Corvair - General Info

[Bruce593SX]

Keith, where are you located?? if anywhere near S. Texas, I'd love to get a core from your extra responses.

[kmacht]

I'm up in Connecticut so a little too far. Try posting a craigslist add for auto parts wanted. It only took a weekend to get some good leads. Facebook corvair groups are also another good option.

Keith

[daleandee]

Just spotted this from Mike January a few moments ago. This is video from a maintenance flight he took in this Corvair powered Waiex. Beautiful airplane and the Corvair sounds wonderful (until he turns on the ANR) ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxyxXrtEm-Y

Here is Mike's original post about his conversion from VW to Corvair power on his Waiex:

http://www.sonexbuilders.net/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=4102&p=31242&hilit=mike+cleanex#p31242

Enjoy!

Thanks Mike!

Dale Williams
N319WF @ 6J2
Myunn - "daughter of Cleanex"
120 HP - 3.0 Corvair
Tail Wheel - Center Stick
Signature Finish 2200 Paint Job
171.9 hours / Status - Flying
Member # 109 - Florida Sonex Association
Latest video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VP7UYEqQ-g

[John Monnett]

Having read considerable posts on Corvair conversions on Sonex aircraft and in the interest of full disclosure I'm wondering what empty and gross weights those that have them are willing to share. Do they fly solo or if with 2, what size passengers and fuel do they carry? Do they ever do aerobatics? Having rebuilt and run a fully developed Corvair aero conversion I believe I have some knowledge of what is involved and the weights. It lead to my decision not to pursue marketing since the supply had already spent too many years in the junkyard. That was 1975. That being said, Corvairs have been successfully converted. Blatant disregard for the design limits of any given design is a subject for another day. So tell me guys the weights you fly and any justification for exceeding the published gross weigths of Sonex Aircraft other than... "It's experimental and I can set any gross weight I want".

[kmacht]

John,

I’m just starting my corvair conversion so I can’t give final weights but can say that my airplane with the aerovee weighs 667lbs empty. I normally fly solo and do not do aerobatics. I expect the corvair to add around 60 lbs to that and also expect to have to move the battery aft to ensure CG stays within limits. I will post the post conversion weights and all the CG calculations to this forum once done. As far as justification, I’ll provide you my justification for why I feel safer flying behind the heavier corvair as soon as you provide your justification as to why we should still be comfortable flying behind an engine in which the factory has crashed two aircraft with and still has no idea as to why.

Keith
#554

[John Monnett]

Fair enough point, Kieth. In the case of our T-flight accident it was found that the exhaust valves on two cylinders may have been leaking compresion and had loss of power, however, not published testimony indicates throttle may have been retarded inavertanly at a very critical moment. In the case of my son’s accident every effort was made to duplicate the events was made by the NTSB and our team to discover a reason for or actual cause of an”engine failure”. No one wants to know the cause more than me. If you read the report, and if you happened to be there that day you may not be as sanctimonious in your flipent question. Having flown engines like the AeroVee over 4 decades I have great confidence in flying them. Just remember, no engine is infallible, dispite what you have in your mind or have been told. I am an optimist, knowing things well attended to go bad, break and fail and... I accept that risk. Admitanly, I have been extremely lucky that having been in too many situations in my flying career that could have ended it, turned out OK. My greatest desire is to enjoy the magic of flight. May that be true for all Sonex flyers! Pushing the limits is your choice.

[andrewp]

John,

I’m just starting my corvair conversion so I can’t give final weights but can say that my airplane with the aerovee weighs 667lbs empty. I normally fly solo and do not do aerobatics. I expect the corvair to add around 60 lbs to that and also expect to have to move the battery aft to ensure CG stays within limits. I will post the post conversion weights and all the CG calculations to this forum once done. As far as justification, I’ll provide you my justification for why I feel safer flying behind the heavier corvair as soon as you provide your justification as to why we should still be comfortable flying behind an engine in which the factory has crashed two aircraft with and still has no idea as to why.

Keith
#554

Not worthy of a response, which is hard for me. You just made me sad dude.

AP

[Rynoth]

I’ll provide you my justification for why I feel safer flying behind the heavier corvair as soon as you provide your justification as to why we should still be comfortable flying behind an engine in which the factory has crashed two aircraft with and still has no idea as to why.

Keith
#554

Seriously?

[lpaaruule]

For the sake of discussion, the following seems to be decent reasons to go with a corvair engine.

- not planning to do aerobatics
- the corvair engine was designed by GM to handle 140HP, so it's not being stressed at 100HP in the Sonex. The VW engines seem appear to be the reverse of this argument, with HP greater than they were ever originally designed.

It seems like many aircraft engines are being pushed harder than they should be. I guy in my EAA chapter is building a Lycoming with 10:1 compression in order to squeeze out more performance. I think the engine originally had 8.5:1. He'll probably be fine, but I doubt the performance increase is worth any reduction in reliability.

[Mike53]

I'm no engineer but I think that design limits are not something to be taken lightly.
If an airplane was designed to carry x amount of weight forward of the firewall and you exceed that limit by over 25% you are being pound foolish.
Not doing aerobatics is not going to help you if you suddenly find yourself in extreme turbulence.

If you want to feel safer flying behind an Corvair then build an airplane that was designed to take that weight.Any justification to do otherwise will never hold water.
Mike