Yamaha RX1 Engines

562 posts in this topic

Posted (edited)

Thanks so much to both of you guys for all the info you have put up here... and for all the WORK you have done to bring this power option to fruition! 

I recently picked up both a Kitfox 5 (subaru powered) and a 2005 Yamaha RX-1.  My plan is to ride the yamaha as a snowmobile this winter to gain some familiarity and confidence in the motor, and also to fly the airplane with the e81 in order to asses it's viability. 

Every post you guys put up, and every example of another successful conversion helps motivate me to make the switch! 

The info that you post on obstacles that you and others encounter. .. and the solutions that are found to overcome them are equally important because we all know that those are a natural part of the process.

Confidence is gained when we see these "teething" issues ironed out. 

And on that note, It would be of great benefit to all if there could be a blog page out there for the Yamaha Aero conversion.  A "one stop" headquarters with links to every outlet of information:  Conversion vendors,  individual's build and flying pages (Steve Henry, marshawk, and others), and threads like this.

Thanks again!

Brett

40447.jpeg

20161006_133329.jpg

Edited by MN Kitfox 2
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Posted

Brett or Teal,we are just working on the motor mount for the RX1 and just wondering how to get the right angle on the engine since it sits tilted. We are thinking  we need to set  the float bowls level but would like to here from one of you guys before we go too far,

 

Thanks Willis

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Posted

I would aim for level on the float bowl mounting surface but if you wanted to lean it either way within 15 degrees to optain a particular engine position or thrust line you wouldnt affect anything. I have ran the engine on the run stand in all kinds of positions to see if it affected fuel flow or overflowage and it didnt miss a lick or drain fuel. On the snow machines I would imagine they are put in more extreme positions than most of us would.

 

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Posted (edited)

There is a RX1 with 2500 miles on craigslist in mass. For $1295 obo.

Edited by Teal
Fix grammar

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Posted (edited)

Brett or Teal,we are just working on the motor mount for the RX1 and just wondering how to get the right angle on the engine since it sits tilted. We are thinking  we need to set  the float bowls level but would like to here from one of you guys before we go too far,

 

Thanks Willis

After takimg a closer look at the snowmobile, l noticed that the carbs are set in there at an angle, tilted back approx 15 or 20 degrees ("back" meaning - if your mouth is the carb intake, tilt your head back 15 or 20 deg).  You can kinda see it in the pic of a turboed snowmo below.

So it might be best to match that angle as a target, but you should have some room to play with (+/- 15 degrees for sure).

And if you get a chance, PLEASE do start a "build" thread here with lots of pictures of the yamaha install!  So far, all that us fixed wing tractor guys have is a few shots of Steve's Highlander.

Looking forward to seeing your progress! 

yamaha-img17.jpg

Edited by MN Kitfox 2
Closer inspection of snowmobile
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Posted

Oh, and Teal, did you buy a kitfox earlier this year to convert to and test the Yamaha?

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Posted

Im not to sure I can do a build thread but will post pictures and try and answer any questions you have ,im sure Teal or Brett will be away more qualified . Im not sure how much my motor mount will help , the fat avid has 10 firewall attach points , what we did so far is run 1 1/2" 4130 pipe around the engine for the main mount and its bolted to two center motor mounts . We making 4 secondary braces to hold the engine in place then do the exhaust and air box etc and then see were we can run the last braces, thats are plan subject to change at the drop of a beer :BC:

We just  got started but heres what we have so far

RX1.JPG

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Posted

Looking good Willis!  What is the rough measurement of your firewall?  It looks like you have a bit more room to work with than my kitfox 5 does.

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Posted

I am using a kitfox 5 cowl so you will have the same amount of room, its a tiny beast of a motor.

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Posted

Oh, and Teal, did you buy a kitfox earlier this year to convert to and test the Yamaha?

yes, I did but soon after a purchased the kitfox a Avid came up for sale that needed an engine. So I decided to do the engine install in the Avid. The kitfox does prrtty good with 80hp 912 thats in it so im considering selling the kitfox now and focusing my efforts on the avid

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Posted

Oh, and Teal, did you buy a kitfox earlier this year to convert to and test the Yamaha?

yes, I did but soon after a purchased the kitfox a Avid came up for sale that needed an engine. So I decided to do the engine install in the Avid. The kitfox does prrtty good with 80hp 912 thats in it so im considering selling the kitfox now and focusing my efforts on the avid

Sounds like a good choice.  And i will be in AZ all of Jan 2017.  Hope to meet up with you sometime.  Will PM you when it gets closer.

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Posted

Steve Henry won the STOL drags competition  with his RX1 highlander this weekend. beating out a carbon cub in the final round.

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Posted

without pics it didn't happen damnit!  :lol:  I heard the news a couple hours ago.  Joey spent a couple hours talking to Steve and he really seems to like this engine!

 

:BC:

 

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Posted

I am really starting to think this may be a great engine for the Amphib project...

:BC:

 

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Posted (edited)

I watched Steve Henry fly quite a bit this weekend at the High Sierra Fly-in. He flew it all the way down from Idaho. He recently regeared to a 3:1 and he lost some static RPM with prince prop he was running so he was down about 15hp. By far the most impressive LSA I've seen. He was spanking Carbon Cubs on takeoff yesterday and he can climb sustained at about a 60 degree angle without doing a zoom climb. Thing pulls REALLY hard. He's flying it all the way to Copperstate from Idaho next weekend.

Edited by C5Engineer

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Posted

Akflyer sold more people on lotus floats (with his videos) than the sales department probably ever did!

Might be the same for Steve Henry with the Yamaha Genesis conversion :)

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Posted

Joey,  do you know if there are any videos of Steve Henry's flying this weekend?  JImChuk

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Posted

I am seriously wondering how long that clutch will hold up.  I could hear the rattle in it when he started to take off in one of the videos on FB.  From my experience, when I heard that rattle it was time to pull it apart and check it out as the front plate or the springs were loose and about to do some damage.  I have a lot of hours on the clutch and have had to pull it down several times.  When you let that rattle go unchecked for too long it will take out the clutch, break towers, snap face plate bolts and have chunks taken out of the clutch material... I tossed my clutch on the last engine swap as I got tired of dealing with it.. and that was on a 582.  Yes I miss it, but I can tell ya straight up that they are not without some worries.

:BC:

 

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Posted

Got a little more done on the RX1 install, got  the cowl fitted on ,had to cut the cowl opening around C drive but im pretty happy I didn't have to do any other mod

Avid Cowl RX1.JPG

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Posted

Looking nice!

Pretty soon it'll be you and Steve Henry out there making us all envious! 

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Posted

 

I am seriously wondering how long that clutch will hold up.  I could hear the rattle in it when he started to take off in one of the videos on FB.  From my experience, when I heard that rattle it was time to pull it apart and check it out as the front plate or the springs were loose and about to do some damage.  I have a lot of hours on the clutch and have had to pull it down several times.  When you let that rattle go unchecked for too long it will take out the clutch, break towers, snap face plate bolts and have chunks taken out of the clutch material... I tossed my clutch on the last engine swap as I got tired of dealing with it.. and that was on a 582.  Yes I miss it, but I can tell ya straight up that they are not without some worries.

:BC:

 

When you say the springs were loose, did they loose some of their elasticity or did the face plate bolting come loose? I heard that the main killer to these clutches is running them up and down at around engagement rpm so they are slipping a light perhaps in a amphip application. I heard if you go past the engage point and don't hangout there a lot heat wont build up and ultimately causing the spring to weaken. I know for a fact Steve started having that noise almost right away after installing the clutch and he called the designer of the clutch noises and he assured Steve that it was nothing to worry about. He questioned Steve on the application and the HP and he said it would be fine at the higher HP because of the high RPM since it will push the weights out even hard into the drum and that the drum is robust enough to handle the extra centrifugal force. But knowledge and experience being king here I am really interested in your specific failure parts and what exactly came loose. At what hour interval did you experience a failure. At what rpm did you run the engine at primarily. Sorry for all the questions I just want to gather as much data as possible a compare to the RX operating conditions and to possibly save Steve Henry from a failure. Thanks

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Posted

First failure was around the 150 or so hour mark... I did use it on floats a lot, but I never dicked around in the engagement RPM area.  I was on it or not.  I have had both the face plate coming loose and rattling around and the spring stretch so engagement was at a much lower RPM.  When the front face plate came loose it snapped 2 of the tiny screws off and they rattled around in the clutch eating up various parts (the ting ting rattle sound he has is what I had going on)  Fixed all that, used red loctite on the screws and it was good to go till the spring got weak.  I still ran it with the weak spring for awhile on wheels and I knew shit was not right as it would sort of engage around 1800 RPM and would be locked up solid and swinging the prop at 2000.  When I changed engines around 400 hrs on the clutch it was toast.  Little face plate screws broke off again, spring broke and ripping up the face of the bell, 1 tower had about 1/2" of the tip of it broke off etc.  I trashed it and went back to the hardy disk.  I loved the clutch.  I really need it for the really cold weather starts etc that I deal with here but I was pissed off at it.  One day soon I will try one again but the first hint of noise coming out of it and I will be tearing it down to see whats going on in there before it destroys itself.  I run the 582 anywhere from 5800 to 6300 continuous. 

I was going to use the clutch on my 800 project, but I didn't think it would last for shit with the increased HP.

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Posted

I think the increased hp is fine as long as you are at a higher rpm to sling the weights out. Thanks for all your info you shared on the clutch.

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