Well while we are on the Subaru subject I may as well make a confession
and
 I know that is probably a capital sin and I will probably go to hell for
it
 but I have a 6 cylinder Subaru SVX 3.3 engine sitting on the floor that
is
 going to find its way onto the engine pylon of my coot.

  Ken

 Ken,
    I'm not sure about the eternal damnation but you certainly have some
 splainin to do. I'm of the school of "if it and broke don't fix it". It
 seems to me you have a near perfect situation. Amphib with plenty of
power
 in the North West and some hours under your belt with no "Leonards"
(sorry
 Dave). So could you give us your reasoning for the switch. What are the
 shortcomings with your system, any issues you haven't been able to solve
 etc. Are you planning to use nitrous on the Soob ?

 John

  Well for starters I have enough glider time in coot that should be able
to
take my glider check ride not to mention all the engines that just got
tired
and barely got home with but the main reason is I am into Subaru engines
for a living, went from VW's to Subaru's and in the last 4 years I have
rebuilt well over 400 Subaru engines and some of them pushing over 700 hp,
I
also do Subaru conversions into VW vanagons and I tow a big enclosed
snowmobile trailer with my syncro 4WD Vanagon so I have come to the point
that I trust them and at the prices of rotary parts these days I can
rebuild
at least 5 SVX engines for the cost of one rotary and if it don't work I
will
just bolt the rotary back on.
 Ken

What does one of those SVX things weigh Ken? The pylon should be
redesigned
for the increased weight. You don't want that thing coming down on your
head
in a hard water landing. Send me a sketch of your ideas on the SVX motor
mount.

BTW People there is something you need to know about Ken. He is first and
foremost an experimenter. How many people do you know that would use
two different type engines on the same airplane? :)

Ken, what gave you the most trouble with the rotaries?

I would disassemble the SVX down after 300 hours and magnaflux the rods
and crank and zyglo the pistons. If a valve burns before that then
do it then.

BTW Ken you were right. The cheap goo we put in the Soob engine to seal
the head gasket failed. We had to load the Soob in a truck and tow
the trailer back to Texas. Milo bought the Steel Seal for $90 and I will
ask
Milo if I can send it to you for testing when it comes in from the east
coast. It is unlikely Milo will use it in the Soob but he might just to
get rid of it.

Paul Lamar


Thanks for the info Ken. I live a little to the north west of you and have
done some glider time too. We don't live in the best area for playing that
game even with an amphib. Interesting that you mention Vanagon conversions,
a friend of mine has one and has it worked on in your area, do you know Jim
Miller ?

John