I had a big issue trying to source the 1 1/8 piping that Rotax use for their straight sections of pipe so bought the more commonly available 1 1/4 pipe.
It was clear from the onset that we were going to have to completely make a new system as the engine mount basically only took into account the coolant hoses and starter motor access. I'm super glad we chose to go the bed mount in design. It made the whole installation significantly easier as I was to find out at a later state in the conversion.
The original pipes, we found had a major impact on the cowling so we set about tightening the curve and welding the stubs closer to the flange. This helped significantly however the cowling still did need to be modified slightly. There is not much room on the lower section of the cowling so all in all it's a pretty tight fit when closed up. As I had moved my engine forward 1" this also reduced the amount of room everything had. The irony of this install is that if I had not cut the cowling back to fit the Aerovee correctly it probably would have been perfect for the Rotax. I really didn't want to have to do a heap of cowling modifications so now the hub sits proud of the cowling somewhat but after I paint it red I'm sure it will look semi okay... Hopefully it wont affect the performance much, but who knows!
We tack welded the whole system basically to make sure it fit before doing any final welds. It actually came together very quickly and I think from start to finish all it took was 4 x hours work on a Sunday morning and it was complete.
Since then I had to rearrange a few electrical items on the firewall. They turned out to be too close to some exhaust parts so I gave them a bit of extra clearance. This was easy enough to do. Actually if I was ever to do another Turbo Aerovee install I would also rearrange the items on the fire wall differently. It was okay how I had them but just for access and perhaps better cooling air flow I would change a few things.
Taking shape. At this stage we still had no idea about the rear exhaust attach but it was reasonably easy too once we set our minds to it.
More tac welding at this stage.
It's not too easy to see here but there it is... All done and time for a beer... The muffler does sit quite a fair way from the engine. I will use the tabs on the side of the muffler to support it with some springs or clamps as such to hopefully avoid any cracks long term and generally just keep the mass supported.
I have been in two minds about adding exhaust wrap to the pipes and still haven't decided at this stage if I will use it or not. I have bought two big rolls of the stuff and have it sitting there. I have added the original muffler heat shield and that covers most of the muffler... It's just the pipes that are exposed now. There is a small spot near the fire wall that I think may need some but again, I'm not sure. I think the Turbo Aerovee really needed it as the turbo used to keep a large amount of heat in the area and tend to cook electronic items. It just doesn't seem very common practice from what I can see on Rotax's so I will need to ask around I guess.
I have been in two minds about adding exhaust wrap to the pipes and still haven't decided at this stage if I will use it or not. I have bought two big rolls of the stuff and have it sitting there. I have added the original muffler heat shield and that covers most of the muffler... It's just the pipes that are exposed now. There is a small spot near the fire wall that I think may need some but again, I'm not sure. I think the Turbo Aerovee really needed it as the turbo used to keep a large amount of heat in the area and tend to cook electronic items. It just doesn't seem very common practice from what I can see on Rotax's so I will need to ask around I guess.
Brendan and Sheepy came over to do some quality assurance checks a few days later .. Sheepy was happy with the work so we progressed onto the next stage of the engine install.
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