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Permalink Reply by Jan Eggenfellner on November 10, 2020 at 7:39am

Hey Trent, 

It is a common questions, the best way I know to explain to you, is the simple fact that longevity and reliability have been proven with the engine over the past decade with engines well over 1400 hours, with only standard maintenance before changing our 180 (very similar to the 195) we had over 900 hours and did cross countries all over the states. Still in perfect condition, we only did the swap to have the most recent of our offerings. Also, keep in mind these engines also have redlines at over 7000 RPMs, and even some of the smaller versions were used in continuous high RPM in outboard engines. A lot of people had this issue with Rotax when it came, and they run MUCH higher RPMs then we do. The internals of the Honda engine are hard to beat and the simply fact we have over 600 engines in Zenith aircraft out proving this as I type, we do have more engines out there than anything outside of the norm Cont/Lyco/Rotax setups. After all these years, we have proven that high RPM has nothing to do with longevity of the engine and they don't wear out for the sake of High RPM - when one does, we will share and open up the engine, but that just isn't the case. 

Something to keep in mind as well, say you run this engine to death, 5500 RPM all day long, etc...(we did this in testing) high altitude, high boost, etc. we had over 900 hours with no issue (although try to stay away from lead, just like any other engine) and use an additive. Heck, even if you forgot to put engine oil in - you can replace the core for around $2000 - not much of a rebuild cost? 

-Alissa

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