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I have a VA ..never been ran. The only problem it’s one of the first productiions with the split case.
I don’t think they were rated highly..do you think it would be worth
bothering with ? I don’t even know what type of fuel is best to use
with this engine.Craig[/b]
They will run. Eliminating a crankcase leak is the toughest part.
Larry Driskill would have some suggestions. He described lapping the 2 halves and using a J drill bit and well I gotta admit that is when my eyes glazed over and my hearing went south.Craig, your best bet is to sell that split case VA as a NIB collcetors item. Trust me, you do not want to start out with gas on that engine.
to have him check them out. He said he sealed the cases and ran them and they were ok. I plan to use them in some light 1/2As.
I haven’t gotten them back, yet, but trust his work and think they’ll be useful, if idiosyncratic motors with no spare parts available.
I remember there was a head-treatment you needed to do to the crank to prevent breakage… but I forget the details. You REALLY want to find the info on that before you run it… otherwise it might be junk pretty quick, as I remember.
Of course, you can sell it to me so I have one more for parts!
Greg in Mississippi (Usetabe Minneapolis)
Some place I have a 20 or 30 page manual on how to adust the piston shim and heard compression. You can make a career of setting up this engine. Mine will go to Ebay where I hope to get filthy rich off of this rare engine. 🙂
I’ve got two of ’em, unrun, that I bought from Dan Rutherford when he was importing them. Consecutive serial numbers, too. Maybe I should think of Ebay also.
That’s right. I had forgotten about the hand scribed serial number. I know Gil Morris spent a lot of time with his engine and flew with it. He used silicone or something to seal the case halves. Very light weight.
Greetings all.
Well, this thread is two years old, so I don’t know if it’s worth responding. But someone has to come to the defence of the split case VAs. I got one from George Aldrich some years back and used it in my Jim Clem Okie Bird. It’s about 280 sq. inches but was almost too much motor for the airplane. The VA was dramatically more powerful than a TD. I was getting about 24,000 on the ground with a APC 5.5-2 prop and crankcase pressure. But the really impressive thing was the way the motor picked up revs in the air. The airplane seemed to accelerate all the way to the top of the climb.
Unfortunately, I lost the airplane in the corn at Geneseo a couple of years ago and when it was found over a month later the piston seemed to have tightened up dramatically in the bore, almost as if the crankcase/cylinder casing had shrunk. I could never get that one running properly again, but I have two others that I have since obtained and I’ve run one of them on the ground, obtaining about 22,000 RPM, but that was with the suction venturi. It may need some more running in, it seems to me I ran the original in for over half an hour. I mount mine with a Tatone TD mount and I’ve never had any crankcase leaks with the engine screwed securely to the mount with 2-56 screws. I don’t lap the case halves nor use any kind of sealer. As I mentioned, I used crankcase pressure in the first one with a 4-40 pressure tap in the back of the lower engine case and a Kustom Kraftsmanship check valve in the pressure line. I will likely use a pacifier on the next one.
So, my suggestion to those that have a VA is to put it in an airplane and see how it goes. Given the opinions already expressed in this forum, I think you will be surprised! SimonDan Berry really helped me with my VA at the Nats. 😀 I’m sure he will chime in about working with this engine.
Thanks Dan,
DennyA friend has given me one and I’ve been frustrated by the fact that the prop hub is not splined. Therefore, the starter unscrews the propeller before it gets a chance to fire. I hear Norvel is back in production and on the market, but the rep has not responded to my questions re: whether the prop hubs now available are splined.
Any experience with this? -j
I’ve not had too much problem with the prop-driver letting go. It does happen if it floods.
I start mine on a prime and open the fuel. It doesn’t spend a lot of time hooked to the starter.
Do you have a Mk1 or 2?Hey Dan,
Mine is the first one- split case. According to the aerotools website it was built in 1990 and apparently had a short production run. Is the thrust hub splined to the crank on yours? Supposedly there are now parts available but they won’t tell be if the hub is splined. -j
Mine isn’t splined. Uses a split collett. I can say that I don’t use an allen-wrench to tighten the prop. I grab that screw with pliers. The allen wrench didn’t seem to make it tight.
The split-case will run fine. Sealing the case is an issue.
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