An aero engine from half a VW engine

Dennis Gorton is resourceful. He needed an engine for his home built ultra-light aircraft. He made one by sawing a VW engine in half!

[@sabercruiser.7053]

IM VERY VERY THANKFUL.

[@nobodyyouknow222]

The Yanks thank You. A good explanation of a simple 1/2 vw.

[@michaelnelson9140]

Why do they put the carburetor on the bottom? Every vw in an airplane I have seen is this way. I don’t understand?

[@myotherusername9224]

Carb below the engine so gas leaks don't fall on a hot engine

[@Biggerbadwolf]

One Question, how well does the crankshaft cope with the additional longitudinal thrust imposed by the propeller?

[@OldFliersGroup]

Biggerbadwolf I contacted the author who replied: The extra trust from the prop doesn’t seem to worry it. However, when built, the crankshaft end play is set to 5 thou. Pretty hard to organise. I arranged a gauge with a long extension shaft and got it to (as near as dammit is to swearing) to about 6 thou. I wasn’t game to go any lower. But by the time I sold them, end play had moved out to about 10 thou on the first and about 8 thou on the second. Mind u, it is pretty hard to measure. I can’t remember any cries from our Yankee friends about problems. I sold all my plans along with the aeroplane so i’m relying on an ancient memory. When all said done, when you take away the back bearing and half the centre one, it is stretching the bonds a bit. The end play is set by adding and subtracting the standard crankshaft shims. It was the longest bit of the whole process.

[@bestreply5374]

HE NEVER ANSWERS THE QUESTION WHY TO CUT THE BUGGER IN HALF !!!!

[@OldFliersGroup]

I guess he was limited by weight and the reduced power output was enough.

[@bestreply5374]

Yeah, I guess we have to guess. Maybe the RPMs are greater, or maybe it's because all he had was a VW engine and he couldn't afford a Rotax engine, or maybe ... oh well, I guess we'll never know.

[@grahamtodd2335]

He answered that question right at the start 1.18 into the video you guys really need to start taking notice. He expands on the answer a bit later on.

[@007380]

Leanard Milholland is the one that came up with the mod several years ago. He lives close to me and I have been to his shop and I ask him why he originally cut the engine in half. He said it was strictly to reduce weight. The full engine would put his Legal Eagle Ultra light over the maximum weight so this is what he did. Leanard sells a video on how to do this. www.betterhalfvw.com

[@electoplater]

to save weight that simple