Enya V Twins.

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

Never seen one, what's the opinions of them ? Some coming up for sale and I'm clueless.

[Nigel R]

If you don't buy it someone else will. They seem to fetch good money on the popular auction site when they appear.

Cue Jon from laser I believe he may have one?

[Jon H]

Where are they for sale?! and there is more than one?

This could be detrimental to my bank balance

Anyway, i have had a play with a VT240 and its a different animal to the laser twins im used to. Our twins are very smooth, throttle cleanly and rev like crazy if you ask them to and all with a minimum of fuss. The Enya twin on the other hand wobbles and shakes and opening the throttle feels like you have woken some sort of beast as it splutters up to full power. The whole thing is quite theatrical and i love them.

Most of this is down to the old style air bleed carbs. They are pretty crude and it does limit the performance of the engine.

If you want to buy one there are some things to consider.

Its a 1980's engine. Even if its new, its an old engine. Valve springs might be suspect, it could be corroded..etc

Spares are not easy to get and not cheap

Its not 82db compliant. At least, not at 7m. 100m... perhaps, but not 7!

The sound is glorious.

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

I like the Enyas I've had and agree, they're different and sound great, what's for sale I don't know yet, one of our lads is packing it in, going on his routine I would expect them to be in good nick, some Lasers as well but felt a bit worried about stepping on toes.

[Jon H]

stepping on toes?

Im a fan of enya engines myself and have...5? something like that. To me they are the best of the japanese brands for quality but are let down by the fact that their designs have not changed at all since the 1980's with most engines still using air bleed carbs and having utterly worthless exhausts. They also got really expensive.

In general though they run really well and are very similar to Laser in terms of their design. Stripping them down is all very familiar to me and even the cam profiles and timing are almost identical.

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

Posted by Jon - Laser Engines on 21/05/2020 21:10:32:

stepping on toes?

Im a fan of enya engines myself and have...5? something like that. To me they are the best of the japanese brands for quality but are let down by the fact that their designs have not changed at all since the 1980's with most engines still using air bleed carbs and having utterly worthless exhausts. They also got really expensive.

In general though they run really well and are very similar to Laser in terms of their design. Stripping them down is all very familiar to me and even the cam profiles and timing are almost identical.

[J D 8]

I also like Enya's, Have an open rocker 40 and two 90's one with air bleed carb and the other has the twin needle. I favour the air bleed as it never needs any adjustment and just run's nice.

[Richard Clark 2]

Posted by Jon - Laser Engines on 21/05/2020 21:10:32:

stepping on toes?

Im a fan of enya engines myself and have...5? something like that. To me they are the best of the japanese brands for quality but are let down by the fact that their designs have not changed at all since the 1980's with most engines still using air bleed carbs and having utterly worthless exhausts. They also got really expensive.

In general though they run really well and are very similar to Laser in terms of their design. Stripping them down is all very familiar to me and even the cam profiles and timing are almost identical.

Enya engines were always good. We used to 'play' in an amateurish way at control line 'B' team racing and the Enya 29 went quite well. But my Eta 29's always trounced them

[Jon H]

Posted by J D 8 on 21/05/2020 22:38:59:

I also like Enya's, Have an open rocker 40 and two 90's one with air bleed carb and the other has the twin needle. I favour the air bleed as it never needs any adjustment and just run's nice.

Yep, as long as the tank position is perfect. If its shade high and the engine is inverted its a right pain. The air bleed carb on my Enya 155 was utterly useless though regardless of other factors. I think it was badly worn and i grafted a laser carb on instead. Works ok now.

John, one final thing to mention is the price of those 240's. They often make silly money due to their rarity but i would not pay more than 500 for a pristine example.

Ultimately, its a powerplant for a model and being rare makes little difference if your goal is to fly something with it. Its performance is slightly down on a Laser 300v (about 400rpm on the same prop) and they are £650 new.

Given the spares situation and its overall performance as a powerplant it cant be worth more than 500. Clearly only you can work out how much value its rarity adds, but to me its an engine first and a display piece second so i will always look at it that way.

[Frank Skilbeck]

So that's why this one hasn't sold!

I'd agree with Jon if you want a V twin to power an aircraft then one of his is a much better bet.

[Jon H]

Posted by Frank Skilbeck on 22/05/2020 13:31:45:

So that's why this one hasn't sold!

I'd agree with Jon if you want a V twin to power an aircraft then one of his is a much better bet.

When i get them back in stock

Good grief its busy at the moment.

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

Thanks lads, beyond my pocket, was interested in opinions of em.