Let the rebuild commence – Part 2 – The engine

Although we have yet to ascertain the exact reason for the stoppage, and I will be removing bone engine as soon as I get the nod from Kevin my engineer in Yorkshire, I have decided to explore alternatives.

The Jabiru is a neat fit in the Ranger and I have got used to the way it operates and, with all my new multi port monitoring guages can see it has been performing amazingly well and running at a really good temp and compression.

But ….

With a lot of recent flights 2 up, as I train and get Will up to speed and the desire to go further and faster …. The thought has turned to what other options might there be..

The Ranger is certified for 3 engines :

1. Jabiru 2200
2. D Motor
3. Rotax 512 – 2 stroke

I’ve flown G-TLAC a number of times and it does zip around the sky on the 2 Stroke Rotax but the high revving is a slight put off

The D motor had issues on earlier models but seems to be sorted now but I don’t like the deep square fronted lines it demands getting it into the Ranger

And I’m on my 2nd Jabiru …

So, with enforced downtime, as I rebuild wings and do some other improvements (see next blog) it’s time to see if the 912 ULS is a complete ‘no no’ or not !

I’m looking at 912 as the 80hp Rotax would not offer any real advantage for going through the certification … the 100hp .. does !

For a start, it offers pretty much VNE in straight and level flight …not in a screaming dive that I do on my annual flight test !

Also, with 2 up and fuel she doesn’t exactly leap away from the ground .. something more under the bonnet would be nice.

Paul at TLAC very kindly disucssed the ups and downs with me but said he would be very happy to help me progress and support certification with them.

Duly emailed Ben Syson – Head of Design at the LAA and got a response in a couple of days! Excellent …

Ben advised completing a MOD 5 .. this is specifically for Engine changes and asks a load of questions about design for the mount, stress analysis, weight and balance, prop details and also testing regime. I drafted what I thought was a good first stab on the form, Paul kindly gave at once over and tweak and off it went to Ben.

Not entirely sure of the next steps … but will update this blog as I go ….