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Airdale

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Posted

Got a chance to visit with a buddy of mine this late after noon. He finished up a airdale with a harley engine.  Taxied it to 60mph but no lift off. He has a little work left to do but those are a very nice airplanes.

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Posted

Yes,  Airdales are nicer than most Avids IMO.  Wonder how many horses that Hardly puts out - I've heard of them up to 180 without NOX.  My flying buddy's son has a dragster bike that is NOX and it is scary!    EDMO

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Posted

There is no way in hell I could have gotten the bird up to 60 without pulling back on the stick.. He has some serious self restraint!  Cool project, can't wait to hear flight reports!!

I thought long and hard about dropping my foot wells down like the airdale on mine.  It is still and option at some point in time.

:BC:

 

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Posted

Yes,  Airdales are nicer than most Avids IMO.  Wonder how many horses that Hardly puts out - I've heard of them up to 180 without NOX.  My flying buddy's son has a dragster bike that is NOX and it is scary!    EDMO

not sure either It is an old Airhog setup I thought they claimed 80 hp

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Posted

I thought long and hard about dropping my foot wells down like the airdale on mine.  It is still and option at some point in time.

:BC:

 

That was my favorite part.

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Posted (edited)

There is no way in hell I could have gotten the bird up to 60 without pulling back on the stick.. He has some serious self restraint!  Cool project, can't wait to hear flight reports!!

I thought long and hard about dropping my foot wells down like the airdale on mine.  It is still and option at some point in time.

:BC:

 

That was my mistake too - I should have dropped the floor and seats instead of raising the wings 6" - Would have been lots easier, but I needed new struts anyway.  My way gives lots better visibility for short pilot.  EDMO

Edited by EDMO

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Posted

Floor boards????? It’s freakin got a Harley Motor!!

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Posted (edited)

Floor boards????? It’s freakin got a Harley Motor!!

Whatever can turn the fan!  ;<)  I put a lot of miles on Hardly engines and never had one quit on me.   I hear that the new ones are a lot smoother than the old shakers.  EDMO

Edited by EDMO

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Posted

Yes,  Airdales are nicer than most Avids IMO.  Wonder how many horses that Hardly puts out - I've heard of them up to 180 without NOX.  My flying buddy's son has a dragster bike that is NOX and it is scary!    EDMO

not sure either It is an old Airhog setup I thought they claimed 80 hp

80 hp seems pretty ambitious for that motor.  What rpm are they turning it to?

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Posted (edited)

Makes the Rotax crowd nervous?  ;<)  Airdale was designed for the Subaru anyway.   EDMO

Edited by EDMO

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Posted

Yes,  Airdales are nicer than most Avids IMO.  Wonder how many horses that Hardly puts out - I've heard of them up to 180 without NOX.  My flying buddy's son has a dragster bike that is NOX and it is scary!    EDMO

not sure either It is an old Airhog setup I thought they claimed 80 hp

80 hp seems pretty ambitious for that motor.  What rpm are they turning it to?

Check here for info http://www.skyray.us/engine.htm

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Posted

Looks good TJ,  I did notice the prop though.  Maybe it was before he set it for pitch, but I noticed that the Warp Drive serial # tag was on the outside of the blade.  They are always on the inside from what I've seen.  I think that would cut down on the thrust a bit if they were backwards???  :unsure: I did see a guy from Hog Air with a Harley engine on a test stand at Sun and Fun in 2003.  Sounded good and it blew the brush around quite a bit.  Never saw anyone actually flying one though.  JImChuk

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Posted

Used to be a youtube of that engine package on the front of a Zenith 601 I believe. As an owner and chief mechanic of my garage full of various Harley Davidson's I'm glad I'm only on two wheels with them. The engine in the pic is a twin cam, if stock 88 cu in.  Hard to believe it would be 80 hp. The twin cam was plagued with some cam tensioner problems that need to be addressed. Last HD you can mount a carburetor on though. Don't want to be negative but its a novelty engine to me. 

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Posted

Someone should bring back the Henderson and Indian 4-bangers (with some modern engineering, of course).  I think for the $$$$ I would have gone with one of the other Soob redrives since Stratus is OOB.  That is what the plane was designed for.   EDMO

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Posted (edited)

Again, an engine designed to loaf along at 1500 rpm putting out 10% of its rated power is going to be pushed to 80% continuous output.  That sounds like a good combination for an airplane.

Also, it's single ignition.  I know for a fact that a HD will not run on one.

 

Don't want to be negative but its a novelty engine to me.

Exactly.

 

Have fun with it.  I'm sure with the shorty drag pipes you'll make a lot of friends.

Edited by Av8r3400

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Posted

I contacted them a couple of years ago. He said Harley had there lawyers getting after him, and it sounded like he had to shut down. My 04 FLHT has all kinds of torque from about 1500 rpm, right up to the rpm limiter, And my 04 has 110,000 miles on it, with only a bad fuel pump in the tank.

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Posted

They were using the name "Hog Air".  Harley-Davidson owns a patent on the term "Hog" in relation to their products.  Not to mention they did not endorse or sanction the use of their products to power aircraft.

For the true experimenter, this would be a fun, NOVELTY, engine.  

To buy this engine, designed fabricate a mount, design and fabricate a cowl and cooling system, trail and error on several propellers (at least), plus the multitude of other things, you could buy and be flying a Rotax twice over.  It all depends what you want to do.

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Posted

I think the engine would do ok there are literally millions running down the interstate every day twisting well over 4000rpm all day long in 120 degree air temp coming off the road. I know I have beat the holy crap out of mine and never had problems,

In aircraft they May be more comparable to a VW with a re-drive Time will tell

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Posted

Looks good TJ,  I did notice the prop though.  Maybe it was before he set it for pitch, but I noticed that the Warp Drive serial # tag was on the outside of the blade.  They are always on the inside from what I've seen.  I think that would cut down on the thrust a bit if they were backwards???  :unsure: I did see a guy from Hog Air with a Harley engine on a test stand at Sun and Fun in 2003.  Sounded good and it blew the brush around quite a bit.  Never saw anyone actually flying one though.  JImChuk

Good spot Jim, you are absolutely right.  That will make a big difference in the thrust if he actually ran it that way.

Hey, just think how cool it will sound taxiing around, and all the chicks it will attract!

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Posted

Ha I said that to him through a text after reading your comments. he said he ordered a two blade and gonna try that.

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Posted

I would think that if he is making 80 HP, and full throttle prop rpm is not over 2500,  he should be able to turn 3 blades.  Of course they should be facing the right way......If he is getting a different prop, does that mean that he was only able to make 60 MPH with his set up the way it was?  JImChuk

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Posted

didn't quite have the power to spin the prop Daryl at warp said the recommended prop for those setups is a 2 blade 70 inch. I not sure if he got to try it again or not.

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