Long story short when I purchased my Sonex (tricycle gear) I also acquired a completed Aerovee 2.1 with nikasil cylinders along with one of the early turbo kits and a set of 'standard' cylinders and pistons.
After looking long and hard at the performance claims, the VW, and elsewhere I am not sure I like VW or even the turbocharged version of it. My concerns being around poor climb, possible overheating, and the like.
So, I have been looking at some options:
1. Build it and get it flying. Non-turbo VW, get in the air, have fun, maybe do a major upgrade with IFR, autopilot, and a different engine later. (~$1500 for misc parts and engine monitor)
2. Built it, add the turbo, mod the cowl for extra cooling and add the recommended cooling mods that I didn't received with the original purchase. (~+$3500 for misc parts and engine monitor)
3. Yamaha engine (RX1/Apex). FWF weight will be right on the edge of recommended. I took some measurements and it should work. Even with the tricycle gear. (~+$10000, engine, GB, engine controller, misc parts)
4. Motorcycle engine + custom countra-rotating GB. I have a rough design for a relatively simple CRGB that pairs very well with a motorcycle engine. This'll give ~180hp at the prop pre-derating and with clever placement of items have a similar FWF weight at the RX1/Apex (~+$15000, engine, GB, machining, engine controller, tuning, misc parts).
I'm currently leaning towards either 1 or 3. I would love to do 4 but know it'll add at least a year to the project. I like turbos and thus 2 but I am kinda leery of them on aircraft. My goal for the Sonex is mostly sub 150nm local area flying with occasional ~600nm trips to visit friends and family. Eventually I will pursue my instrument rating and while I don't consider the Sonex a hard IFR aircraft I don't want to be trapped somewhere for a week because of clouds and drizzle.
After looking long and hard at the performance claims, the VW, and elsewhere I am not sure I like VW or even the turbocharged version of it. My concerns being around poor climb, possible overheating, and the like.
So, I have been looking at some options:
1. Build it and get it flying. Non-turbo VW, get in the air, have fun, maybe do a major upgrade with IFR, autopilot, and a different engine later. (~$1500 for misc parts and engine monitor)
2. Built it, add the turbo, mod the cowl for extra cooling and add the recommended cooling mods that I didn't received with the original purchase. (~+$3500 for misc parts and engine monitor)
3. Yamaha engine (RX1/Apex). FWF weight will be right on the edge of recommended. I took some measurements and it should work. Even with the tricycle gear. (~+$10000, engine, GB, engine controller, misc parts)
4. Motorcycle engine + custom countra-rotating GB. I have a rough design for a relatively simple CRGB that pairs very well with a motorcycle engine. This'll give ~180hp at the prop pre-derating and with clever placement of items have a similar FWF weight at the RX1/Apex (~+$15000, engine, GB, machining, engine controller, tuning, misc parts).
I'm currently leaning towards either 1 or 3. I would love to do 4 but know it'll add at least a year to the project. I like turbos and thus 2 but I am kinda leery of them on aircraft. My goal for the Sonex is mostly sub 150nm local area flying with occasional ~600nm trips to visit friends and family. Eventually I will pursue my instrument rating and while I don't consider the Sonex a hard IFR aircraft I don't want to be trapped somewhere for a week because of clouds and drizzle.
