by digital_trucker » Sat Mar 08, 2008 3:29 pm
I just got my order for two of the black Toki 05's. My first impressions are as follows;
It's a beautiful engine, but it has some serious shortcomings for aircraft use. The crankcase need a redesign, there's more meat to it than required for flight. The head is oversize, could be much smaller and lighter. The carb is MASSSIVELY overdone, way to big for the purpose. It needs a turbo plug instead of the standard short plug (better performance). Finally, and perhaps the biggest issue of all - there is ZERO piston-to-liner 'pinch'.
On the plus side, it has a bolt-on muffler that seems to be quite lightweight. Excellent job there.
Summation: it's a beautiful engine, and it has potential, but for aircraft use it needs a complete redesign. I haven't run it yet, so I have no performance data..based on my preliminary examination though, I don't expect it to be a hot runner. It'll probably provide mild performance at best, but hopefully it will prove to have reliable and effective throttling.
Upshot is, the world has YET to see a well-designed modern engine in the .049-.061 range that will provide good performance along with light weight, good throttling, and effective muffling. The Toki comes the closest I've seen.