Hello all!
I have never posted to the list before, being somewhat of a list lurker
having never felt that
I had anything much positive to contribute. I have been flying a Subaru
EA81 powered Monowheel Classic since 1999 with slowly improving success. I
am the second owner, the plane being the first Europa completed in the US
and had one of the first NSI (claimed 108 hp) firewall forward units. The
plane has been down at least 75% of the time I have had it since I cannot
seem to resist the urge to make changes and improvements! I have now made
most of the XS mods, and have spent a lot of time making cooling system and
engine upgrades which I feel were necessary to get performance to the level
I thought was appropriate for this plane. The performance with the original
NSI conversion was not good enough flying in Denver Colorado at 5280 msl. I
am 220 lbs and my instuctor is 180 and typical hot summer day density
altitudes are close to 8000 ft! I was getting about 130 mph top speed and
about 650 fpm climb, 350 with passenger.
After one particularly "interesting" downwind uphill takeoff on a hot day
with my instructor aboard, I decided I needed more power and had the
original NSI version EA81 modified by Ram Performance in Ohio
(Ramengines.com). There is a picture of my engine on his site. He used a
distributor for
his in house testing, but I am using the original NSI dual electronic
ignition, which has been flawless. Ron at Ram Performance claims 137 hp,
and does have his own dyno, but all I can go by is performance. Performance
numbers are greatly improved from the previous engine and I have been very
pleased. Climb rate went to 1100 fpm solo and top speed went up to 150 mph
(GPS @ 7000' msl). Since installing this engine about a year ago the
biggest problem I have had is finding an appropriate propeller to match the
higher engine performance. The Warp Drive propeller blades just don't seem
to allow much higher speeds than about 150 mph, not having enough blade area
or twist. I tried a Warnke 2 bladed prop that got 1300 fpm climb solo and a
top speed of 160 mph but created a bad prop resonance that could only be
fixed by staying with a 3 bladed prop (like the Warp Drive).
I am just now installing a Catto 3 bladed composite custom unit that I've
waited on 5 months that I hope will make a big improvement. I'm also
installing the speed fairing kit that hopefully should get 5 mph and
starting on a wheel fairing around the monowheel that should clean up
the underside a bit. I am still waiting for a roller rocker kit from Ram
that could provide another pony
or two - Ron claims 5 hp. I can provide more information and performance
numbers and post pictures if anyone is interested.
Glenn Crowder
Golden, Colorado USA
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