Builders;
I have a new, 3,000cc Corvair in my shop. It has 2 hours of break in time on it only, done on my test stand. It is built directly under my supervision from a complete parts kit from myself and SPA. The engine is set up for a group 2800 heavy duty oil system. They are not in the picture, but the engine comes with an E/P-X distributor and a front alternator system.
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The engine belongs to a very close friend, but I will back it as I would any engine built in my shop. I am going to do further break in runs on it this weekend, and write a full set of test logs for it. If the buyer chooses, they can come for a free day in the shop with me and run their engine, and get a day of familiarization trainning. I can crate and ship this if the buyer isn’t picking it up in person, but the new owner needs to cover the costs.
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This is an excellent running start at the 2019 building and flying season. The typical cost for this engine at this stage, with a day of running and trying in my shop is close to $14K . This is a one time deal, and it will be sold for $11,500 this week. To be the new owner, it just needs to be paid for, I’m willing to store it until spring if the new owner can’t pick it up right away.
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Above, the engine in my hangar. It is built around a forged 8409 crank, billet rods, SPA gen II 5th bearing, and all our components. It has all the latest detail upgrades and would be a fine Powerplant for any Corvair powered homebuilt.
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Call or text me, 904-806-8143 or email WilliamTCA@flycorvair.com if you need more information or would like to be the new owner.
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William
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PS, Anyone who thinks this motor is too expensive and somehow proves I don’t care about rank and file builders, please read the comment section and reply there.
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Wow Mr William. I thought you started out to build an aeroplane engine that us not so rich builders/pilots could afford. I have been in love with Flying and Building for a long time but now I think this love affair is too much for me in what it cost today. I am sure the engine is worth it in today’s market. Can a reliable engine be built for under the cost of the airframe? I think we have lost sight of the dream of a reliable engine that does not constitute an almost all different components from the original engine. I guess the request for more and more power has ended that dream. I just want to build and fly to enjoy God’s creations.
Dennis,
The engine pictured is close to a top end product, it has all the labor in it, and I’m offering free training with it, oh and lets not forget, it isn’t mine. What is affordable to you? A 2,700 Corvair With a Moldex crank and a Gen I 5th bearing, is a completely airworthy engine, I teach people how to build them for free at Colleges, and I run them for free. If you put your labor in it, it is about half of what this is selling for? Is that not low enough cost? I still serve traditional builders, just because we can also make expensive motors doesn’t mean I have forgotten this. Have you been to a Corvair College? Do I treat people with 3.3L Billet EIB kits different than people taking apart a basic core? Of course not.
If you look at a typical 3,000cc Corvair build like the one pictured. If you look at all the parts I make in the motor, (Keep in mind SPA does cranks, Cylinder kits, heads, and other components) the total parts I sold in the motor coast about $3,000. Out of this I fairly compensate SPA for distributing them, and because they are made in America my markup is less than 20%. Out of this $600 per engine whopping gross profit, I give $2,500 for a booth at Oshkosh and hold 3-4 free colleges a year, drive about 20K miles, spend 500 hours a year writing, on, and lets not forget in 2016 I got to spend my entire life savings legally defending myself against a BS lawsuit from a guy who didn’t buy anything, who I told in Email his plane was unairworthy 11 times, including the day before his 45 second flight.
This is year is my 30th year in business, I am 56 years old. 20 years ago, I drove a 13 year old 1986 Chevy truck. and made about $30k supporting 2 people. Now let’s see just how rich I got selling ‘overpriced’ things: Today I drive a 1986 Chevy truck, but its 33 years old; I made less money in 2018 than in 1998. I will make my last mortgage payment on my house when I am 76 years old.
What is your proposed solution for me making the engine affordable to your standards? If you are willing to say publicly I have ‘lost sight of the dream’ then you must have a solution in mind:
Should I work more than 3,000 hours a year? Should I have the parts made in China? Should stop holding Colleges or going to Oshkosh? If I do these things, Will you build a motor then?
I chose this work, and I never planned on getting wealthy, so that worked out nice, but if you want to have a villain in your story of how unaffordable aviation is, you sure as hell don’t get to use me as the Villain of that story.
William
I spent $25K just to rebuild a continental 25 years ago. YES it’s worth it!!! I’m SO tempted to run down from Amelia Island and throw it in the back of my truck.
No, no, no! Mr. William DID start out to build an engine that the not so rich could afford, but not at the expense of all other things. I defy you to find an airworthy engine with 2 hours on it, for this price point that you seem to be so dissatisfied with. For 30 years this man has made a living in a very narrow piece of general aviation, supporting this engine. In that time he did not rest and say “good enough”. He continued to make improvements. He continued to make refinements. All at little to no cost to the customer. He gives his time and knowledge away freely. He travels all over this country to support his customers. He even makes house calls! Engineering parts cost money. Research and development cost money. Production cost money. Yet he still takes a knife into a telephone both to negotiate the price of each finished product. This doesn’t benefit him, it benefits us. Margins are measured in percent, so the more a piece cost, the more he stands to make. So why would he negotiate so fiercely? It is on your behalf, sir. Your local lawn mower shop has a higher shop rate than your local aviation mechanic and which one has more liability? Tell me how this makes sense? A Zenith 750 kit is listed at 17.5k, the 650 is 14.3k. So yes, this reliable engine can be built for you for less than the cost of the airframe. There are companies and individuals that can be accused of unfairly marking up products and services, this company is not one. This individual is not one. William is a grown ass man who can defend himself and doesn’t need any of this from me. His body of work stands on its own. I just get sick of him getting needlessly beat on.
Wow, are you for real Dennis? $11.5k is too much for a built, test-run, made in America, 120hp reliable powerplant that the seller will teach you how to operate and maintain? How much do you think that should cost? Why do you think Rotax, UL, and Jabiru charge over $20k for this size power plant? Do they offer free seminars several times a year on their engines?
My first thought when I saw this listing was that it was a screaming deal for the right builder. It’s very disappointing to see this negativity as the first post in the comments.
Would you care to hazard a guess at what it typically costs just to get an aircraft engine overhauled that you already own? Just one example, and probably the nearest example to this engine in terms of displacement and HP is the Lycoming 0-235-L2C. Typically you are looking at 20,000 plus. To buy one that has been rebuilt is around 40 to 50,000. That is pretty much the same engine that has been built for about 40 years with no significant changes. Now take this engine. It has probably only the block and head castings from the core engine and maybe the oil pump housing left from where the engine started. All else is either replacement GM parts or parts designed by William himself that suit this application better than the original parts did.
Gentlemen;
Don’t get sucked in by the trolls like the one who posted the first comment. The ‘keyboard commandos’ love to stir this sort of nonsense up from the anonymity of their darkened rooms.
If he’s not a troll, he’s simply un-informed and naive’. Let him run the ‘other’ CHEAPER auto conversions and let him experience the part failures, engineering stupidity, and other problems associated with them, and HOPEFULLY at that point he hasn’t permanently busted his ass. But most of all, don’t let asinine comments like his, William, deter you from what you do and have been doing. If aviation had more dedication and passion from more like you, it wouldn’t be on the skids as it seems to be. Keep the faith and keep up the good work!
I think it sounds like a really good deal. William has always fostered the hands on approach to building this engine. Anybody not willing to invest their own time, effort, and money creating a flight worthy engine, has no rational basis to expect any savings?
William if you gave it away for free people like Dennis would still find something to bitch about. You keep up the good work you do, there are many more people behind you than you can imagine.
David, I appreciate it, but over the years, we have focused on making better engines and making them easier to build. They have gone up in price, but I want people to know the money is the product not in my pocket. Aviation is more expensive, I’m just not the villain in the story.
It all about value and it takes a pretty dim person not to see the value in what you purvey. And no one that recognizes that value thinks you are a villain in any sense of the word. If you were some big publicly owned corporation (ATT) it would cost 10 times as much and would not have 1% of the value you offer and you would care less who lived or died. But thank god that is not you. Some people just don’t get it.
Will this run on 90 Mogas?
We have two models of engines, a 8.25 and 9.25 compression. If you know that you are going to use 90 octane fuel consistently , pick an 8.25 compression motor. This particular motor is 9.25 and is better suited to slightly higher octane. It can be detuned slightly to run on 90 by limiting the timing advance, but if you are just starting out, build or buy a motor suited for the fuel you will use. My own personal Corvair is 8.25 and I run it purely on 90 octane boat gas with no ethanol. Gives up about 5hp to a higher compression motor.
Actually, the price of this 3000cc engine is ALOT LOWER than if you look at the EIB. (am I missing something like what else is needed for this engine to complete it?)
WHEN i go to SPA and tally up a 3.0 engine it cost nearly 18k (with out a core) etc. If I had my sport pilot certification and a Zodiac 650B kit or a Sonex B model kit (THATS IF I could find a engine mount for the Sonex B I would buy this engine right now. FOR ME this engine is what I have been wanting to use on any kit I get…especially if I could get a engine mount for a Sonex B or Waiex B.
I am banned on Facebook at the moment so I could not reply there.
Again great price for a professionally over seen build by Mr. Wynn and great SPA products.
Ray, one thing that is likely different to an EIB 3.0 is they are generally priced with new billet cranks and the motor pictured has an 8409 forged crank (done by SPA also) this produces a about a $1500 differential. But as you say, still a good value to the right builder.
And being banned on facebook is not a bad thing!!!
Oh I so want to jump on this deal but both my wife and I are layed off at the moment. I’m half-way through building my own 3.0 (Core and Heads are done) but a nice shortcut at this price would be nice. Opportunity is knocking but I am too poor to answer the door right now. DANG IT.
Gary, after 30 seasons in aviation, and never being burdened with excessive wealth, I can share a whole evening worth of stories of aviation gems I could have owned if I was just willing to be homeless and stop eating. In the end, staying the course paid off.
Well I know I might be slightly off subject matter, but it seems I’m the only one who cares about hours of trouble free service. An engine is an engine whether aircraft origin or auto. The only real difference between auto or air is two sparks plugs per cylinder, the rest is academic. The corvair is accidentally light enough to serve as an aircraft engine, and steps in William Wynn. For decades now he has been perfecting the corvair flight engine, his engines have ammasted numbers of trouble free hours of service that put the corvair into a true flight, or aircraft engine.
Even the famous Prat Whitney R2800 had teething problems, but once worked through it became the most reliable engine of ww2. If I were one of the other auto conversion companies I would fear the telliphone ringing, they are simple to new and have such few running and none have yet gone all the way to over haul that we really don’t know what problems fatigue will turn up.
Wynn’s corvairs on the other hand have stood the test of time. William does not fear the phone ring, he embraces the chance to help.
And now more on point I bought my proper corvair engine running for $175.00. I apologize to Mr Wynn for not setting a parts price for my basic conversion to aircraft, because I’m still a couple years away from needing it but it will be affordable and with the service record Mr Wynn’s engines have a cured I’m going to fly with the same confidence I would if I choose a continental 200.
I do need to say the above said engine for sale is way more then a basic conversion and I would buy it myself if I were anywhere close to ready, and what Mr Wynn is offering with the engine is like getting a jursee signed by Rusle Wilson.
William I’m very sorry to here that a man not following your direction felt the need to accuse you.
I am very happy to here your still at promoting the corvair and your continued effort to improve flight capabilities of the Corvair engine.
In closing once again I want to remind people of hours of service.
Thank you William Wynn
James
DId this engine already sale or not???
Sorry I didn’t update it, it sold to a gentleman in New Zealand.
The new corvair fly anywhere seems to be the next phase of personal planes. I’m sick of seeing only two anyway. I love it. Win one for the cheap expensive canadiens.