Originally Posted by
genie
Thanks to all for your comments.
As for a Viking engine, I discussed this with homebuilder friends. They all dis-endorse the Viking engines as they say that they are made by the same people who used to provide modified Subaru engines for aircraft.
It seems that the consensus is to go for a Rotax engine. I can see three issues with this:
1) Such an engine is usually rather expensive, at least compared to some alternatives.
2) I have heard of reliability issues with Rotaxes as they can fail. They are highly stressed for aircraft engines as they produce more than 1 HP per cubic inch, and in some cases 1.2 HP per cubic inch.
3) Most important: I heard of many Rotax engines being stolen from their aircraft. As they are so good thieves take them. I would like to be able to sleep with peace of mind at nights and not worry about my Rotax engine being stolen.