Hello all,

I'm new to this group.  I'm at the beginning of an RV-9A construction (working on rudder now).  As I'm sure everyone does at the beginning, I've been spending a lot of time thinking ahead about hte choices I'll have to make later on.  I'm very interested in the Rotary option, and have tonnes of questions.  A few that come to mind initially:

1) I would probably go with a 4-port Renesis.  Would most of the conversion information that is available for the older RX-7 engines be applicable to the new engines?  Or would I have to solve a bunch of problems from scratch, without being able to draw much on the experience of others who have done older 13B conversions?

2) One of my biggest concerns about auto-conversions is weight.  The rotary enthusiasts claim it has very low weight.  The anti-auto-conversion people point out that much of the extra weight in a conversion comes from all the extra stuff you have to modify or add to make it work properly.  What would the real final installed wieght of a renesis on an RV-9 be, compared with an O-320 installation (i.e. not just engine weight, but total installed weight)?

3) Power - Subaru auto conversions are popular in RVs.  However, people put in Subie engines that are advertised to be 165 HP, but at the prop they develop much less power, and a popular complaint is that these aircraft end-up being slow, and under-powered.  What is the case with a Rotary?  If I put a Renesis on an RV-9A, would this give me as much power as an O-320?  Do I need a CS prop?  My strong preference is to use a FP prop.

4) Money - assuming I buy a remanufactured engine from Mazda or somewhere else (i.e. buy a remanufactured engine and not overhaul an older engine myself), how much money will I really save, after you account for all the accessories and modifications?

Thanks for any advice you folks can offer on these questions!

Phil Kaye   ___________________________________
Phillip Kaye
RV-9A Ser# 91440
C-FUNC(reserved)
www.c-func.com