Subaru EA81 Rebuilding Manual?
ASL Sinclair
(I don't have an airplane yet, but will work on the engine first.)
Those of you with EA81 experience, what is the best rebuilding
information source? Are the Haynes manuals good enough? Also,
I have read that Reggie Clarke has a very successful conversion
in a Dragonfly, and has made two "how to" tapes about it. The
tapes are expensive (about US$ 160, if I recall correctly), so
I would like to know if anyone has seen or reviewed these tapes.
Thanks
--Jose
Charles K. Scott
previously and can now post some accurate information about them and
their pricing of engines.
Tom Hanel is the Sales rep. On his business card it lists Formula
Power Subaru conversions, geared propellor reduction drives, midwest
distributor vari-prop.
Once again the address and phone is:
Aircraft Systems, Inc.
16606 West Ryerson Road
New Berlin, WI 53151
(414) 797-8440
Fax (414) 784-3099
The phenomenally high pricing I mentioned for the SVX engine was in
fact a typo or computer hiccup and the engine lists at $16,499 and
$19,499 for the 245 and 265 horsepower versions respectively. This is
for the engine only, adding the Ross PSRU brings those totals to
$19,899 and $22,899 respectively.
They list six "Formula" engines starting at 103 horsepower (1781 cc
engine) to the 265 hp 2.7 liter SVX six.
Also, there are five "Eagle" engines from an 84 hp 1.8 liter to a 159
hp 2.3 liter Legacy engine.
The least expensive engine is the 84 hp at $3695, $4995 with the PSRU.
All engines are ZERO TIMED.
They have a parts list that includes everything you could possibly need
to rebuild your engine so that it too would be zero timed but you would
need to magnaflux the necessary parts yourself. If you are a skilled
enough mechanic, there's no reason why you could not build your engine
exactly the way they do. Aircraft Systems, Inc. would, of course, be
happy to supply you with what you need.
I have no connection with this company other than that they are
building what looks like to me to be a potentially good engine for the
Christavia I'm working on. I also feel that if you want an engine and
find one used somewhere, Aircraft Systems is doing what would be
extremely wise for you to do. I would NEVER hang an engine my life
depended on on the front of my airframe without knowing exactly it's
condition. The idea of buying a salvage yard engine and going flying
without inspecting the internals is, to me, dangerous. Besides,
tearing down an engine and re-assembling it then cranking it for the
first time is SOOOOOO satisfying. :-) :-)
Corky Scott
Robert Broberg
>Those of you with EA81 experience, what is the best rebuilding
>information source? Are the Haynes manuals good enough? Also,
>I have read that Reggie Clarke has a very successful conversion
>in a Dragonfly, and has made two "how to" tapes about it. The
>tapes are expensive (about US$ 160, if I recall correctly), so
>I would like to know if anyone has seen or reviewed these tapes.
Find yourself a set of Subaru shop manuals for the EA81 (or more
specifically, the cars that it inhabited). These are an excellent
source of information about the EA81 and its systems.
I have met Reggie and found him to be an interesting character. He
has really been busy with his Subaru project and it appears to work.
I should mention that his is a turbocharged Asian version EA81 with
high compression pistons. He occasionally runs with the manifold
pressure at 55 inches!
The interesting part is that he rebuilt his engine with only a
Chiltons manual. My partner later faxed him some engine tolerance
specs from a genuine Subaru shop manual to confirm his measurements.
Reggie sent some pictures of his installation: it looks rough to say
the least. I hope it has been improved. Although I have not seen the
videos, I'd question their value at $160.
Rob
Hugh Rice
: Those of you with EA81 experience, what is the best rebuilding
: information source? Are the Haynes manuals good enough?
My experience from working on may different cars and motorcycles:
The factory manual (usually $30 to $50 from the dealer) is always
far superior to the Haynes (or Chiltons, Clymers(sp?)) manuals.
Find a Subaru car that had the same engine/vintage that the motor
you want to rebuild and buy the factory repair manual for it.
Second best is a publication titled "______ repair for the complete
idiot". Goofy spiral-bound books published by (I think...) "John
Muir Publications". That may be the authors name too. I know they
wrote about VW stuff, and I think they did a series on Subarus.
Check the automotive section of you favorite (good) bookstore.
Last resort is the Haynes etc. stuff. May have marginal usefulness
in showing a different perspective than the factory manual.
I won't use them to fix my car - I'll rely on personal experience first.
Finally, one last tidbit on parts sources. In most big cities there
will be a business selling low mileage (~30kmi) Japanese engines and
transmissions cheap. I've used them several times with good luck in cars.
A complete Subaru engine would be $300 to $400. Good source of probably
sound engine parts. Should be able to find them in the Yellow pages
under "Wrecking Yards".
Good luck on your project,
Hugh Rice
Archie Cobbs
>Tom Hanel is the Sales rep. On his business card it lists Formula
>Power Subaru conversions, geared propellor reduction drives, midwest
>distributor vari-prop.
>Once again the address and phone is:
>Aircraft Systems, Inc.
>16606 West Ryerson Road
>New Berlin, WI 53151
>(414) 797-8440
>Fax (414) 784-3099
>They list six "Formula" engines starting at 103 horsepower (1781 cc
>engine) to the 265 hp 2.7 liter SVX six.
>Also, there are five "Eagle" engines from an 84 hp 1.8 liter to a 159
>hp 2.3 liter Legacy engine.
>The least expensive engine is the 84 hp at $3695, $4995 with the PSRU.
>All engines are ZERO TIMED.
Now I'm certain this is the same thing I read about from a company
called Formula Power in Concord, CA. Just noting this because you
may want to check if you can get it cheaper directly from them.
Number is (510) 685-1689.
-Archie
jhassall
I have spent a good deal of phone time with Reg. He has >100hrs on his engine.
After ~90 hrs on a turbo'd engine w/high compression pistons (a non-turbo'd engine),
he tore it down and did a complete inspection. All specs, according to him, were
within factory new engine specs. He is now using low compression pistons and a
water cooled turbo. Says he sees ~1400FPM solo, ~1000FPM with pax. I should
receive the tapes most any day now; I will post a note to the net as soon as I've formed
an opinion. BTW, the price for both is US$129 (don't remember individual prices).
The second tape is not geared exclusively to the Dragonfly, although that is his
development platform. He said the tape will show his Dfly, but will detail firewall
forward techniques for basically any plane suitable to be powered by the EA81.
Stay tuned for details.
JC Hassall
jhas...@vt.edu