It’s up to me to choose something to turn the spinny thing and I come from a position of next to no knowledge of such things. Reading the build forums there are as many opinions as there are choices and if you were to discount all the engines which are “most definitely unsuitable” for general aviation there would be none left to choose from!. So I figured I’d make a table of some candidate engines and start filling in some data. Over time perhaps a winner will emerge.
Disclaimer!:
- These aren’t the only choices but seem to be the strongest candidates right now.
- They aren’t in any particular order.
- There is no doubt other data I should be comparing, I’ll add more as I understand what that is.
I welcome comments and will try to add/edit the table as I can.
| Engine | Price | Weight (lb) | Hp | Fuel | 750 FWF Kit? | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Viking HF-110 | $13,000 | 178 | 110 @ 5,800rpm | 87 auto/100LL | yes | Honda Fit conversion, not tried and tested |
| Rotax 912S | $26,500 | 136 | 100 @ 5,800rpm | 90 auto/100LL | yes | Popular LSA engine |
| Jabiru 3300 | $21,000 | 178 | 120 @ 3,300rpm | 91 auto/100LL | yes | Popular ‘up and comer’ |
| Corvair O-164 | ?? | 220 | 100 @3,150rpm | 93 auto/100LL | yes | Corvair conversion, can rebuild from cheap used. In widespread use. |
| UL Power 260iS | $21,500+FWF | 160 | 107 @3,300rpm | 93 auto/100LL | yes | Modern FADEC |
| Aerovee 2.1 | $7,000+FWF | 161 | 80 @ 3,400rpm | 90 auto/100LL | maybe | Engine is in kit form, prob under-powered for the 750 |
| Continental O-200 | ?? | 199+ | 100 @ 2,700rpm | yes | General aviation workhorse, lots of used ones for sale? | |
Just finishing up week 1 up here in Corning CA of LSA Repairman Maintenance training. I’m starting to lean toward Rotax. They take a very modern approach to their engines in a way that makes sense.
I’m going to a Rotax level 2 maintenance class at Hayward next weekend. I will let you know if they completely brainwash me.
Mike
Great chart – we get many requests for a good comparison of all available suitable engines. If you can, expand on it and add spec comparions: cc, drive system, cooling system, etc., etc. Additional factors: service and support, warranty, fuel consumption, etc.
Might be worth updating – or adding a row – to reflect that the O-190 corvair engine is capable of 120 hp. The O-164 is the 100 hp version. See: http://www.flycorvair.com/corvair.html#Engine Specs
I think weight is broadly the same for both.
Rotax indeed seems to be the most popular despite all the AD’s and service bulletins over the years. So that must be a Good engine overall.
The weight you listed for Rotax appears to be the dry weight and the weight for the air cooled UL Power is the installed weight. Add up all the cooling accesories for the Rotax(and the water) and its a whole new ball game. There must me a good reason why Zenith has now listed it 1st on their engine list and has installed it on their demo (650/750) aircraft and is in the process of making the FWF kits for the 701 too… I suspect this will be good competition for Rotax. Maybe they will come down a bit and I will be swayed to lean back in their direction.
For now, I am going with the UL260is which appears to be about 3lbs lighter when all things are weighed in…