HKS engine.

[grostek]

Hi All,
Thankyou Flooi for your input. It is refreshing to hear FACTS about the VW, because for too long a myth has been circulatng that it is the biggest piece of rubbish you can put in an aircraft.

Well your experience and the experience of those 4000 odd in europe that I mentioned show this to be a myth.

Yes a well build VW will give as good service as any Continental or Lycoming.

But you need to understand,maintain and operate it within its parameters. (Read this twice)

Like any engine step outside the operating parameters and you are in for some serious negative cash flow.

Except as you mentioned the VW costs a lot less to buy maintain and overhaul.

Type 1 (Beetle) motors have been around as aircraft conversions since the begining of the early 50's and there is a wealth of operating and reliability information avaiable.This engine case is made from a Magnesium alloy.I personally would not fit an align bored engine case into an aircraft, not because it cant be done ,but because there are so few engine shops available that understand the neccesity of doing an accurate job especially with the level of "skilled"labour avaiable at most engine shops these days. For aircraft use I would (in SA) start with new case halves.
This engine can be bored out to 2.18 Liters and will still be reliable and give about 70 HP.direct drive.

This engine produces its maximum Torque at about 2800-3000 RPM making it an ideal canditate for a aircraft conversion.

With a well designed and fitted Reduction drive the Type 1 will give amazing performance in low and slow type aircraft that need spectacular climb performance. A local bolt on redrive is available .

Type1 installations can weigh as little as 154Lbs (70Kg) upto 180 Lbs (81Kg) with redrive and extra accessories

Type 4 (Kombi) motors are heavier than the Type 1 motors because they are made from aluminium alloy . These motors are the same basic engine that Porshe put into the 911 and improved untill they ran into a barrier where Porshe felt that the motor was not reliable enough ( I think around 150Hp) The fact is all engines of the Type 4 class were very reliable and powerfull in the Porshe road cars. This engine can easily be bored out to 2.8 Liters and the engine case has more than enough meat left to give a very sturdy and reliable case for a very powerfull aircraft engine. These engines have a reputation of being bullet proof in higher horse power applications. These engines are good for 100Hp.in aircraft in direct drive applications. I do not know of any available bolt on redrives for these engines.
I do not know at what rpm these engines produce maximum Torque.

Type 4 weight is about 25 Lbs (11.36Kg) heavier that Type 1 engines.

These HP figures need to be put into perspective these engines will not maintain these Hp figures for hours on end, because an AIRCOOLED engine can only produce as much Hp reliably as the cooling systems allows it to produce. in other words step into red zone and yes you have power but but not for long.

So max power for take off and then come back on the power for cruise or climb cruise power. This will ensure that you have better cooling and very reliable engine for many years and hundreds of hours.

To recap step into the red zone and your motor will last only MINUTES.

One last thing all engines build for avaiation use should be balanced, statically and dynamically.

I like what Flooi says

Do NOT mess around to get more performance. It is not a performance engine.
If it runs well, leave it alone. Stop fiddling.

Kind regards,

Gunter Rostek.

[ZULU1]

Picture of mock efi system

HKSefi.jpg (53.5 KiB) Viewed 1504 times

I have just completed all ground tests before tooling for the inlet manifold assembly for the HKS injection project.

With fuel injection and a decent management system the motor will produce at least 80 hp and this we have proven in Jhb. without doubt. I attach pictures of the mock up exhaust and inlet manifold, these are for test purposes to "prove the system" and we will now cast the correct units in Aluminum. The throttle body is a Daewoo and the injectors are Bosch. I am trying to stay clear of any Euro sourced components as the exchange rate is against us. The electronics are local as air sensors etc,

So now I am going to complete the exhaust and send to Aiden so I can sort the paperwork and ATF etc. this will give about 4 hp alone, in the interim finish the patterns for the inlet manifold. Meantime I will fly with the exhaust then the ignition section then finally the efi installation. This will take some time (scarce at present) but it shows promise.

I have a budget price of about R10,000.00 for the kits and if the motor is imported without manifolds etc it should make a reasonable priced 70hp motor, as well as local parts.

The project has lost me a lot of flying so I am positive its worth it ! When its complete it will be available for someone to take over and market as we are rather busy at present !!

Eish Zulu1

[Trikenut]

I would love to see it out on the market!
If i got a HKS Aquilla would i be able to get the shape changed but still have the same performance as your prototype?
Thanks
Trikenut

[ZULU1]

Hiya, I initially started this project last year when the knife was about to go into the 582, fortunately some good sense has prevailed. hence the real urgency to come up with a suitable alternative engine has lets say "dropped off". However I started the project and wish to finish it, obviously time is an issue for me but I have established that its a most worthy excercise.

The Italians turbo charge them to 93 hp so the engines integrity is not at risk, the HKS biggest downfall is it 1990s ignition system, (design not integrity), the rest of the motor is very rugged indeed. Hence the efi project makes serious sense.

I met Aiden today, he is obviously very interested as an alternative offering and the trike will go to him this week to finalise exhaust mounts etc. (also help my paperwork a bit !!).

So the answer is simple, its very early days but if you buy a standard HKS trike, get it fitted ex factory with a Zulu1 exhaust which is a simple "mod" a Zulu1 engine mount, oil tank and coolers and when ready it will be a simple matter of mounting the inlet manifold, butterfly body, fuel pumps and efi modules. The coils and engine sensors remain the same; no mods required.
After having flown the motor for a considerable period I admit missing the power of a 582 but now it has potential it makes a very viable financial and weight alternative to a 912. What the project needs is somebody with sufficient time to take it over and run with the ball...

The efi system that we have developed would also perform on a 912 and a Jabiru.

Oh and just one thing.. the technology is local (South African)...

Cheers Paul