suburu power...
Hello everybody... I am so glad to see the pilot walked away. I've seen this airplane up close a couple of times and I know it has been for sale. It really turns some rpms on takeoff.. maybe 5k or so... not sure about the amount, but it's really a screamer on takeoff. I know it had a fairly substantial Suburu engine in it.... apparently there is a small engine that would fit but this is the bigger one. Being a bit nervous about putting a car engine in this airframe, I asked the owner (who is actually a very smart guy on things (other than airplanes) that I have known for a long time from my perspective) about putting a Suburu engine in an RV and was told it should be ok since the larger engine does not have to work as hard. I politely declined the offer to purchase it as I would like one that uses a Lycoming and that there was another gentleman on the field that had been though 10 or so suburu engines in an RV-4 until he switched to a lycoming. I see an engine problem was listed as the cause... but you really never know until after the examination. I hope the owner will post to the forums with the exact cause of the accident so we all can learn from it. I'm not trying to start a flame war about car engines in airplanes but I just do not get the "warm and fuzzy" about doing that. I'm thinking that if you turn an engine at 5 grand rather than 2500, that the forces are 4 times as much.. am I right?
Best
Brian Wallis