gofastclint

The 750 suzuki water cooled two stroke was a nice bike to cruise on quiet clean and had a bit of ground clearance. real classic. remember the rotary hey had all worth a mint now.

For experimental Jabiru pilots I think it would be a good idea to use aftermarket components to rebuild your engine as more time and development goes into these specialty parts making them a safer option over standard and in some cases, the parts can be cheaper.

These are the manufactures I would use for a Jabiru build, as they have a very large range of parts, a good reputation and are commonly used in tough builds:

CP Pistons, Carrillo rods, Ferrera for all the bits in the head and a set of ACL bearings.

With these components you can reliably get 500hp out of a 2.2 liter 4 cylinder with boost on pump fuel, so I know they will last for ages turning out only 100hp.

jcruffle, Put a jab motor in my Lightwing ?. I can see no reason why I would possibly want to increase my take off distance by about five times, and reduce my climb out rate to about a quarter of what it is now..........................

Sounds like someone needs a hole punched in their licence.

There are a lot a similarities between the Kawasaki and the Fuji Robyn 440 engines. i never had a mechcanical failure with a Robyn and would expect the same with the Kawasaki, Fuji offered to build a ultralight version of the 440 when we spoke to them at the Agquip show one year. dual ign and such but they wanted an order of a thousand and a 10 month pay up front lead time. They should have done it themselves as rotax wasn't making UL engines then, might be a different game now if they did.During the seventies i had the entire range of two stroke tripples at one stage. wish i kept them be worth a fortune now.

Ozzie

A mate of mind is a cop and he told me that there is lots of dole budgers, junkies and pot heads on the island and that contributes to a very high crime rate. Maybe that is why the hangar is so cheap.

Would the increase in cost justify the performance difference? I'd be curious to hear how the 912 Jab aircraft perform when compared to the Jab powered ones. Anyone have any figures?

If he could get Kawasaki on board as a small aircraft engine manufacturer then I dare say that Rotx should watch their back when it comes to replacing the discontinued Rotax 2 strokes. I know where jet skis are concerned, Kawasaki were one of my picks, particularly with their track record and reliability.

Could you imaging if a Japanese manufacture came on board with a four stroke four cylinder like the 912. 5000 hours then you need to inspect the air filter lol, maybe not but I recon they would give the traditional aero manufactures a rude wake up when they instanly became half as good as the competition.

I was looking at parallel twin two strokes and I found that parallel two stroke twins with a 90 degree crank as opposed to a 180 degree crank last longer and also deliver power smother. for this reason the worlds most advanced two stroke parallel twin features this layout, the KTM 250 Moto GP engine. the site quoted "The 90° layout in a parallel-twin offers a reduction of peak rocking-couple forces of 31%" that's huge! I can see this translating to a longer gearbox and prop life in the Rotax. there are many places that costom make two stroke twin cranks to any specs and you will need to modify the electrical system, but 31% reduction of peak rocking force, I bet that would save alot of components in the long run.

the site I got the details from is great, the guys involved are two stroke specialists and one is a moto GP engineer. The Two-Stroke Shop 2-Stroke Shop TSS500GP engines TSS500LC

I agree but the only issue with that is I am guessing there is more Jabs in service with schools than there is privately so with a mounting kit not made and approved by Jabiru the aircraft can never be used by a school.Secondly I would think the re-sale of the Jabs with that mod would be quite low if schools are taken out of the market.

While we are talking schools, I wonder what percentage of Jabiru aircraft are used in schools vs that of private use.

any pics of this 1 seat plane?

Sorry Brent '~'

I recently heard on the grape vine that Stiffie has been talking with Kawasaki about a new engine for the Jabiru. Does anyone have any light on this?

I bet you could get some great last minute tickets to Abu Dhabi.

I would much rather watch a Cassutt race around the Red Bull pylons than a full aerobatic half million dollar aircraft.

I love the small budget racers, as it allows people who possibly have more skill but not so much money the chance to shine. look at F1 and MotoGP, there are no rich old people racing as they are over the hill and some 20 year old can do it better.

If they used a similar formula to the Reno F1 aircraft with possibly a different wing, it would give so much more pilots the opportunity to race.

Well, I'd think that Jabiru would be particularly uninterested in considering the idea, for many reasons.1. The aircaft was designed and tested for the Jabiru engines, specifically. I'd suggest thousands of hours of quality control and product testing has been carried out with their product, in a minimally modified state, Introducing a heavier engine, with the complications of water cooling, under the same cowl is introducing more "risk" of something going wrong.

 

2. They probably don't want to introduce a potential issue with compatability, which could affect them negatively if there was an incident, and it came back to being due to such a modification. Jabs are tough, well proven aircraft...as designed, and as proven in the field.

 

3. And as one of the worlds largest light aircraft engine manufacturers, why would they want to promote their competitors product as a possibility? Bit like buying a Holden without an engine, and whacking a Ford engine in it. Holden wouldn't like it, for all the same reasons.

 

Rotax don't sell aircraft, so it isn't in their interest to make a product-specific engine. Jabiru make a damn good aircraft, and a very good engine. The products are well matched to each other. It's like most kits...you can stick anything in it you want. But if it hasn't been proven in the field, you do so at your own risk. Why would Jabiru want to risk their reputation on a product that produces a substantial untested structural modification to their aircraft, that is outside their control?

I recon it would be a good idea for someone to make an engine mounting kit so people who want to power their Jabiru's with a 912 could simply order it.

I couldn't so it after flying such a great aircraft to learn in and the fact that there's so many great newer aircraft out there, nah just couldn't do it.

I have plenty of jabiru time in older lsa55 types.They don't do any more than 90kts.They are worth 30-40k.A 30-40k c150 will do roughly the same speed.If I was flying over water or the great dividing range,I really would like to be in the cessna.I have seen the aftermath of more than a couple of jab engines that ceased operation for various reasons ranging from thrown conrods to broken cylinder retaining bolts to broken flywheel bolts.I'm not saying one is any better as an aircraft but one of these engines is clearly head and shoulders above the other.

I hope introducing all these aircraft to the RA market will create a price drop across the board.

I personaly wouldn't want one, as Seb mentioned, a Jabiru will fly faster for less money.

Actually a five cylinder engine is smoother than a six. Ever drive an Audi 5000, with the five cylinder engine ? I have often wondered which would have sold more, the Jab or Rotax, if Stiffie had offered both engines. There were two 912 powered Jabs at Hedlow field years ago, and they were pretty popular with the users...........

http://www.polenspecial.com/

What a top looking aircraft, 500kmph on 180hp and its all metal!

I wish it came as a kit.

What are your thoughts gentlemen?

I guarantee if the Jabiru aircraft came with a Rotax option they would sell more, they have the runs on the board and have a lot of happy customers. I prefer the gearbox over direct drive any day, people will tell you that there are more things to go wrong with a gearbox but with direct drive, if there is any balance issues with the prop the crank will be effected more and the inertia will always transfer the load onto the one side of the crank that is hevier, with a gearbox the load will be spread out over all different points on the crank due to the gear ratio being different from 1to1.

From another direction, if you had 2 identical spec engines. same bore, same stroke, same bearing area but the only difference being 6 cylinder and the other 4 cylinder like an EJ22 and an EG33 from Subaru. the EG is just an EJ with 2 extra cylinders. The 6 would always last a lot longer due to the balence of the crank. In a 4 cylinder engine every 180 degrees the pistons are all totally stopped, this never happens with a 6 and as such the engine runs a lot smoother, this smothness adds to engine, gearbox and prop life.

If I was a manager for Rotax I would push for a 912 with 2 extra cylinders. oh yeah!!

Like the Maj said, "back the Aussie products when you can, but a spade is a spade"