Belt Driven Redrive Question

Hi there, I've been thinking about alternative engines for the RV-12 in the 100 to 120 HP range, but the issue seems to be the redrive. How feasible would be to use a belt driven psru on this hp range? Do you guys have any experience on reliability? Who makes those belts and pulleys? I've been looking online but I haven't found much. Maybe I just don't know where to look. Thanks in advance

Depends entirely on what engine you are talking about. Valley Engineering makes a good belt drive for the VW conversion. I was seriously considering this engine for my Bi-plane.

Freddy, it's a huge subject. The correct belt will handle the power; that's the easy part. Success and failure revolve around mechanical design (bearing selection, structure, etc), torsional vibration issues, and development of fuel and ignition systems.

The most common 100 hp belt redrive application is an EA-81 Subaru.

I've done some belt redrive design and development. It can be a lot of fun if you like mechanical design, machine shop fabrication, and testing. If you don't, I'd strongly recommend a Rotax 912. "Saving money" is the very worst reason to enter into an auto conversion.

Belte air...

Hi Freddie,
Belted air has been doing Chevy six and eight cylinder engines for years. Give 'em a call.

http://www.beltedair.com/

Regards,

Thanks for the replies guys. Any idea of weight on a belt redrive? It seems like the geared ones run around 60 lbs.

Raven Redrives has a lot of experience doing belt drives for engines under 120hp. They do nice ones for the Suzuki G10, G13, G16 engines. These are very light. A light gear drive is also available for these engines. The G13 can produce around 100hp and weighs around 25-35lbs. more than the Rotax 912S if memory serves me correctly. http://www.raven-rotor.com/

Gear drives for other engines in the higher power ranges go from 30-85 lbs. (120-600hp).

You might look at the Dair Diesel

The DAIR diesel is right in the range for the 12. The weight is about right and direct drive would be the way to go. www.dair.co.uk if I remember right. This is a very efficient diesel layout too. Not belt drive and a bit of a thread hijack, but if I understood you were interested in rotax alternatives.
Bill Jepson

I'll second the good word for Raven. Good designs, good quality, and Jeron is a nice guy.

Also take a look at the Mercedes Smart Car engine

Ecofly make an aircraft conversion of the Mercedes Smart Car engine in 80 and 100hp versions. Worth a look too. And it has a Belted re-drive!

Dave