Un d e r t h e C o w l
Red anodizing helps identify proprietary AeroVee parts, which also include the prop hub. Te Sensenich prop has proven efcient
and popular and is ofered through Sonex.
What's New at AeroVee
Reviewing the latest
VW conversions
By Tim Kern
It's been a few years (Experimenter, February 2010, to be
exact) since EAA reviewed what are commonly referred to
as VW conversion engines. One of the most prolific of the
breed, the AeroVee, comes from the "House of Monnett,"
otherwise known as the place where designs such as the
Sonex, Onex, Waiex, Xenos, the SubSonex jet, and E-Flight
electric project all originated—Sonex Aircraft LLC and its
AeroVee Conversions product line in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
These designs, as well as the VW conversion that powers
them, are all the work of John Monnett, EAA Homebuilder
Hall of Famer, and son Jeremy, who is CEO of the companies today. Jeremy took us through the most recent
developments in the venerable VW.
Jeremy said, "The biggest change we have put together
since then is a new crankshaft/prop hub that comes
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Vol.2 N o.7 / July 2013
preassembled, including the nose bearings. We have
specifically addressed an inaccurately spread reputation
that VWs are somehow, by design, more prone to crank
failures. These have occurred in very rare cases, but in
our experience are mainly caused by improper assembly
techniques. With the 2.1 AeroVee Design and having this
preassembled option, we have put this rumor to bed for
good. Our customers have repeatedly shown they don't
mind paying a little extra for having a critical assembly
done for them by the factory."
The Sonex factory has done a number of removals on the
shrink-fit propeller hub when customers requested help in
their rebuilds. Here's how that is done: the way to remove
the hub is "cold," being careful to properly support the
crankshaft. Measure the hub and confirm the bore to spec.
Before you reuse the hub, be sure the diameters (relative