This Nessa II owned by Jim Alexandre of Nanticoke Ontario is powered by a 1.3L Geo/Suzuki. Jim as accumulated 620 trouble free flying hours with the 1.3L. This airframe also tested an '89 Geo 3cyl 1.0L engine for 387 hours with some failures, 3 coils & cracked flywheels. The airframe is a self designed rag & tube, built in '87 with an empty weight of 620 lbs. and gross of 1200. Cruising at 85 mph burns 12L of auto gas, it will also land about 30 mph. Using 2 GM modules and magnetic sensors, the pilot selects the system that fires the wasted spark coils.
On a new design airframe with a '97 model 1.3L, the SDS EM-3 4F engine management unit was installed. Since Jim builds his own drives and machines the sprockets, attention to weight reductions resulted in a power plant within 25 lbs of a 912 Rotax.
The fuel system consists of a garden sprayer as main tank which the wing fuel cells gravity feed into. It is also a gascolator (Canadian rules) with a quick drain to test for water prior to start up and houses a GM submerged pump with its finger strainer/filter attached to pump plunger housing. By removing the filler cap, one may service the one-way valve on the return line to prevent fuel spillage in case of an accident. The Bosch main pump uses a nylon auto finger strainer/filter inside this tank as well. On-off-on fuel valve mounted centre of dash (red handle) shuts off fuel to engine.
The ECU mounted between firewall & dash on rubber mounts to a tray that will defect any liquids i.e.; flying in rain. LED controller & mixture knob will be part of the dash.
A cast iron exhaust manifold was used to test run the engine. Gary Wolf builds excellent systems, I use a 4 into one header feeding a 4" Supertrapp. Gary also built me 4 into 2 - 2 into one that makes a lot more HP. Looking forward to test all with SDS system, because it will be a breeze compared to the past of having to increase the size of the carb and jetting to dial in a new exhaust as before.
The cooling system uses 5/8" ID hose for upper rad & 3/4" ID for lower. A VW rabbit type aluminum rad measuring 23x13x1.5" is used weighing is 4.5 lbs. It has worked out very well in about 700 hours of flying. It is mounted between firewall and engine will have an inlet on upper cowling forward of windshield exhausting out the bottom (need to prove it). No thermostat will be used at first. Plans are to install a thermostat controlling minimum water temp going into engine from the rad. Capacity of coolant is 3.6 L.
For more info contact: jimmota@yahoo.ca