Corvair powered Wagabond airplane

Dave "The Bear" Vargesko's Corvair powered Wagabond N707SV is shown in flight. He built both engine and airframe from plans. Dave works in William Wynne's shop, aka FlyCorvair.com.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• FlyCorvair
• William
• Wynne
• Wagabond
• homebuilt
• airplane
• aircraft
• The Bear
• N707SV
• Corvair
• Wag Aero
• plansbuilt
• Vargesko

[h2otek]

Best sounding engine this side of a Merlin!

[sbd45acp]

@tboltjohn DITTO!

[peter455sd]

-Hi,i had a repair shop in Brazil years ago and i was very fond of rebuilding VW air engines and american V8's,i had the opportunity of rebuilding a few Corvair engines with ultra-high mileage and years of abuse,and i got really surprised of how little wear those engines had,it's a real tough engine,built to last forever.

-Can't go wrong with forged crank and rods,perfect for airplane application.

-I never seen a crankshaft with excessive wear or a cracked head,amazing.

[sblack48]

@hodgejr

You are confused with the VWs. They have magnesium cases which crack and the heads can only dissipate the heat of about 45hp. The Corvairs have had crankshaft issues on the higher power conversions, but those are being dealt with by nitriding the cranks and installing a 5th bearing. The corvairs cool very well and have an oil cooler as well as large fin area.

[TheRooster602]

@hodgejr , can you point us to any links that describe the cooling and case problems? I can't find anything like that. Look on mylist.net/archives/corvaircra­ft or flycorvair, those are the people who fly the Corvair and they don't mention those issues.

[tboltjohn]

The best growl a Wag ever had.

[hodgejr]

Those corvair powered homebuilts sound so sweet, way better than the 3300 Jabiru and even larger factory engines. I've read they are prone to cooling issues and cracking cases, though (yes I know, I've READ it, but who knows...)

[whizbang47]

Is it the "jet color" dope or is this ship much fster than a stock Vagabond?