VW Engines for Motor Gliders
Sauer Engines
My sales pitch with varios when I get asked to
fix up an old CNAV is how many electronics items do you have in your house
25 years old!! When we again had trouble with the L2000 in h36 Ray
Hunt (VW car mechanic and glider engineer) said how many pilots in our
club drive around in a car with a 30 year old engine - none of you - well
why the hell are we bothering with with these L2000 engines!!!?.
It has got to go!!! Thus he and I refused to fix engine until the
Sauer was ordered. Then we fixed it again thanks to John Viney.
Remember with S2500 you get 1600 hr TBO and it
would climb at twice the rate of a L1700 so in my book it would be equal
to an engine of 3000hrs when compared to L2000 thus the economics looks
a lot different and the $25000 looks a lot better or $8000 per L2000 overhaul.
Extras are dual ignition (slick and electronics)
and geared Kabota starter motor (will never jam starter) and very small
Kabota permanent magnet generator (zero moving parts except bearings)
and needs Powermate regulator. Many lightening holes keep weight
down. Heads are much bigger and hydraulic valve lifters like any other
car in the world.
My friend Todd Clark (LAME King Island Airlines
and Qantas pilot) visited Sauer factory near and was most impressed with
what he saw except price.
Engine has a proper front end aero type bearing
and is like a mini Continental - Sodium filled valves - their own crank
case and their own Crankshaft built by a Merc contractor and is NO LONGER
a VW.
Enc below is a paste from Sauer when I asked about
S2500 or S2700 for falke and note it "pulls" 10% better than a 912S which
tells a story of engine capacity vs speed (Rotax).
I think the time has come for all of us to bight
the bullet and upgrade. I can remember in mid '90s when we used to
overhaul those stark Stammo 1500cc engines cause we "could not afford the
alternative" - "WRONG" We were broke for years because
of those things and it was only when we went J2200 conversion in falke
that we never ever looked back. Remember it is better to have money
in your decent aero engine when you die and have the pleasure of using
it rather than money in the bank. I do not enjoy removing heads or
engines any more.
On another related matter I think most L2000 users
here are not using those shells which keep the air close to fins as it
goes from top to bottom. They are listed in Limbach Tech Bul 44 -
I have moulds of them and can be made using a vinalester resin Dafydd Llwelleyn
recommended. We could get Todd Clark stamp them out of sheet aluminium
like he does for parts for Chieftans/Bandits but it is overkill I believe.
Ian McPhee
Hello Ian,
The S2500 has the same measurements as the L2000
does.
The S2700 is broader and you must change the Cowling.
The better choice is the S2500-1-AS1.
The power is slightly smaller, than at the S2700,
I think at the most 5 hp.
With the correct propeller pulls 200 kg.
The C-Falke with the Rotax 912-S pulls only 180
kg.
You should prefer a simple S2500-1-AS1, with single
ignition the new cylinder heads and sodium chilled exhaust valves.
The engine has an aviation admission
