EAA Sport Aviation - February 2010

oil filters) are also good investments. Revmaster offers a big-
finned head. Most offer oil filter and cooler options.

A rookie engine builder needs to know that lengthening the stroke can produce unexpectedly high compression. Cylinder base shims and careful measurement cure this problem; longer cylinders (available from Revmaster and Hummel) do the job more elegantly. Nikasil cylinders are lighter than typical iron cylinders and more expensive. Hummel produces its own long-body billet-cut Nikasil-plated cylinders.

PRICING

Building your aero VW from an engine you already have in the backyard may seem to be the cheap way to get started, but it won’t be in the long run. And the frustration of making each component airworthy will quickly overtake any dollars saved. When you consider the price of a complete kit, with all new parts (that will all fit together!) or a complete and test-run engine, it’s almost silly to go shopping—unless, of course, you’d like to build your “perfect” engine, using parts from several suppliers.

The complete AeroConversions 2180-cc kit sells for $6,495. Its most-popular big options are the assembled crank/prop hub assembly ($295) and aftermarket Nikasil cylinders ($500 option) that save 9 pounds compared to the standard iron cylinders. A kit from Great Plains (in 2180 cc or 2276 cc, including magneto and electronic ignition) is about $6,500. Hummel’s finished, test-run 2180, with similar ignition, retails for $5,850; billet-cut, extended-length Nikasil cylinders reduce weight and add $1,300. A Revmaster R-2200 (2180 cc) retails for $6,800. The R-2300 (available springtime 2010) will cost $7, 100, and R-2500 and R-3000 engines, with 90-mm strokes, are on the way. All except the AeroConversions include stub exhausts.

Tim Kern is a private pilot and certified aviation manager as well as an aviation writer and consultant based near Indianapolis. You can find him online at www.TimKern.com.

To read a companion article on how to build your own Volkswagen engine, see the February issue of Experimenter, the electronic newsletter for homebuilders. Visit www.EAA.org/ experimenter/issues/ 1002.html. For links to Revmaster, Great Plains Aircraft Supply, Hummel Engines, and AeroConversions, visit www.SportAviation.org.

Sigtronics Combo Sets include a voice activated intercom, two headsets, and a high quality bag that will hold them all.

The Panel Mount Combo includes our high performance Sport 200 intercom and either two S- 20 articulating mic boom or two S- 58 flex mic boom headsets.