Gentlemen,
The topic of repro rotaries has been discussed several times before. It remains my opinion that restoring originals is still about 1/3 of what we would estimate the cost of producing a repro would be. We have the technical ability to produce Le Rhones and also have the drawings. The cost (what we would pay just to produce it and not to profit from it) is well more than twice what we paid for our Le Rhone engines. The only way to reduce the cost would be to mass produce them and there simply is not the market to do so. Look at what Le Rhone Auburn is asking for what parts they have produced. Try closer to >$100.000 for a complete engine. We are casting bodies for the oil pump this week, just the unmachined casting will cost us the same to produce as what we paid for an original in N.O.S. condition and we aren't even factoring in the engineering costs. It simply is not cost effective to reproduce them yet, it is not technically difficult to do so. Sorry if this seems negative but it is the way things are. Of course we're a little crazy so it will always be a dream of ours to do so especially a BR-2. Keep looking, you'll find a rotary and they are fun to restore.
Regards,
William
Canvas Falcon Engineering
www.canvasfalcon.com
canvasfalcon@msn.com