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RE: [FlyRotary] 50 HP rotary engine?
The Artic Cat engine was the OMC, same as
the Johnson outboard. The Freedom engine is the same OMC. Moller bought the
lisence from OMC, updated the liner coatings, etc... They have been ready to
start selling them any day now for the past 10 yrs. Yeah right, just
as soon as the airways are filled with average Joes driving their $30,000 Sky
Cars (another Moller fallacy). I'm sure they'll open a Freedom engine
dealership/service facility on top of every building with a roof strong enough
to land on. I wouldn't believe Moller if he said the sky was
blue.
The only currently available rotary of the
correct size and output for an Airbike is the Wankel GMBH. It is VERY expensive.
The only other option would be a Suzuki RE5 engine, which would be an
unwise choice as internal parts are not available (and never were), and the
difficulty of adapting it to an aircraft powerplant application. Good luck
finding a running one, too.
Much as I hate to say it, you will probably
be better off with a more common UL motor for this one. I hate the thought of a
two stroke in an airplane, but it's about the only choice unless you want a
half-VW, which in my opinion is even worse. Maybe a small 2 cyl motorcycle
engine (Honda or Suzuki 450)? I saw a 3/4 scale Nieuport about 10 years ago at
Frank Ryder's Aerodrome WWI Flyin that had a 750cc Yamaha Virago engine in it.
He just stuck it in 2nd gear and made a prop adapter to fit on the shaft drive
hub. Sounds crazy, but it worked well and may still be flying. Mike
C.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, May 28, 2004 10:50 AM
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: 50 HP rotary
engine?
Hi Rusty;
Have you looked at Freedom motors? They've been around for awhile now
but I don't know if they are actually producing any motors yet. Last year they
were claiming to be about to begin selling them. Don't know if they actually
have. Prices are $5000 and $7000. IIRC the output was something like
75hp & 150hp. They are related to the Moller Skycar, so I don't know what
that does for their credibility?
At least they are a modern engine and parts availability
shouldn't be an issue if the company succeeds.
On the other end of the scale... Back in the early 70's when over a
hundred manufactures built a snowmobile (Harley, Avon, to name a few, hmmm I
wonder if Tupperware got into it?:-), there were a few with rotary engines in
the 35-45hp range. Arctic Cat was probably the most successful of these. I did
a search and found a link to one on e-bay but the link was dead. It may be fun
to play with one of these but you'd better be good at making parts on that
mill of yours! Not too sure I'd like to fly behind one.
S. Todd Bartrim
Turbo 13B
RX-9endurance
C-FSTB
http://www3.telus.net/haywire/RV-9/C-FSTB.htm
"Imagination is more important than knowledge"
-Albert
Einstein
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