In a message dated 4/21/2004 2:32:10 PM Pacific Daylight Time, da...@alltel.net writes:
> Do you not consider the Great Plains 2180 to be a successful conversion? ---------------------------------------------------------- I think the engines from Great Plains are typical of what is available. I------------------------------------------------------------- If not, why not? ------------------------------------------------------------- There isn't a concise answer for that. And without meaning to sound like a put-down, there's a strong possibility you lack the background to appreciate the complete answer. You have to finish to win. Winning engines are not only powerful they are superbly reliable. Their reliability comes from a myriad of details not found in the typical flying Volkswagen even though those detail items have been found in winning VW engines for more than forty years (and may be found in all modern engines as a matter of course). Retrofitting those details to a VW engine calls for a good deal of skilled handi-work, well beyond the ken of the typical VW mechanic. In fact, most of those details are UNKNOWN to the typical VW mechanic. The truth is, when it comes to engines, especially VW's converted for flight, the typical homebuilder is technologically naive, their knowledge firmly based on a foundation of dune buggies and Conventional Wisdom. Valid information is available but like the man said, after leading the horse to water the rest of the job is up to the horse. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > There sure are a lot of them flying. Insurance companies seem > to like them. > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Insurance companies seemed to like the SS Titanic too, along with her three sister ships :-) Simply because insurance companies seem to like a particular engine is no assurance it is the best powerplant. Indeed, if you ask Steve if he could make his engines better I'm sure he would say 'yes.' I'm equally sure he would then explain that most homebuilders shop by price rather than quality and that his first obligation is to remain in business. Insurance companies are a form of professional gambling. They only bet when the odds are in their favor. In the long term they can't help but win, but in the short term, without a sufficient history on which to calculate the odds, they simply refuse to play or insist on such a high premium as to make coverage impractical. -R.S.Hoover
