Hangar Debrief
CubCrafers recommends its custom 340 engine made up of mostly ECi parts for its Carbon Cub. Although this engine includes many parts that are only
available through CubCrafers, the basic O-340 "stroker" engine is available from any ECi engine builder.
Picking an Engine
for Your Project
How experimental do you want to be?
By Dave Prizio
You've started building an airplane, so what engine
are you going to use? There are usually a number of
choices, so how do you decide which one is best for
you? A plan of attack to evaluate the pros and cons of
each possible choice seems in order. Here are some
things to consider:
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the designer's recommendation
engine weight and power
service history of maintenance and reliability
the availability of support from manufacturers and
other vendors.
Vol.2 No.3 / March 201 3
Let's look at each factor.
The designer of any airplane (plans-built or kit) starts out
with an engine in mind. That should be the basis of any
decision you make because the weight and power of that
recommended engine are likely to work the best in installation if the original design was based on them. Some other
manufacturers may have engines of similar weight and
performance, as in the case of Superior and ECi making
engines nearly identical to Lycomings. Switching between
these brands is usually pretty painless, but it's a good idea
to pay close attention to the little details such as intake