Suzuki K10A

[maulonir]

Gday Peter,I looked at the K10A Turbo some time back but couldn"t find anyone in Australia that holds parts for them as they were never released here. I spoke to a guy in our local ultralight club who owns a suzisport workshop in Cairns, he steered me away from them basically because of the issue of getting parts. Rob

[asra]

Hello Rob, I"ve found suppliers of most parts overseas though it might be different when its time to get them. Head gasket sets are available on UK ebay. I bought one and they appear good quality. Water pumps are available on the net in US. They seem a common engine in Germany so there may be parts available there. I bought a naturaly aspirated workshop manual on ebay that was in Germany. Apart from turbo, pistons and heat exchanger which I disconected, both engines appear the same. Both have oil sprays on the pistons. The NA version fitted with low compression pistons I think would be the same engine. The Hitachi turbo apart from the inlets and outlets looks to be interchangable with the smallest garret turbo which is available for about $800. The K10A were made from 97 to mid 2000, the 99-2000 model I think having a variable cam. They may have been made untill 2005 in brazil but I"m not sure on that one. The naturaly aspirated version were sold in Australia for one year but pulled off the market because of poor sales. I saw one on ebay a couple of months ago that went for $1500.If the engine seems alright when I fly it, I will buy another straight away. I reckon 2 engines at $5000 for 2000hrs would be better value than one engine at $25000 that will get 2-3000 hours.From what I"ve read they seem to be still going well at 250000+k. As Brian said a lot of different engines have been tried but I"m keen to see how this one lasts.

[Tim]

The K10A that I modified came from a "Suzuki Wagon R" - half cut. $2500.I have since seen a Suzuki Wagon R running around the street, suggesting that it may have been sold in Australia. If that is the case, then spare parts may not be a problem. However, as Peter said, I have also seen parts on ebay.

[Brian]

I"ve thought about those things you mentioned Brian, but when I have an idea that may be a goer I"ve got to see if it works. I"ve pulled this motor down and I think the weak point in these motors may be the camshaft journals if the oil gets hot. It"s hard to go past a rotax for power to weight of the engine and gearbox, but working on thrust to weight of engine gearbox and fuel load some of the newer fuel efficient engines running a large dia prop may do it. If I can keep mustering cruise rev"s down between 4500-5000rpm it may get 1000 hours and will be good value compared to a rotax, but time will answer that one. I think all options need exploring, just because the 2.2 works okay, why not try other makes and find out how all goes cause after all, if no one tries something different than things are going to get very boring.

[asra]

A bit more on the K10A.Oil pressure. From the start the oil pressure was slow to come up at start up and would drop very low at idle when the oil was hot. According to the manual the oil pressure is checked at 4000rpm as that is when the pressure relief valve starts to open.Also oil pressure would not come up by spinning the engine on the starter. When I removed an oil line I found the oil pump was not priming when the engine was spun on the starter.On checking the pump I there was no wear but there was a small groove designed into the housing that allowed a small amount of oil from the pressure side of the oil pump back past the rotor to the intake side, giving the same effect as a badly worn pump.After blocking this groove the oil pressure comes up by spinning the engine on the starter and holds good pressure at idle. I also added an oil cooler and this keeps the oil temp between 80-90 degreesParts. I ordered a set of bigend bearings as the ones furthest from the oil pump were showing some wear.No aftermarket bearings available but all parts available in genuine suzuki. A VIN number is needed to order the parts through Suzuki. I got a vin number from a used car add.Intake air temp. On static testing with very little air flowing past the intercooler, the air temp in the manifold was going past 80 degrees celcius on 11 psi boost. 60-70C on 8psi boost. I found that by putting the factory BOV back on but having the excess pressure released into the open rather than recirculated into the intake, dropped the air temp 5 degrees. If it was plumbed back into the intake the temp would rise. Using the BOV also gives very fast throttle response. Twisting the intercooler up from horizontal to about 30 degrees dropped the air temp by another 10 degrees in static run ups.Some fine tuning, and cooling the intake air gave a bit more power. After putting a bit more pitch on the prop to use the power, the prop has started to cavitate at 6300 rpm. Would like to try the same prop but with a lot more twist. 60knt cruise is at just over half power. About 1-2 psi boost.

[asra]

Does anyone have a wiring diagram/pin out for the K10A ECU?I can"t find it anywhere.

[Blackhawk]

If your looking for 4 cylinder 100HP engines I will be able to help you out.I will soon have brand new (not rebuilt) engine packages on the market that are Suzuki based naturally aspirated EFI 100HP engines which will have Autoflight PSRU fitted with an up or down offset of 84mm or a newly developed 200mm up offset only.Complete engine and PSRU should be around $10,000 and we will have spare parts and full warranties.If anyone is interested contact me by PMGraeme