Has anyone owned a Jabiru?

[Wobbegong]

I was thinking of a Jabiru 160 or maybe looking at the jabiru engine for use in another kit build (zenith, sonex etc)

There are mixed reports as to the reliability of the engine and was wondering if anyone on here had experience of them? Some people love them but others hate anything to do with them

[jamieduff1981]

I know a man who's currently in the Asia/Pacific reason with a Jabiru 2200 powered Rand KR2. He previously flew it to Australia. He did have some serious issues with one Jabiru engine at least that got 'all legal' and he didn't want to say too much about the specifics at the time until it was all settled. It was settled in the end and evidently he's still happy enough to fly over mountain ranges and oceans behind one of them.

The KR2 was designed around the VW Type 1 engine (of which I have a 2180cc for my own KR2) but the gentleman above opted for the Jab + longer engine mounts for reasons of improved empty weight.

[Wobbegong]

Is that Colin Hales?

http://www.kr2worldtour.com

Looks to have been an incredible trip so far

The fuel economy and light weight of the Jab is what has me interested, just a bit concerned by the reliability. I question whether it is due to owner maintenance/fiddling rather than the engine itself, always hard to call

Cheers for the response

[jamieduff1981]

Yes it's Colin indeed. As a licensed engineer and well seasoned pilot I'd suspect his issues weren't caused by mishandling or bad maintenance.

He's easy enough to contact since you know of him too. He can take a wee while to reply but is very accommodating and is always happy to share important information. I met him to have a good poke around his aeroplane a few years back.