Hi everyone!

This is my first message here.  My name is Dustin, I live in the Rockford area in Illinois.  I'm going to be starting a Bearhawk in the next couple of months and am strongly considering a rotary conversion for it...it'll be a few years before I'm at the "need an engine" point, but I want to know what I want to do before I get there, hence research now.  The three sentence background on the Bearhawk: It's a 4-place utility/STOL aircraft that's pretty much my dream plane.  Typical engine installs are O-360s and O-540, max HP set at 260HP due to the weight of a 300 HP Lycoming.  I'd be comfortable running about 300HP on it, with a max complete engine weight of 400 pounds.

I'm a metallurgical engineer at an aerospace company here in town.  This, along with family, keep me very busy.  As such, I'm interested in as close to a "turnkey" option that I can get (without forking over $+60k for something like a Mistral).  I have extensive experience working on cars and motorcycles (and several friends who have a lot more), none working on a rotary though.  I also have welding experience and will be buying a TIG welder as part of this project.

With all that in mind, how I want this to work out is to buy the big pieces and bolt them together and work out things like intake, exhaust, etc.  I'm an engineer, I do like figuring out how to do stuff and engineering solutions to problems...but I worry about never finishing, hence wanting people who know what they are doing to make the big parts.

On with the questions...

#1a) I'd like to have an engine builder build me a "core engine", minus EFI, intake, exhaust, etc.  Any recommended builders out there?
#1b) I emailed the folks at www.rotaryengine.com.  I laid out my requirements and asked "what do you think I should do?"  They aren't an aviation engine builder, so it'll be interesting to see what they come back with.  In particular, they have all-aluminum engines (they bill themselves as the "home of the 3 rotor all-aluminum engine").  Any thoughts on them as a company or on the all-aluminum concept?
#2) I was planning on using Tracy's ECI3/EMS3/RD-1C reduction drive.  I see that Tracy is active here, which is awesome.  (Tracy, you seem like a nice guy, so no offense intended on the next statement here): Are there any other viable options for a rotary reduction or ECI/EMS system out there?
#3) Are there any recommended modifications to the engine to make it more reliable?  There are a ton of things recommended by www.rotarengine.com (who sells the stuff, so take it with a pound of salt).  These things include ceramic coatings of rotors to prevent detonation, various porting mods, oil-flow enhancement, cooling flow enhancement, installation of more dowel pins, etc.

I had (somewhat arbitrarily) set the cost I was willing to spend at $15k, about the cost of a decent used Lycoming O-540.  If the cost of this can stay below that, awesome.  I'd rather spend a bit more and get something "done right" than skimp and then have an engine or redrive blow up on me.

Tracy, I sent you an email with most of the above laid out.  Feel free to ignore it, reply here if you wish.

Thanks in advance for any replies!

Dustin