Zenoah G50

[WHY]

Any one out there have any experience with the Zenoah G50 engine or no the track record on this engine

Tony

[b.charlton]

I had a zenoah G50 in my quickie ultralight, unfortunately it had a cold siezure one day on takeoff and that was the end of the aircraft and my association with the G50. I believe its about 45Hp at 6500rpm, a lot of single seat microights use them, they are cheaper than rotaxes and just as good.

[C. Beaty]

A guy in Florida flew a Zenoah G-50 on a gyro for a while; Albert Eltink, originally from one of the Dutch Caribbean islands.

It was not what one would call a stellar performer but it did fly.

I don’t recall whether it had Bensen or Rotordyne blades but after Albert borrowed a set of very early DWs, performance took a giant leap forward. I think the DWs were a set of Ernie’s handmade prototypes. It’s been that long ago.

[Cobra Doc]

I've seen a lot of Zenoah engines in r/c airplanes and lawn trimmers. Usually the G20. Some of the 1/4 and 1/3 scale birds use the G50. From what I've seen, I'd fly one from the ground too. Not sure I would want to sit behind one. I could just be prejudiced knowing it as an r/c or weed-whacker engine.

[Al_Hammer]

BJ Schramm flew the "compound" version of the Helicycle equipped with a Rotax 618 main engine and two pusher Zenoah G50 engines enclosed in nacelles on a stub wing. They had props that were not matched to the engine properly at the time.
BJ could not get any thrust until he climbed to altitude and entered a dive. Then the props picked up speed and the engine got over the hump and started making full power. He could then accelerate to top speed of around 120 mph. The cockpit was loaded with 3 sets of throttles and gauges.

[C. Beaty]

The cockpit was loaded with 3 sets of throttles and gauges.
And to get everything lit, 3 recoil starter ropes?

A G-50 measures 18” cylinder head to cylinder head. BJ’s pods don’t look that big.

[Al_Hammer]

Chuck, all engines were electric start as I recall.
As for the engine size, good catch. it does look like they were smaller Zenoah's, but the spec in the PRA magazine article (Oct '95) calls for G50's and I just assumed. The first prototype used only one pusher engine, while this pic shows two engines and they may well have been smaller Zenoah's.

[C. Beaty]

Al, I remember seeing the single Zenoah G-50 mounted on BJ’s helicopter at the last PRA flyin in Ohio. Near Dayton but I can’t remember the location or year; Middletown?

That’s a 12” drafting scale on top of the G-50 below.