2 cylinder engines

To pick up on the 2 cylinder engine discussion, for those that might
be interested, I have been test flying a direct drive, v-twin Generac
industrial engine (generators, weed cutters, etc), with 38 peak hp, on
my Thunder Gull. There are others flying with re-drive versions, as
well as some Briggs, Kohler and Honda efforts too. All this is
discussed on http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Small4-strokeEngines/.

I did a series of reports on my development and testing there. Search
thru the old messages on "Generac" for my reports. Sorry, I don't want
to repeat any of that here, so I am back to lurk mode.

Regards,
Jerry Booker

On Feb 1, 6:25*pm, wrote:
To pick up on the 2 cylinder engine discussion, for those that might
be interested, I have been test flying a direct drive, v-twin Generac
industrial engine (generators, weed cutters, etc), with 38 peak hp, on
my Thunder Gull. There are others flying with re-drive versions, as
well as some Briggs, Kohler and Honda efforts too. All this is
discussed onhttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/Small4-strokeEngines/.

I did a series of reports on my development and testing there. Search
thru the old messages on "Generac" for my reports. Sorry, I don't want
to repeat any of that here, so I am back to lurk mode.

Regards,
Jerry Booker

I am in the middle of a Generac fiasco now. A homeowner I built a
house for installed a Generac generator and it has an intake fire
every time it tries to start... Not a good thing for sure. I have a
video and am going to post it on YouTube soon. If I am not wrong the
Generac unit uses a Vanguard engine, basically a top of the line
Briggs & Stratton motor... They seem kinda heavy for aircraft use
though... JMHO...

A few years ago a man of my acquaintance picked up a BMW opposed twin
motorcycle engine, and was building an airplane around it. This was
his third homebuilt, so he had a proven track record - and his work
was top notch. The design was a pusher configuration - a descendant of
his original, which was a Titan Tornado. The engine was new, or nearly
so. I expect that the project was a success - but I moved before it
was finished, so don't know how it turned out.

David Johnson

"Dave" wrote in message
...
A few years ago a man of my acquaintance picked up a BMW opposed twin
motorcycle engine, and was building an airplane around it.

The wonderful irony is that the original BMW twin was built as an airplane
engine, and then someone thought of trying one in a motorcycle.

Vaughn ('65 BMW R60)

"Vaughn Simon" wrote in message
news:cFZoj.190842
The wonderful irony is that the original BMW twin was built as an
airplane engine, and then someone thought of trying one in a motorcycle.

Vaughn ('65 BMW R60)

It would be fun if that were true but I have an extensive library of BMW
motorcycle books and I think that's another story that has been repeated so
many times it's become accepted but isn't based in fact. Sort of like the
notion that the blue and white roundel is supposed to represent a spinning
propeller. It's just not based in fact. the first BMW twin was designed by
an aircraft engineer Max Friz but was inspired by an earlier British design,
the Douglas twin. The roundel design came from 1917 and was based on the
Rapp Motorwerken logo using the colors and basic design from the Bavarian
free state flag in the center. The notion of the spinning propeller came
from a much later advertisement when BMW started builting radial engines
under license from Pratt &Whitney.

I like your bike, I let my older R50/2 go when I upgraded to an R60/6. No
regrets but the /2 always seemed more solid somehow.

and then back again
http://www.takeoff-ul.de/motoren.html



"Vaughn Simon" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...

"Dave" wrote in message
...
A few years ago a man of my acquaintance picked up a BMW opposed twin
motorcycle engine, and was building an airplane around it.

The wonderful irony is that the original BMW twin was built as an
airplane engine, and then someone thought of trying one in a motorcycle.

Vaughn ('65 BMW R60)

On Fri, 1 Feb 2008 18:08:24 -0800 (PST), stol
wrote:

On Feb 1, 6:25*pm, wrote:
To pick up on the 2 cylinder engine discussion, for those that might
be interested, I have been test flying a direct drive, v-twin Generac
industrial engine (generators, weed cutters, etc), with 38 peak hp, on
my Thunder Gull. There are others flying with re-drive versions, as
well as some Briggs, Kohler and Honda efforts too. All this is
discussed onhttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/Small4-strokeEngines/.

I did a series of reports on my development and testing there. Search
thru the old messages on "Generac" for my reports. Sorry, I don't want
to repeat any of that here, so I am back to lurk mode.

Regards,
Jerry Booker

I am in the middle of a Generac fiasco now. A homeowner I built a
house for installed a Generac generator and it has an intake fire
every time it tries to start... Not a good thing for sure. I have a
video and am going to post it on YouTube soon. If I am not wrong the
Generac unit uses a Vanguard engine, basically a top of the line
Briggs & Stratton motor... They seem kinda heavy for aircraft use
though... JMHO...

most of the V engines are around 90 lbs.
the Briggs 'n Stratton Vanguard is evidently around 70lb.

most of the V engines are around 90 lbs.
the Briggs 'n Stratton Vanguard is evidently around 70lb.

It's 125 lb. Not light at all. See
http://www.commercialpower.com/displ...sp?docid=80498

Dan

wrote:


To pick up on the 2 cylinder engine discussion, for those that might
be interested, I have been test flying a direct drive, v-twin Generac
industrial engine (generators, weed cutters, etc), with 38 peak hp, on
my Thunder Gull. There are others flying with re-drive versions, as
well as some Briggs, Kohler and Honda efforts too. All this is
discussed on http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Small4-strokeEngines/.

B&S powered: http://luciolemc30.blogspot.com/


By
--
Volem rien foutre al païs!
Philippe Vessaire Ò¿Ó¬

In article ,
"Vaughn Simon" wrote:

"Dave" wrote in message
...
A few years ago a man of my acquaintance picked up a BMW opposed twin
motorcycle engine, and was building an airplane around it.

The wonderful irony is that the original BMW twin was built as an airplane
engine, and then someone thought of trying one in a motorcycle.

No, it wasn't.

BMW made aircraft engines through WW1, including some that were used to
set absolute altitude records (look at the BMW logo; it's a four-blade
propellor quartering alternate blue sky and white clouds).

After WW1, BMW was prohibited from making anything to do with aviation,
so they switched to making cheap office furniture from their stocks of
plywood, and aluminum cookware, since they already had the foundry
capability.

Their first motorcycle was a 148cc moped-ish bike called the "Flink",
never sold under the BMW name, and it failed in the market.

Their first boxer engine was based on the British Douglas engine, and
sold to other companies to put in their motorcycles. They didn't offer a
motorcycle under their own name until the R32 in 1923.

Max Friz, who headed BMW engineering, didn't think much of the
motorcycle business; it was just something to keep them out of
bankruptcy until they could start making airplanes and airplane engines
again.

L.J.K. Setwright wrote a pretty entertaining history of BMW, that used
to be available at BMW shops.