Weight of the engine block

Hi I wonder if anyone of you guys ever weighted the engine block itself without the exhaust pipe. Id appreciate for that information since the engine looks very good to power a single or even two seater Ultralight aircraft.
Peter

Interesting....

Don't know, but my guess is 50 - 60 Kg. ?

pkoszegi said:

Hi I wonder if anyone of you guys ever weighted the engine block itself without the exhaust pipe. Id appreciate for that information since the engine looks very good to power a single or even two seater Ultralight aircraft.

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From my zero knowledge about ultralight aircraft... Is it not much better for this a light air-cooled two stroke engine? Something like the ones used in karting, for instance? Just asking, curiosity

I would imagine the power to weight would be pretty dismal (probably one half or worse) compared to something like a Rotax 582 or HKS 700 and you'd have to rig dual ignition and a gearbox. Also, given the low power output of the NC, you may have to flap the wings in addition to spinning the prop.

pkoszegi said:

Hi I wonder if anyone of you guys ever weighted the engine block itself without the exhaust pipe. Id appreciate for that information since the engine looks very good to power a single or even two seater Ultralight aircraft.
Peter

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www.vikingaircraftengines.com/products/Products.html This is a company in Florida that makes the conversion, quite impressive performance. They have kits for a number of LSA.

Some backgrounds for you. BMW boxers are the most commonly used aircraft conversions for trikes. They are not so suitable for tractor mode due to its cooling problems. Ive seen a number of Yamaha, Honda 4 cyl conversions with 80-100 + HP the problem is the weight of the engine.Mostly for trikes, pusher. Many of them simply is driven in 2nd gear and have a prop hub on the gearbox shaft.
The UL market is long time missing a four stroke reliable, light conversion. Rotax 582 and others are very old dinosaurs with its 5 GAL /h (20 LIT/H) consumption. A weight of an air cooled Rotax 503 (50HP) is around 50 kgs, a Rotax 582 with its 65 HP is 62 kgs. If there would be a 55 kg 50 HP reliable 4 stroker that would be lovely.
Max high torque, low rpm is the thing we all looking for and 6500 max rpm is just the ideal thing. Than the price comes into play. Rotax 912 (80HP, 76 kgs) is around 13K EUR (or US) HKS is also around 10 K. The whole NC700 is 6-7K USD currently.

pkoszegi said:

Rotax 582 and others are very old dinosaurs

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I am an old dinosaur as well. I thought the 582 was about half the weight you quoted (bare engine). Maybe you have something there. By time you de-rate it for constant load you will have about 42 hp to employ.

I guess nobody here knows the weight of the engine, but I would bet it weighs way more than 50 kg. If not, the bike would be lighter than it is. Anyway, regarding price, you must focus on the NC700S (non DCT, non ABS) model, it's the cheapest one; actually 5,689 € in Spain

582 delivers 65 ponies at 6500 rpm for about 30 sec max, If you are lucky you can let the throttle back to 5800 rpm in a kitfox or so to maintain altitude. That is around 50 HP at that rpm. And its definately 62 kgs with a C rotax re-drive 1:2.56, 2 carbs, exhaust, and coolant. Not a gramm less.
But I have a HiMax (Minimax High wing) which has a Hirth 2702 40 HP 45 kg engine with 10 lit/h consumption. Single ignition. That sort of single seater would go wild with 50 HP four stroke and I can tell you Id feel rather safe behind a 4 stroker than a 2 stroke. This beauty max rpm 5100, cruising at 4200, where its about 32 HP.
A takeoff vid: Himax takeoff at Szekelyvarsag - YouTube

But just think of all the cool farkles you could make for it. nos, water injection, supercharger, turbo i can hardly wait 125 hP??? DALE

pkoszegi said:

Hi I wonder if anyone of you guys ever weighted the engine block itself without the exhaust pipe. Id appreciate for that information since the engine looks very good to power a single or even two seater Ultralight aircraft

Click to expand...

Found the information in the US service manual, page 1-6: 60.5 kg for the non DCT models, 67.3 kg with DCT. Always dry, so you will want to add about 1 kg for the coolant and another 4 kg for the oil.

Way too heavy for what you're looking for?