Ross,
No one is "dumping" on the Soobie. Thom took the original post out of another thread to start some controversy.
RAF factory has said alot of things.... Ron made a good post to this effect.
For the price you can't beat a soob but for total package reliability and endurance and fault-tolerance the numbers on certified aircraft engine performance is clear.
The reason GBA, RAF and others use the soob is price not because they out perform or outlast certifed engines.
Eggenfellner is using only the Subaru 3.0L H6 now. They seem to have a reliable package together, but not cheap. Still less than an IO-540, but not much.
Not cheap is right!
A professionally rebuilt and setup soob is MORE expensive then a used aircraft engine and about the same as a used certified aircraft engine.
Another soob re-builder:
http://ramengines.com/_wsn/page2.html
Little EA-81's are 4-15 GRAND
not counting the redrive!
A great engine but now you are greatly reducing the advantage over an aircraft engine which is mostly price.
I lost a soob because a gear in the redrive was not hardened properly and spewed metal filings into my engine.
I lost a soob because it was a junkyard engine and had bad internals that showed up after about 10 hours.
I lost the heads on another soob because the carb I was given for the conversion had small jets and it went lean in flight even though it did not get to hot testing while tied down on the ground.
Like many things you will hear people talk about there great engine but not about the ones they had to toss in the bin.
The RAF co that "knows a bit" about EJ-22s has had plenty of them die from bearing and crank-shaft failure because of the belt redrives putting pressure on the rear bearing ( and belts do break in flight).
If you go to the AirSoob forum, which I have been a member of for many years you will find plenty of soob problems but the number one problem is cooling. Soobs especially EJ's are extremely intolerant to air in the cooling system, bad thermostats and other cooling issues.
Now, because I have experience with soobs and I don't produce a glossy brochure claiming they are the greatest thing since pre-rotators mean I am 'bashing' soobs? NO. No engine is perfect and that includes soobs and certified aircraft engines.
What is important is that you know what the issues are and make the best decsion for your application and how you will fly.
The Experimental aircraft community is VERY lucky that we have Soobs as a resource. If not our hobby would be a great deal more expensive for those of us that want reliable self maintained engines.
From my experience I would suggest going with fuel injection over carburation, buying a new engine from subaru or one that has already been converted and has at least 40 hours on it. Go with a gear reduction drive rather then a belt drive and design your cooling system to remove air, stay cool during long taxi operations as well as long flight operations in hot humid environments.
If you have the talent or access to cheap talent for rebuilding engines, rebuild that junkyard soob rather then play the used engine lottery. Sure the engine ran fine in the car but what happened to it when it was stored? shipped? Soobs are popular cars with young mail drivers that beat the $&!T out of them. Do you want to fly an engine that had the clutch popped on it 200 times and had the rev-limiter disabled?
If I had the money to buy a professionally rebuilt soob I would also seriously consider non-certified aircraft engines or used aircraft engines in my decision making process.
Good luck, do research, fly safe and know that all engines can fail!
.