Rotec R2800 vintage style modern radial engine on a vintage style modern airplane. Airplane is an Aerolab LoCamp which has just been reassembled after long term storage. Located at Kretschman's Sugar Ridge Airport in Verona, WI.
Good Sir I pray for you. The "Rotec" though the engine design has potential to be a good engine, sadly the total lack of quality control has seen more than not fail. I would suggest a ground runout of at least 4-hours at various speeds followed by an inspection tear-down. The company seems to think that Loctite, incorrect fasteners and "Lots" of RTV can hold the engine together. . Frighteningly a great number of the failures have lead to forced landings and wrecks. The Rotec company banks on name recognition/confusion with "Rotax". And good luck getting any helpful communication with them little lone support. They will simply say, "boxed it up and ship it to them (at your expense both ways) and they'll has a go at it... Good luck and god speed to you all.
Keep a close eye on those push rods,,, I haven't had any experience with Rotec's but have seen enough video's on here with Rotec failures that I have opted for a Continental for my Kitfox build
Hey. this video is a couple years old now. We have all heard about the spotty reliability of the Rotec engine. I am curious how well this engine has performed. How many hours do you have and are there any issues with it. Please take the time to comment Thanks, We all would appreciate it. okobojo
My guess the plane been crashed and destroyed by that crappy assed engine....A guy built like 2 WW1 warbirds...That motor destroyed 'em both..Lucky he got deep pockets to rebuild them...Finally settled on a Lycoming and sold the shitty motors as is...
By the time the green light came on the pushrod tubes were already bent.....if they were not already when assembled from the used spare parts at the engine plant.
The rule to a reliable rotec is buy a new one, they’ll ship you a used rebuilt one instead and tell you it’s new and when you get it you’ll have to put another $10k into it to actually make it reliable..
@@g6rcteam81 I'm from Australia and it shouldn't even be allowed from the start. I'm going to approach some members about iRotec and use RU-vid comments as CLEAR evidence that the engines should be banned here. My advice to people who bought one, is to just use the cylinders, heads and crank case and shaft and completely rebuild the rest.
Hey guys - a warning - I see you pouring gas from plastic containers into the tanks. Some friends of mine were doing this exact same thing in Peachtree City, GA, inside the hanger, just like you. They were calibrating the fuel gages on a brand new RV-8, poly gas cans, and static created a spark. The whole airplane was destroyed. Luckily the hangar survived and no-one was hurt. Plastic jugs/gas cans and pouring fuel inside a hangar is an accident waiting to happen...Learn from others' mistakes...don't do this...
Done it for years. Turns out you can ground plastic just the same as metal. Put the spout on the opening. Plus... avgas isn’t as volatile as Mogas which is decanted from plastic jugs all the time.
well done for rescuing this plane. Not sure about the reliability of Rotec. Look at accident reports, plus get an engineer to look at the drawings which will reveal some basic design errors. Does this engine have to be approved in any way in Australia?
I would like to see how many are out there and how many failures. Its easy to get a skewed opinion from social media and I for one would like to see ROTEC do whatever is necessary to regain any loss of reputation and make good any ills of the past.
@@twickersruss Well when the owner of rotec responds in writing that if you complain about your very expensive engine to him to much he'll just drop you. As in you'll get no support from him if you have a failure (or multiple failures as some have) and question the quality of parts he'll basically tell you tuff shit
Check your push rods after your first engine start up to make sure they stay where they are supposed to because I hear valve rattle or the rockers hitting the covers, oh be ready to keep your wallet out because you will be paying out the ass for shipping back and forth to Australia when parts break and they will.
Nope. There’s tons of videos out there showing these things failing. Including one poor pilot who wrecked two airplanes and had several failures and also found problems with “overhauled” engines they sent back until he swapped out for Lycoming. I’m sorry but those numbers just don’t happen for traditional opposed engines especially straight from the factory. Piece of crap.
Bartonovich52 yes you are! Why don’t you go spend years creating a beautiful work of art so we can tell you what a POS it is... or more accurately, what a POS you are.
Shitty design. A radial engine was the absolute pinnacle of early aircraft engineering. It was not something two blokes in a shop with some CNC equipment and a Chinese blueprint of a larger engine could hope to replicate. They also don’t have the resources to fix their problems so they don’t and send problematic engines back “as-is” after a BS tear down or not even.
I want to know how many of the critics of the Rotec commenting here actually have any hands on experience with the engine? How many are experimental aircraft builders? How many are A&Ps or AIs? How many are even pilots? C’mon guys; speak up! You’re willing to pull the rug out from under a person who probably just spent years of his life building a dream; let us all see who forms this self-appointed expert panel.
mellokeith No one is criticising the builders, the plane is beautiful, no question. The engine on the other hand is definitely style over substance. If they plan to hang it up somewhere just for show then fine, it looks great. However, if they plan to fly it then they owe it to any potential pilot to research and make known the abysmal reliability history of that piece of junk engine.
Do you have to be an A&P to read an accident report or an account from a builder who’s airplane got wrecked who received nothing but abuse from the engine mfg? And I am a pilot, builder and an aero engineer, not that that is relevant.
@@johnc6919 What I'm complaining about is you people insulting this builder on a choice that he paid nearly $30K for. How would you like it if you married a woman (or man) and strangers walked up and asked why did you marry that fugly piece of sh*t? I have videos of my Rotec first run and people say that negative sh*t on my site and it pisses me off! I'm betting this guy, who put so much work into this beautiful plane, doesn't appreciate it either.
@@DylanClements98 Because I own one! DO YOU? Don't insult the people who have spent hard earned money building planes by telling them bad things. Just compliment them and stop there!
@@sblack48 And just how many official accident reports have you read on the Rotec R2800??? And the builder that posted videos about his two accidents... Thierry... I know him from the builder site and Facebook. He originally admitted the first accident was his own fault, but later retracted that because it's better to blame someone else (especially if you hold a grudge against that someone)than to look stupid on social media. The engine failed because of water in the fuel... he didn't preflight after it had rained because he had flown before it rained. The second accident, I don't know enough to comment. I know of a third accident, again pilot error. That pilot freely admits it was his fault and he's still flying a Rotec on his plane. But that would be 3 accidents (that I know of) from a manufacturer who's been making these engines for over 10 years; 2 of those 3 accidents were pilot error. ROTAX engines used to have an appalling failure rate, but now they seem to be the hot ticket on light sport aircraft. The difference? Social media and people gullible enough to believe somebody they don't even know.
If i had the money to fly and wanted to use a radial engine i would find a radial engined antique and buy it. There is a beautiful radial engined twin mouldering outside the hangers at the Laconia, NH airport. I do not know the make of this plane or who owns it.
Beautiful looking engine altho not a big fan of Rotax engines. Their 2 strokes were unreliable wen i was flying in the 90 s. I had 3 in flight engine failures. M b this 1 is more reliable?
You should be able to get 2 funerals for the price of a Rotec Radial. Shop around and don't be afraid to haggle. Funeral Homes can be very greedy and sting people when they are at their most vulnerable. Good to sort all this out before your first flight. Check insurance too.
Send it back for a full refund including any out of pocket expenses. If you don’t you risk your life and the loss of that beautiful aircraft. The owner is currently under investigation for fraud. Again.
And how long when they got it in the air, they have to rebuild it coz the engine failed....Better off using a Walmart Lawn mower moter than a Rotec....
@@Bartonovich52 I don't get the lol. In B17 and B29 there are fuel mixture control levers next to the throttle levers, I was just wondering if modern radials have the same thing, or maybe they have computer controlled fuel injection.
I understand rotech the famous name now producing garbage acquaintance I know has a motorcycle with rotech engine it's basically a piece of garbage repair after repair after repair can you just can't bolt another engine into.
Thomas Mahoney You mean Thierry? The pilot from Luxembourg? I only know of two failures...He originally admitted that the first failure/crash was his own fault, but when Rotec charged him for the diagnosis and shipping to and from Australia, he became upset and removed the public admission to make Rotec look bad. There was water in his fuel and he didn’t check it during preflight. Watch the cornfield crash video, the white puffs of smoke coming from the exhaust right before the engine failure... that’s water causing the smoke. The second accident that I know of was a manufacturing defect of a part outsourced to a Chinese manufacturer.
@@mellokeith He disabled two of the engines and they both had multiple broken push-rods and defective everything. He had THREE crash landings due to engine failure. There is a guy here in the states who makes his own engines they are rock solid from what I have seen and cost less.
