The 13B Q200
The Q200
I am reworking a previously flown Quickie Aircraft Company Q200, which is a side-by-side, two-seater. It is a staggered canard biplane design that was originally powered by a Continental O-200 engine of 100hp. The O-200 was also used in the Cessna 150 two-seater, but where the Cessna cruised at around 90 miles per hour, the Q200 cruises at around 165 miles per hour! Fuel consumption in an airplane is usually measured in gallons per hour, but converting to miles per gallon (with a calm wind) that is over 30 miles per gallon, while the old C-150 gets a little over 17. As they both carry about the same quantity of fuel, you can go almost twice as far, twice as fast for the same amount of money. For more info on the Quickie series of airplanes go to the link below.
Quickie Builder's Assn
Why a Mazda engine?
The Continental 0-200 hasn't been made in about 25 years. it is a very lightweight engine, but as with most things common to aircraft, it is extremely overpriced. A rebuilt O-200 costs about $13,000US and that doesn't include a $2500 core charge if you don't have one to exchange.
Any competent mechanic can rebuild the O-200 as it is not really much more than four big lawnmower engines flying in close formation, but if you aren't a certified aircraft mechanic, then the engine is no longer certified, either. That lowers it's value to around $5,000 or less. A basic rebuild kit, including rings, bearings, seals and gaskets for the O-200 can cost almost that much, and if it needs a cylinder or crank (very likely)....well I think you see what's happening here.
The Continental is a typical aircraft engine with dual magnetos for ignition and is air cooled. The most common failures of the O-200 are cracked heads (attached to the cylinder so it's all one piece) and breaking valves, which ruin at least one cylinder and drops the engine to no more than 75% power.
The Mazda 13B is about 50 lbs heavier than the O-200 when converted for aircraft use, but it more than makes up its weight with reliability and power.
The 13B has no valves to break or heads to crack, it is nearly vibrationless in operation, and it can easily produce 180hp or more when adapted for use in an aircraft. The only thing which will stop the Mazda dead is to run it out of oil. It will even continue to run for up to an hour if all coolant is lost (the engine will be toast and it won't restart after it is shut down, but it'll get you there). If the internal seals fail, the affected rotor will spit out the pieces and keep turning. Power will be reduced by 1/2 which will be approximately the same output as the O-200 can manage with everything working perfectly.
All that said, the Mazda can be purchased rebuilt from Dave Atkins or Bruce Turrentine for about $1700 and Dave offers a brand new custom built aviation specific engine for less than $3500. Rebuilding the nearly new engine I purchased for $100 will cost about $700, if I re-use some of the internal seals, and a complete rebuild kit is only about $1100.
For more on the 13B conversion click here
So what difference will the Mazda make?
The Mazda will produce almost exactly twice the power of the O-200. In an airplane, doubling power doen't make it twice as fast, but it does improve rate of climb dramatically. A very basic aircraft design calculator predicted over 2100ft per minute at 140mph. The same calculator estimated top speed at around 235mph at sea level and the service ceiling at around 35,000ft.
None of this, except the initial rate of climb is very applicable, though. The 13B at full power will burn about 17 gallons of fuel per hour, so with a 22.5 gallon fuel tank, full throttle would only allow for 50 minutes of flight leaving legal reserves.
Power decreases, and fuel consumption also decreases as the airplane climbs into thinner air at high altitudes, but the speed of the plane increases due to less drag. At 10,000ft, the Mazda at full throttle can only produce 3/4 of it's sea level power, but the fuel consumption drops to around eight gallons per hour. That means over two hours fuel at almost 250mph. Range can be further extended by flying higher or reducing power with the throttle.
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