I hate the Rotax for a number of things; principally its high parts count
and high price.
But you cant knock the fact that it has actually proven itself to be very
reliable as an engine (less so due to installation factors, but that's not
the fault of the engine). The manufacturer appears to have been pretty open
about the problems it has had and the later products benefit from quite
abit of evolution. Some hightime microlights are claiming a life of 3000
hours.
The Rotax doesn't shake like a dog if properly set-up. Tailplane pins fail
in Jabiru-Europas too (but we won't go there)!
The Jabiru had not been without its problems, these have perhaps been less
public. Others can go into further detail because I wouldn't want to knock
it. Yer pays yer money and yer takes yer choice.
Duncan McFadyean
On Wednesday, June 19, 2002 10:43 PM, clevelee@cswebmail.com
[SMTP:clevelee@cswebmail.com] wrote:
> I just received, yesterday, my Jabiru firewall fwd kit. I am initially
very
> satisfied. The 3300 Europa cowling is attractive, all the bits and
pieces seem
> to be there, including the engine mount which was quality control checked
(no
> finish). The engine of course, is a machinist jewell.
>
> I'll review some of my soul searching. The difference between the Jabiru
and
> Rotax goes directly to engine life, which stemmed from (obviously)
conscious
> design/ market considerations. Jabiru seems to have wanted to minimize
JAR
> approval process by patterning their engine after proven designs. Rotax
had the
> resources to go after the experimental market, and then move into
certified.
> Jabiru is now claiming 2000 TBO. (They also claim 120 HP, but it's the
torque
> that matters and it top out of torque at around 2500.)
>
> While reaserching ways to get the torque up on the Jabiru, which is
slightly
> less than the 912, I noticed that everything I would do to the Jabiru, is
> already done to the Rotaxs.
>
> Examples:
> 1) Boost the compression: 7.9/1 v.s. 10/1 - This is why the Rotax shakes
like a
> wet dog on start-up and shut-down.
> 2) Improve the intake: Labyrinth heated air (through hot oil pan up
through hot
> cylinder cooling air) v.s. twin carbs on the top side above the heat
through
> cast intake manifold directly into the cylinders
>
> ...among some other small things.
>
> With the Jabiru you are theoretically buying reliability and certainly
> simplicity of installation. With the Rotax you are buying state-of-the
art
> power to weight and hybrid cooling.
>
> There is an issue about cooling. The Warp drive blades have a narrow
chord near
> the hub, which is considered not optimal for blowing into the Jabiru's
cowl
> openings. They currently recommend using a fixed pitch prop to develop
> benchmark numbers before going to a constant speed that may use the Warp
drive
> prop.
>
> Cleve Lee
> N396ST A198 Mono XS
> Detroit, MI
>
>
> On Wed, 19 June 2002, "John Cliff" wrote
>
> >
> > This message is posted on behalf of "Joseph J. Like"
<josephlike@cox.net>, who
> > is having continuing problems with our troubled email list.
> >
> > *********************************************************************
> >
> >
> > Hi all, I'm one of the ones that has been kicked off the net. Thanks
to
> > John 's temp fix I'm now receiving
> > msgs after about a month off.
> >
> > I'm writing because I'm at the stage where I need to make a decision on
> > my power plant. Because of the
> > cost, the 914 is out. So I between the Jabiru 3300 and the 912S. I've
> > also been thinking of the prince P-tip
> > prop.
> >
> > I only know of one Europa flying with the Jabiru engine. The club
files
> > show several more but no info from
> > anyone has been forth coming. I would love to hear some opinions on
the
> > Jabiru 3300 verse the Rotax
> > 912S.
> >
> > Joseph J. Like
> > Europa Mono XS
> > A086
> >
> >
>
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