BMW Boxer

Tpknueven

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Joined
May 19, 2018
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23
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Huntsville Alabama
Been doing some looking and have seen airplanes, ultralights and trikes powered by BMW 1150-1200 boxer engines. Does anyone know of a gyro that is using one? I am thinking a 1200gs, 115hp, smooth torque, dual spark plugs on the later ones that can be setup in the motronic for true dual ignition. decent fuel burn and fairly lightweight, depending on the reduction drive you use.

I was thinking about it as a powerplant for a single place helicopter or dual gyro. Its all just in my head at this point, but I have found a donor MC with pretty low hours I can get cheap as a test bed.

Do most builders run the VW engines in direct drive? or is ROTAX the king.

Tim
 
dual ignition systems are necessary on large displacement engines so the fuel will burn evenly. not for safety issues,

Gyros suck up HP like nothing else in the air,115 hp for a two place is a little marginal except for being at sea level.
 
I have always liked the idea on using one on a gyro. Have thought a lot about the older gs motors, with carburetion, on a single seater. Just never had the time to r&d.
 
You might find more info on the BMW from the trike folks. I understand it's pretty popular among them, especially in Europe.
 
I have not done the thrust/weight/drag calculations but the HP/weight on the 115hp motor would be better than the Rotax 912 and almost identical to the 914. This is at a lower rpm which is more torque. I would start with a single place. Heck, who am I kidding, I have a million other projects and things going on too. I have a bunch of gyro and helicopter plans but have never started any of them.

Thanks
 
Brent Smith;n1134099 said:
You might find more info on the BMW from the trike folks. I understand it's pretty popular among them, especially in Europe.

Its good enough for trikes but not so good for gyroplanes. Heats up because gyroplanes require more power when flying slow. Apollo used it in some of their gyroplanes and gave up. They use them in trikes still
 
fara;n1134134 said:
Its good enough for trikes but not so good for gyroplanes. Heats up because gyroplanes require more power when flying slow. Apollo used it in some of their gyroplanes and gave up. They use them in trikes still

That's disappointing to hear. I saw on that trike page they offered a full package, low mile bmw motor with redrive, pretty much ready to install for 8k. Those geo metro motors sound interesting too.
 
Wop Genius;n1134145 said:
That's disappointing to hear. I saw on that trike page they offered a full package, low mile bmw motor with redrive, pretty much ready to install for 8k. Those geo metro motors sound interesting too.

You mean Vassilli Tarakanov, the Russian guy in Canada. Yeah good luck dealing with him also. To be fair its been more than a decade since I last talked to him but I dealt with him for 2 years for Suzuki conversions and Klass trikes. He was definitely special.
 
These guys sell a good useable BMW Engine for aircraft use - though it is not cheap: www.takeoff-ul.de. I've seen it on one gyro in the UK. The other option worth looking at is the Sauer range of VW engines but suspect they might only work well for single seaters.
 
I have a complete 1150 BMW complete with stock fuel injection also two cnc flat 6061 aluminum plates that match the engine to rotax C or E box. would take 3k for all. thanks Carey
 
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