New engine for Sonex??

[tdragger]

I have been working on a project for some time now, a completely new engine setup which I will mount on my Sonex. The engine is rated at 125 Hp at around 6500RPM,, and I think will be an engine that will make a nice compliment to my Sonex.
The engine is the most thoroughly engineered engine IN THE WORLD, having been built for the past 20 years by the most respected engine maker in the world. It is still in production. There are literally millions of them in circulation.
It is a V-4, to which I have made NO changes, except for designing and building a prop adapter to bolt onto it. The prop shaft mounts between the Vees of the cylinders, does not protrude above the engine at all, and is a 1 1/4" steel shaft, supported by two thrust bearings mounted on connected mounts about 20" apart. It will be driven with a dynafocal belt directly off the output shaft of the engine, no gearing or belt gear reduction. Meaning the prop will turn at the same speed as the engine output shaft.
I will have a very coarse-pitch, fixed-pitch 4-blade wood prop on it. My cost, about $50. I fully expect to have great takeoff power, and be able to utilize the effectiveness of the coarse pitch at cruise.
"How is that possible?" You ask. "Coarse pitch doesn't work worth a DAMN for takeoff!" "The only way that can work is if the prop is one of those $20,000 constant speed Jobbies!"
The total installed cost of my engine including prop will be less than $1,000, and I expect to have a 200-mph plane at cruise. Takeoff distance, eh, maybe 600'.
Engine is water-cooled, with a hot-water cockpit heater if I so desire.
"What is this miracle?" You ask.
Well, first when you get gas for it, you buy regular gas at your local fill-m-fast. Oil is --automotive, whatever you want. Oil filters, Walmart or dealer. Parts? Any dealer, --online-- just about any junk yard. But who would buy any parts, when virtulally new engines are so widely available? I got mine for $700, NO damage. Complete, ready to install and run. And remember, I am making NO engine changes.
That includes using the integral six-speed transmission. The transmission is the reason I can use the coarse, fixed-pitch prop. That I know of, this has only been done once. On an ultralight with about a 6' chain going to the prop! It did work----

"BUTBUTbut bu? The COARSE PITCH PROP??" "Those aren't worth a DAMN on takeoff power!!" Unless you take off in LOW GEAR, and wind the engine up to its rated HP, with reasonable prop RPM's, as a result. Shift into 2nd-3rd for ciimb, then on up into 6th at altitude and cruise.
What is this miracle engine???? The engine directly off a Honda ST-1300 motorcycle. That I paid $700 for undamaged, and low mileage. The engine just below the one on the Honda Goldwing. The most thoroughly engineered engine in the world, probably the most common, the engine that Honda engineers, the best in the world, have been desperately trying to keep their jobs by making improvements on the design for the past 20 years. And an engine that is still in production today.
WILL IT WORK??? Well, stay tuned. The engine is ready to mount onto the plane as I speak, needing only a finished engine mount. By the way, the engine, firewall forward, weighs almost exactly the same as a C-85 Continental firewall forward. But I do have a few competing ideas slowing things down.
I live in Diamondhead, MS, on the airport, southside. My hangar with the Sonex and four others, including my Christen Eagle, is in my back yard. DH southside was Ground Zero for Hurricane Katrina. We had 250 upscale waterfront and airport access homes prior to the storm, afterwards we had 247----concrete slabs. I am the single-luckiest individual in Mississippi, my home had just been started, and when the storm hit, all I had was the two slabs for my home and my 60'x60' hangar. My total Katrina damage was two bent-over copper pipes.
When I was finally allowed to come down from Denver after I retired and inspect things, 4 months after the storm, the only plane I was able to bring down was my Cessna 180, with its high wing. The Debonair couldn't get by the piles of debris that had been bulldozed off the taxiways. That was the only thing that had been done in those 4 months. The streets and taxiways had finally been bulldozed. We lived in this incredible destruction for the next 2 1/2 years, in an older motor home in the hangar I did get built fast, before we actually had a home to move into.
Sorry for the long story, but the delay in getting this Honda engine actually installed is that I have been working for the 14 years since Katrina in getting us Storm Surge Barriers built for the mouths of our two bays, one of which I live on the backside of, Bay St. Louis. My property had 13' of storm surge water on it during Katrina. I have come up with new concepts as to how to design Storm Surge Barriers, and I'm close right now to getting them built. the workload of that is tremendous, and that is why the Honda engine is sitting right now.
Stay tuned. There is no guarantee that this will work, but I think it will
I do have a little experience around aircraft. I have been an A&P for about 55 years now, and have quite a bit of experience with homebuilts. I am also a 10,000+-hour CFII, and have done the initial test flights on 13 homebuilts, including a Sonex. That's why I have one for this experiment, I liked the heck out of that plane! As I said earlier, I own a Christen Eagle, and have taught inverted flat spins in it. I have about 700 hours in that bird, which I also did its first test flight. Flew off the 40 hours that were required of it, (Two full-blown emergency landings in it during that time), and then took 35 hours to teach the owner to fly it. After he passed away, I have basically inherited the plane. I I think I am prepared for this Honda engine experiment.
PS. My Sonex came with a Volkswagen engine in it, which I am selling, complete. See my ad in the classifieds.

[Bryan Cotton]

Welcome to the forums! I'm interested to follow along on your Honda conversion.

[Gmoney]

That gold wing motor is amazingly smooth and powerful. Looking forward to seeing your progress.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Matt541]

I've always loved Honda motorcycle V4s, favorite being the VFR800. Still kick myself for selling it. They're well proven engines in both street and racing applications.

There's also been a lot of work going into using Yamaha snowmobile engines instead of a Rotax. Also with 4 bladed props.

[youtube] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiOFtul8gu8 [/youtube]

Can't wait to see yours when it's done. Would love to see some videos of it.

[Direct C51]

TDragger, if you are even still around, how do you plan to clutch and shift while flying? Seems like all our hands and feet are already pretty busy. Hope you don’t miss a shift on climbout.

Got any pictures of this contraption you are making?

[daleandee]

I have been working on a project for some time now, a completely new engine setup which I will mount on my Sonex. The engine is rated at 125 Hp at around 6500RPM,, and I think will be an engine that will make a nice compliment to my Sonex.
The engine is the most thoroughly engineered engine IN THE WORLD, having been built for the past 20 years by the most respected engine maker in the world. It is still in production. There are literally millions of them in circulation.
It is a V-4, to which I have made NO changes, except for designing and building a prop adapter to bolt onto it. The prop shaft mounts between the Vees of the cylinders, does not protrude above the engine at all, and is a 1 1/4" steel shaft, supported by two thrust bearings mounted on connected mounts about 20" apart. It will be driven with a dynafocal belt directly off the output shaft of the engine, no gearing or belt gear reduction. Meaning the prop will turn at the same speed as the engine output shaft.
I will have a very coarse-pitch, fixed-pitch 4-blade wood prop on it. My cost, about $50. I fully expect to have great takeoff power, and be able to utilize the effectiveness of the coarse pitch at cruise.
"How is that possible?" You ask. "Coarse pitch doesn't work worth a DAMN for takeoff!" "The only way that can work is if the prop is one of those $20,000 constant speed Jobbies!"
The total installed cost of my engine including prop will be less than $1,000, and I expect to have a 200-mph plane at cruise. Takeoff distance, eh, maybe 600'.
Engine is water-cooled, with a hot-water cockpit heater if I so desire.
"What is this miracle?" You ask.
Well, first when you get gas for it, you buy regular gas at your local fill-m-fast. Oil is --automotive, whatever you want. Oil filters, Walmart or dealer. Parts? Any dealer, --online-- just about any junk yard. But who would buy any parts, when virtulally new engines are so widely available? I got mine for $700, NO damage. Complete, ready to install and run. And remember, I am making NO engine changes.
That includes using the integral six-speed transmission. The transmission is the reason I can use the coarse, fixed-pitch prop. That I know of, this has only been done once. On an ultralight with about a 6' chain going to the prop! It did work----

"BUTBUTbut bu? The COARSE PITCH PROP??" "Those aren't worth a DAMN on takeoff power!!" Unless you take off in LOW GEAR, and wind the engine up to its rated HP, with reasonable prop RPM's, as a result. Shift into 2nd-3rd for ciimb, then on up into 6th at altitude and cruise.
What is this miracle engine???? The engine directly off a Honda ST-1300 motorcycle. That I paid $700 for undamaged, and low mileage. The engine just below the one on the Honda Goldwing. The most thoroughly engineered engine in the world, probably the most common, the engine that Honda engineers, the best in the world, have been desperately trying to keep their jobs by making improvements on the design for the past 20 years. And an engine that is still in production today.
WILL IT WORK??? Well, stay tuned. The engine is ready to mount onto the plane as I speak, needing only a finished engine mount. By the way, the engine, firewall forward, weighs almost exactly the same as a C-85 Continental firewall forward. But I do have a few competing ideas slowing things down.
I live in Diamondhead, MS, on the airport, southside. My hangar with the Sonex and four others, including my Christen Eagle, is in my back yard. DH southside was Ground Zero for Hurricane Katrina. We had 250 upscale waterfront and airport access homes prior to the storm, afterwards we had 247----concrete slabs. I am the single-luckiest individual in Mississippi, my home had just been started, and when the storm hit, all I had was the two slabs for my home and my 60'x60' hangar. My total Katrina damage was two bent-over copper pipes.
When I was finally allowed to come down from Denver after I retired and inspect things, 4 months after the storm, the only plane I was able to bring down was my Cessna 180, with its high wing. The Debonair couldn't get by the piles of debris that had been bulldozed off the taxiways. That was the only thing that had been done in those 4 months. The streets and taxiways had finally been bulldozed. We lived in this incredible destruction for the next 2 1/2 years, in an older motor home in the hangar I did get built fast, before we actually had a home to move into.
Sorry for the long story, but the delay in getting this Honda engine actually installed is that I have been working for the 14 years since Katrina in getting us Storm Surge Barriers built for the mouths of our two bays, one of which I live on the backside of, Bay St. Louis. My property had 13' of storm surge water on it during Katrina. I have come up with new concepts as to how to design Storm Surge Barriers, and I'm close right now to getting them built. the workload of that is tremendous, and that is why the Honda engine is sitting right now.
Stay tuned. There is no guarantee that this will work, but I think it will
I do have a little experience around aircraft. I have been an A&P for about 55 years now, and have quite a bit of experience with homebuilts. I am also a 10,000+-hour CFII, and have done the initial test flights on 13 homebuilts, including a Sonex. That's why I have one for this experiment, I liked the heck out of that plane! As I said earlier, I own a Christen Eagle, and have taught inverted flat spins in it. I have about 700 hours in that bird, which I also did its first test flight. Flew off the 40 hours that were required of it, (Two full-blown emergency landings in it during that time), and then took 35 hours to teach the owner to fly it. After he passed away, I have basically inherited the plane. I I think I am prepared for this Honda engine experiment.
PS. My Sonex came with a Volkswagen engine in it, which I am selling, complete. See my ad in the classifieds.

Curious to know if there is any update on this project.

Dale
Corvair 3.0
Tailwheel