Ben Murton Posted July 12, 2022 Share Posted July 12, 2022 A long term goal of mine is to build a Quickie. With an engineering/aerospace background I hope to modernize a few aspects of the design and build process. One of these is to use a more modern powerplant. An idea has come to mind to use Briggs & Stratton's (vanguard) range of electronic fuel injected, electric start engines. https://www.vanguardpower.com/na/en_us/product-catalog/engines/small-block-vtwin-horizontal-shaft/vanguard--230-gross-hp-efi-etc.html With what seems like adequate RPM, HP and weight values, it seems like a fairly ideal engine choice. Briggs & Stratton are known for their reliability. An aircraft application will also be a lot kinder. Of course it would have to be verified to have no oil problems at excessive tilt. Curious to whether anyone has used one of these before or any general opinions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voidhawk9 Posted July 13, 2022 Share Posted July 13, 2022 Peak power is at 3600RPM, which may be a bit quick? And you'll probably need something to support prop loads anyway, so can you find a PSRU for it? Quote Aerocanard (modified) SN:ACPB-0226 (Chapter 8) Canardspeed.com (my build log and more; usually lags behind actual progress)Flight simulator (X-plane) flight model master: X-Aerodynamics (GMT+12) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thseng Posted July 15, 2022 Share Posted July 15, 2022 Stumbled across this apparently defunct German company using one on an ultralight: https://web.archive.org/web/20160328224720/http://www.trio-star.de/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=73&Itemid=81&lang=de Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kent Ashton Posted July 15, 2022 Share Posted July 15, 2022 1 hour ago, thseng said: Stumbled across this apparently defunct German company using one on an ultralight: https://web.archive.org/web/20160328224720/http://www.trio-star.de/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=73&Itemid=81&lang=de That doesn't look to hard to build but I wonder about the stress on the crankshaft and crankshaft bore which were probably only designed for centered, rotating loads. Maybe there is enough case thickness to accept an external bearing or to build the case up with welds to add an external bearing to take the loads. I am thinking of Corvair aero engines that have added external bearings to resist prop gyroscopic loads. Google William Wynne Corvair Yah know, there are guys on youtube who demonstrate aluminum casting. Maybe one could cast a new aluminum case using the original case with a boss as a mold, to accept an external bearing. Fun to think about. Quote -KentCozy IV N13AM-750 hrs, Long-EZ-85 hrs and sold Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Murton Posted July 16, 2022 Author Share Posted July 16, 2022 These engines are very similar to the engines they use on their ride-on lawn mowers. If that is the case, I would expect the crankshaft and bearings to be fairly robust. Side loading of belt drives or direct drive onto the mower blades in some cases. The ultralight conversion looks really neat! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haiqu Posted October 26, 2022 Share Posted October 26, 2022 Yah. I did an assessment of available engines about 14 years ago and that was what I selected too. Probably still on the forum, I haven't been here since then. 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sotaro Posted November 2, 2022 Share Posted November 2, 2022 Ben, There has been a fair amount of development of the industrial V twins, 600-800cc for aircraft use. The Columban MC-30 Luciole flies one as does the SD1. The person I have been following on this is Thomas at https://tipis-ul-engines.mystrikingly.com. He is pursuing a vertical shaft (Zero Turn Radius) mower engine of 800cc converted to horizontal shaft and inverted cylinders and heads. The belt drive that seems most available is from India, though it lacks some engineering calculations that one might wish to have. Keep us posted! I wish you the best of luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zolotiyeruki Posted November 2, 2022 Share Posted November 2, 2022 There are a few folks over on the Homebuilt Airplane forums who are working on Briggs and Stratton conversions, like this one: https://www.homebuiltairplanes.com/forums/threads/briggs-stratton-vanguard-23hp-build.39154/ or this one: https://www.homebuiltairplanes.com/forums/threads/leonard-millholland-is-about-ready-to-release-briggs-conversion-plans.39336/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sotaro Posted November 2, 2022 Share Posted November 2, 2022 Thomas is also on Homebuiltairplane.com. his link is https://www.homebuiltairplanes.com/forums/threads/b-s-49-series-810cm3-49ci-for-aircraft-use-tipis-q-a-thread.32382/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thseng Posted November 2, 2022 Share Posted November 2, 2022 I was about to post about Leonard's work also. I don't know if this is why we put his own carburetors on, but the Vanguard engine looks to have electronic fuel injection from the factory. While great from a carb ice and mixture control point of view, there would be some reliability concern. I downloaded the service manual and while very thorough, the entire thing is about troubleshooting error codes from the ECU - nothing mechanical at all... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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