New Italian Engine For Ultralight Aircraft! 2-Stroke - 2Cyl KOLB In Testing

We're here at Hodges Field today, talking with Kolb and Charles. I walked by the airplane earlier and saw an engine I have never seen before, so I want to stop and talk to you about it for a minute. What exactly is this on top of your airplane? Okay, this is a Skyworks Zeus 300 engine. Okay. Skyworks Zeus. Forty-four horsepower. Forty-four horsepower. Yeah. So vertically opposed, as you can see. It's a real smooth running little engine as far as we, we're really liking it so far. Um... About how much does it weigh? About 65 pounds, somewhere around 56, 56. I've been telling people wrong. Okay, about 56 pounds. I can't hear you, he's with the mic. It's a 56 without the prop. But it's all up 56 pounds. Okay, and where does this hail from? Where does it come from? Italy. Italy. The Italians have got the market on these tiny engines. They do. It started off in the paramotor industry and working its way up to us. Is this one of the first airframe winged aircraft installations? As far as I know. Okay. Yeah it's a really unique design so it's a twin horizontally opposed but vertically mounted. Did you choose to mount it vertically or is that how the factory suggested? That's how it has to be. How it has to be? Yeah it doesn't have a water pump. Thermodynamic circulation so it pretty much has got to be mounted like that is the problem right now. I don't know how it works on tractors. Works good on pushers. Okay now is this fuel injected or carbureted? Carbureted. And is it a familiar carburetor? Yeah. Which model is that? Yeah, a Macooney. Alright, so far, how many hours have you put on it? How many hours do you think you've got on it? Five to six. Okay, and what other engines are you normally running on this and how would you compare it? Well, we're running a Visoradi Cosmo, which is a 36 horsepower. This has definitely got more power. I like the Cosmo also. It's smoother. It's smoother also, yeah. It's quiet compared to the 447s we used to run. This is quieter and a smoother engine. Okay. Is this a pull start or electric? It's a both. You can get both. We've got it set up for electric at the moment. All right. And where do you, what type of battery does it take? Just like a typical one for you? Typical 12-volt battery. We're using a light lithium ion battery. Okay. Does it have any type of charging system to it to charge the battery back? It does not. Right now we've probably got 50 starts on it, still got 13 volts in it. It doesn't take a lot. All right, going on to the other side, just to ask a few more questions about this thermosiphoning type. So there's no thermostat in it. Before you go fly, obviously you want it to warm up. About what temperature do you recommend, or does it recommend? Over 100 degrees to get it before you take off. Okay, all right. And the gearbox on this, what kind of ratio gear reduction is it? Four to one. Four to one. So you're going to see about how many RPMs? Probably cruise, take it off at about 9,000 RPM, 9,500, and cruise at about 775 or 8, you know. It's a high RPM engine. Yeah, makes sense. I see it's got two expansion chambers because you've got obviously two different cylinders and then into one exhaust. You said it's fairly quiet. Yeah. For a two-stroke. Yep, it is really quiet compared to the Rotax we're all used to. Hey, there's a lot more of this episode to go. More original aviation content. But I have to introduce you to our partners. Dynon Avionics at Dynon.com. Offering everything from state-of-the-art glass cockpit options to advanced control modules that power and control your entire aircraft. Gradia Aero Group at gradia.aero, proudly representing these best-in-class brands for experimental general aviation. Sherwings, BD Aviation, and MW Fly. Stewart Systems, manufacturer of non-hazardous waterborne products for covering and painting aircraft. Offering in-depth workshops teaching you how to DIY fabric and paint. Find them online at stewartsystems.aero. Wix Aircraft Supply, providing all the things for you to build, restore, and maintain your aircraft. Find them online at wixaircraft.com and on YouTube for all your aviation supplies. And starting right now, use code EAC10 during checkout to get 10% off. Hangar Yard, the experimental and GA aircraft marketplace. We're brand new. Every listing helps the next pilot and builder find what they need. Home-built and certified listings. Find them online at hangaryard.com. Visit us online at experimentalaercraftchannel.com for all things DIY aviation. And consider supporting us on our Patreon page to help us bring you more original aviation content. So you put a few hours on it, what does it burn so far, gallons per hour? Gallons per hour, about two, two and a half gallons per hour in burn rate. What do you think? Somewhere in that neighborhood an OEM test did that exactly. So it's sipping fuel or somewhere around two. Yeah, it's quite economical for fuel. It seems to be around two. For a two-stroke anyway. I don't think... I'm aware of many two-strokes give you like a TBO, but are they giving you any suggestion of a time to overhaul? I think around 300. Okay, so they're sticking with like a Rotax suggestion type of situation. So this is coming from Italy. Are you guys Thank you guys. going to become a repair center for them? Does it have to go back to them for repair? That, I'm not real sure yet. Like I said, kind of the testing phase. We wasn't sure we even was gonna be able to use this engine up until, you know, we've had five hours on it and we really like it. We're learning. All right, Charles, so let's bring everybody up to speed on what's been going on in Kentucky, which is where you're based, building the Colbs. Yeah. Well, we're building Fireflies mostly, some Mark 3s. We're changing a few things, like the engines, Of course, we just talked about. We've got a new canopy, flip-up canopy, instead of the other canopy. We're staying busy. Okay and are you doing a lot of like ready to fly since they're ultralight you can build them to completion or are you doing more kits or like a 50-50? About 50-50 yeah some people don't want to build but there are still a lot of people like to build. And what does your kit consist of like when they order one and it arrives like what's in the box how does it arrive as a kit? Depends on if we ship it freight or if we deliver it if we ship it freight it comes in a It comes in a wooden crate, of course, and if it's a basic kit, all the tubing, the ribs are built, but mostly tubing, and you've got to do a lot of stuff. If it's a quick build, the wings are built, it comes almost as a complete airframe taken apart. And then you've got a cover, put your engine instruments on, ready to go in that case. Okay, and you guys using a typical covering system or is it like a sleeve and sewn up? It's a typical, it's a polyfiber, it's what I use, like a Sigonite or a Super Flight system. What ounce do you use on an ultralight? I believe it's the 102, is it the ultralight fabric? I think it's 102, I'm not sure of the ounces, to tell you the truth. So this one here and the Mark 3s are the two models that you're really pushing still? Yeah this is the Firefly and we're pushing the Mark 3 and we still build the Firestar which is a two-seat tandem. Okay and out of all of them right now what is the most popular still the Ultralights? Yeah okay everybody likes the Ultralight. Do you guys ever get any visitors in Kentucky? And do you do like a scheduled tour? Yeah. Somebody calls us and drops by the next day. They don't really just call us. I like it for people. If they want to call us and come in the next day, that's fine. But yeah, that's me. Okay. If somebody wanted to build one at home and has maybe never built one before, about how long would it take if they were to dedicate, you know, maybe part-time throughout the week and the weekends? I call a basic kit about a 400-hour project and a quick build half that. Okay. See definitely you can get something together in a year's time. Oh yes if they want to dedicate part-time work. What? A year's time or a part-time work. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. And uh the the full kit versus the quick build versus you building it what are the different price points? The basic kit for the Firefly is $13,500. The quick build is $17,500 and a basic full build with the with the Camellia, not the Camellia, but the Cosmo engine, about 33. Quick shout out to our patrons over on Patreon and our co-pilot status, Zach Newsome, Mike Babcock, Lynn Gardner, Gary Martin, Michael Smith, and Steph Sabo. Thanks for watching this episode of the Experimental Aircraft Association. 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