I have an old (but never run) NS Bluebird .46. It is complete except for the cylinder head.
Does anyone out there have an old cylinder head or junk engine that you are willing to part with?

Thanks:
David

The Bluebirds were not real good and went away fairly rapidly. Unless someone gives you the parts don't waste your time trying to make it work for you....there are many real good engines out there for bargin prices.

Well I've had the opposite experience although with the 51, it's excellent. The Bluebirds were sold as the Brat in America from all reports. The owner of my LHS swore by them when they were still available and seeing he's also our state's chief flying instructor he knows what's good and what's not.

The Brat carbs were not the best. The NV's were made of brittle metal. You might want to disassemble yours and check the internal casting. My Brat .25 had a whole bunch of flash covering up the lower openings of the bypasses (correct term?). After filing all of the flash off and installing a Magnum carb it's a great running engine. It is also very light because mine is AAC.

David

Brian,
The really great engine makers are still around for the most part. And yes the Bluebird carbs were on a level with some of the early Magnums,. Magnum got it together.[&o] I base my observations on a smaller engine a friend had and several others owned by friends. As I remember the engine was a 25 or a 28, It would not shut down and was cranky at best when trying to tune. Does MDS mean anything to you....they went away for about the same reasons.

Well, I have a 2nd hand Bluebird 28 with original carb and it's an absolute ripper. Very strong performance & no operating issues with the carb not shutting off etc. I'm very very pleased with it.

I also have an as yet un-run Brat 25 - to be fired up at a later date [8D]

Occasionally you do see Bluebird 46's pop up on the *bay so you might strike it lucky. It's also remotely possible that as the 46 size engines are reasonably generic in design, the heads of quite a few engines may fit the case of the Bluebird. Purely guess work on my part but if you are a tinkerer & a scrounger (oh joy) it may just work.

Bone, be sure to check inside your Brat's case for casting flash before running it.

David