him doing a fully developed spin in a Citabria with passenger and recover about 500 feet agl. That evening he was demoted to basically taking out the trash.

I think the air accident issue goes further than after maintenance-air accidents after design. I used to think if an a/c had a glowing c of a, pre-purchase inspection, lic paid up, and a nod from the general flying community, that my safety would be shrouded in cotton wool. There are many inexpensive a/c built with simple designed engines. They lack carby heat and twin ignition features. I can site engines failures and resulting accidents. That includes a Sapphire I sold. Guess I was just lucky the single ignition failure didn't happen while I had the a/c. I wont be putting my life in the hand of some circuit board again. However, modifications can be relatively easy to make on these type of a/c, otherwise for my purposes they would be unairworthy and unflyable.

PP said: In NO CASE IS A HOME BUILDER EVER ALLOWED TO TEST FLY HIS / HER OWN BUILD PROJECT, EVEN IF THE BUILDER IS A TEST PILOT. Just as an added safeguard. In the USA you build it, you test fly it, you crash it-tough tittys. If you are going to get into that sort of thing it's up to you to get it right. I think the same here.

It is true, the homebuilder suddenly becomes a test pilot. Every homebuilt is at least slighly different and so the plane is first flown within a restricted flight envelope and then the envelope is slowly widened observing the effects. Where you get the most fatalities would be the home builder who does a quick sloppy job then takes it up with little aeronautical skill. Actual document cases involve wings falling off on first flight, wheels breaking off, flutter, canopy coming loose, fire in engine compartment using marine fuel pump.

That statistic I got from some FAA publication posted on the accident stuff you see before getting to the forms here. This was a few weeks ago and grabbed my attention as a lot of a/c I am investigating for purchase are home built. I do all the rest you recommend everytime I fly. [Part of my "stay alive abit longer program]

They don't have to worry about power lines-they fly below them.