I've already built a Betterhalf VW for my legal eagle, but now I'm doing a cut case Casler conversion but with dual mikunis. The crankshaft assembly is in the mail from Scott, and the case has already been cut and welded by him. I'm having a local machinist who has experience with VW aircraft conversions bore my cylinders and heads out larger, as well as drill and tap for dual-plugs. I have a magneto on the way and already have the parts I need to run a distributor on the top. The aircraft's original weight was in the UL category, and by cutting down the crankcase/ going with a lighter lithium-ion or similar battery I hope to be able to keep it that way. I've also lightened a lot of the other assemblies on my plane and saved a few pounds here and there.
It has a Milholland prophub and a prop is being made by Frank. Hopefully it will arrive by the middle of October when we will be doing our engine build. Sounds like it should be.
Just wondering:
What size carbs are working? IS it even remotely possible to use 26mm carbs on a 45?
(I have seen the sizing chart, just want confirmation that it's working for people and I already have 26's.)
What needles/ jets are working?
What are some good practices when putting this engine together?
(order of assembly, common mistakes, things to look for?)
Is EGT a must?
Last time we built our engine once we got the parts it took us a full weekend to achieve a running engine. Based on this, we're scheduled to do an engine build on October 16th. We'll be doing a timelapse video of the process and should be recording first start as well.
Although we have successfully built and run a 1/2 VW on a flying aircraft before, we really want to make sure we're crossing our t's and dotting our i's on this build. Also, I'd be very willing to thoroughly record/ gather any testing data anyone is interested in.
I hope I'm not asking too many questions that haven't already been answered, it's just a bit tricky trying to dig through forums sometimes.
