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1. 04:10 AM - Re: EFI on a 3300? (andysilvester)
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| Subject: | Re: EFI on a 3300? |
Hi Lynn,
The only horn you're tooting is the one to make the engine better! You shouldn't
feel at all sensitive about criticising some aspects of the engine
- there's enough evidence to prove you were (and are) right. And to 'only'
criticise without action is a bit meaningless; you have engineered real improvements
which we all learn from.
Knowing most of the guys at Jabiru (especially those involved in the early days
when these designs were made) I still think they would defend the engine as 'functional
and affordable'. Of course they know the addition of direct injection
would improve efficiency and maybe power, but they have always tried to keep
the engine's price at a point where it will sell in numbers, and particularly
to those who want a 'cheaper than Rotax'
alternative and something more advanced than VW and other auto conversions.
In that regard they've done well, I think. The number of design-related actual
failures is relatively low, and certainly manageable - they still sell engines.
However, in almost 20 years of engine production there comes a time when technology
advances 'past' the basic product and that's where I think we are now.
Surely it can't be long before the humble carburettor is consigned to only to
lawn tractors and the cheapest of motorcycles! I'm sure the problem for Jabiru
is how to incorporate improvements like injection and variable ignition without
putting the price up to un-competitive levels, in a production environment
where (nowadays) I doubt they are selling more than 20-30 engines a month (the
peak was about 80, I think).
No, in my view the only realistic way forward is what we see in other engine types
like VW - a basically OK engine where after-market improvements make it better
- at a cost. I'm saying all this in an attempt to understand Jabiru's business
and commercial focus; I still think they've been lucky to carry some pretty-poor
design decisions through the years, and owners / operators have borne
the cost. The 'luck' has been largely because the engine has sold mostly into
the Experimental aircraft market where the diversity of installation quality
and owner knowledge / skill has given Jabiru the room to blame others for some
of these design issues. Nowadays more engines are entering the 'factory-built'
(SLSA) community where maintenance and operation falls more into the 'certificated
aircraft'
environment and methods can't so easily be questioned, this wiggle-room is disappearing
fast. Now, if Jabiru can get to the bottom of the oil pressure-flow issues
and also the poor mixture distribution (mainly in 6-cylinders), there will
be less for us to moan about!
Cheers, Andy
Read this topic online here:
http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=323146#323146
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