Super nice looking cowl. Put some paint on that thing and let's go fly!
Kevin
On Jan 27, 2012, at 12:58 PM, Robert Borger <rlborger@mac.com> wrote:
>
> Fred,
>
> There's plenty of room in the Europa (and total OBAM) community for you wild
and crazy guys. You are out there on the pointy end of this whole Experimental
thing. God bless you for all your efforts, failures and successes. I hope
to see you at RR this year.
>
> BTW, nice looking cowl!
>
> Blue skies & tailwinds,
> Bob Borger
> Europa XS Tri, Rotax 914, Airmaster C/S Prop.
> Little Toot Sport Biplane, Lycoming Thunderbolt AEIO-320 EXP
> 3705 Lynchburg Dr.
> Corinth, TX 76208-5331
> Cel: 817-992-1117
> rlborger@mac.com
>
> On Jan 27, 2012, at 1:15 PM, Fred Klein wrote:
>
>> On Jan 27, 2012, at 4:27 AM, William Daniell wrote:
>>
>>> I think the base Honda fit engine is a very interesting powerplant and the
>>> volume and quality control is unlikely to have the manufacturing problems
>>> that the aviation manufacturers have like dodgy cranks but I am personally
>>> am not up for the experimentation process required to get it flying.
>>>
>>> There was a chap flying in Canada whose name escapes me with a Honda/CAM100.
>>
>> Will...that would be Alex Bowman who flies out of Nanaimo, BC...he has the
>> CAM125
which is built around (I believe) a mid-80s Honda Civic engine...and he's
been quite satisfied w/ performance, ops, and maintenance. He flew it to the
EAA show at Arlington, WA back in 2004 or 5, and I've seen it at a fly-in at
Pemberton, BC alongside Peter Timm's Classic. Alex is now in his late 80s and
has had some medical issues which, I believe, have been the sole reason for why
he has not been burning holes in the sky w/ his Europa...it remains a low-time
aircraft, but I much admire what he has achieved. Incidentally, he built his
plane where he lives on a small island "off the grid", and true to form, the
manufacturers of the CAM engines have evaporated.
>>
>> Though the success rate for auto engine conversions for aircraft use may be
low, Alex's CAM125 installation along w/ his Airmaster CS prop has been one of
the success stories...of course, it would be more convincing to be able to point
to say 10 Europas thus powered, each w/ a thousand hours and still going strong.
Some listers may recall that w/ the demise of the original Europa company,
I attempted to assemble a group of FWF'less builders to utilize Alex's
production
cowl molds and experience w/ mating the CAM125 to the Europa, but alas,
that never happened.
>>
>> Of course, auto engine conversions are a subset of the question of whether or
not one may choose to deviate from orthodoxy...anyone so interested can do some
web searches and find any number of scholarly papers and descriptive narratives
on the pros and cons of doing so.
>>
>> For myself...as I continue my XS mono powered w/ a derivative of a Subaru
>> (the
RAM Performance 140 hp, MPEFIed engine w/ an Autoflight helical-geared PSRU)...I
spent about 15 months molding the cowls, designing and fabricating the mounting
frame, ditto for cooling and tuned exhaust systems, plus temp & pressure
sensors...176# "wet" but excluding cooling & exhaust systems.
>>
>> I find that a high tolerance for ambiguity has been essential...
>>
>> I will post test/performance data when available.
>>
>> I trust that there's a place in the Europa community for the occasional
>> deviant,
>>
>> Fred
>>
>> <DSCN3071.jpg>
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>> <DSCN3688.jpg>
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