Mark, Ok, I'll call you out on it - VWs rule! Corvairs suck!
Just enjoying my KR as much as anyone. I gave 5 more Young Eagles ride in mine last weekend. Got a hat from EAA the other day for going over 50. But I'm sure some other KR flyer can beat that. Rob Schmitt N1852Z On May 22, 2013, at 9:49 AM, "Mark Langford" <ml at n56ml.com> wrote: > I wrote something yesterday about more powerful engines being "safer" than > lower powered ones in a given plane. This was from a "gain altitude as > quickly as possible on takeoff" standpoint. I'm a little surprised that > nobody called me out on using the Corvair as an example, given that I've > broken three Corvair crankshafts, the last one on takeoff. There is no > denying that the Corvair has crankshaft issues, at least in my mind. In > contrast, the VW-based engines such as the Great Plain Aircraft 2180 have > essentially mitigated that problem by use of high quality 4340 crankshafts > and the Force One hub. VWs tend to fail more slowly, with valve or > crankcase issues, whereas the Corvair has had more than its share of > instantaneous crankshaft failures of the variety that will ruin your day, at > least in my experience. There is now limited production of 4340 crankshafts > for the Corvair, but they are pricey, and there's only one flying so far. I > do have one on order. > > > > I'm not bringing this up for any other reason than to be fair to the VW. > They are reasonably reliable engines and there are a lot in service in the > small homebuilt world. Steve Bennett told me a few months ago, that none of > his engines have broken a crank that has been running his Force One hub, and > that's a lot of years and a lot of engines! > > > > Mark Langford > > ML at N56ML.com > > see experimental N56ML at www.N56ML.com > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Search the KRnet Archives at http://tugantek.com/archmailv2-kr/search. > To UNsubscribe from KRnet, send a message to KRnet-leave at list.krnet.org > please see other KRnet info at http://www.krnet.org/info.html > see http://list.krnet.org/mailman/listinfo/krnet_list.krnet.org to change > options
