Sonerai 2L for sale N747VG Finished by Victor Giles in 5/84. He flew this plane 5,719 times before health issues overcame him. All those flights were logged and I have all the log books. This is probably the highest time Sonerai out there. It has the thicker gear. Has wheel pants(not installed). Has dual ignition and ELT. Has a transponder. 
Has window panels below the main canopy which give great visibility in the taxi, take off, and landing modes. The alternator is mounted on the front of the engine and belt driven(Victor had the rear flywheel alternator go out). You can redo this. The completely overhauled engine has approx. 350 hours and two brand new heads ($950)with stainless valves and new rings have less that an hour of ground run time on them. Oil pressure is very good. The machining of the second spark plug holes on the new heads was done by Great Plains. I have the spark plug adaptors to be able to use automotive plugs from the magnetos (much cheaper). I am the 4th owner. The second owner recovered the aircraft and did not fly it. The 3rd owner before me had installed a zenith carburetor and cut too much of the lower cowl out without reglassing the area. An A& P signed off on the A/C and I assumed it was ready to go. I flew it one short hop in the pattern (T/O on video) having too high CHT and too low rpm(1650) and struggled to get proper airspeed. After landing told the seller about it (I had purchased the a/c) and after he consulted with the A&P concluded the prop pitch was too high(A/C has a carbon fiber ground adjustable prop). He adjusted the prop 4 degrees lower pitch and checked the tracking on each blade and tracking was perfect. Static ran the engine and got approx. 2000 rpm(now I know too low still). He said that was good and I flew it again(T/O on video). Went just out of the pattern but CHT too high again (500+). Bottom line, heads cracked between valves and compression low on a couple of cylinders. I got hurt financially and pride. Trusted seller and A&P too much. Didn't do enough homework and asking the right questions and getting outside advice. I knew Al had a Sonerai not far from Tampa and has extensive VW experience and has owned his beautiful Sonerai 2 for 30years. I trailered the A/C to his field (South Lakeland) and he helped me diagnose the real problem was the lack of cooling which led to the high CHT temps(the A&P thought it was a guage and sending unit problem). NOPE it was not. The lower cowl was cut open too much. That can be corrected with fiberglassing repair. Al donated a Saturday to help install the new rings and the new heads all to proper torque specs. We ran the engine for 20 minutes or so cowl off making sure the temp and pressure were good. The engine has been run 2 times since then. Total maybe an hour. One great thing about this Sonerai is the airplane flys great! Like a mini fighter. Fun to fly. I am 72 and it is a little hot for me and I am tall 6'1" and a little cramped in. I will take a loss on the A/C. I do believe you will be getting a flyable sound Sonerai that will give you hours of fun at a very inexpensive price. It comes with a open trailer and can be hauled anywhere (Victor's trailer that he used to trailer the Sonerai to New York in the summer and then down to Florida in the winter). What is needed to fly is fiberglass the cowl to bring the cooling up to standard. I have purchased a brand new baffle kit from Sonex and a new top mount oil cooler that goes with the A/C(bottom mount oil cooler now). This is just like what is installed on the Sonex Aero Vee engine. Al gave me a wooden prop he had on his Sonerai which is mounted on mine now(mine came with the ground adjustable carbon fiber prop which I heard from the second owner who knew Victor that Victor loved that prop and he felt it gave good performance). I will offer the wood prop back to Al. If he doesn't want it back it goes with the A/C as well as the carbon fiber G/A prop. The wooden prop slightly scrapes the fiberglass section of the cowl where Victor glassed around the belt driven alternator on the front. I have the wings off right now because of working on the engine and they are stored in a separate enclosed trailer. I purchased the Sonerai 4/18. I have some pics in the albums. I have typed up all the significant log entries of everything Victor did to this a/c. I can send the docx file to you via email ([email protected]). Have more pics. Price $7,900 Call or text Harry at 813-610-8226
Has window panels below the main canopy which give great visibility in the taxi, take off, and landing modes. The alternator is mounted on the front of the engine and belt driven(Victor had the rear flywheel alternator go out). You can redo this. The completely overhauled engine has approx. 350 hours and two brand new heads ($950)with stainless valves and new rings have less that an hour of ground run time on them. Oil pressure is very good. The machining of the second spark plug holes on the new heads was done by Great Plains. I have the spark plug adaptors to be able to use automotive plugs from the magnetos (much cheaper). I am the 4th owner. The second owner recovered the aircraft and did not fly it. The 3rd owner before me had installed a zenith carburetor and cut too much of the lower cowl out without reglassing the area. An A& P signed off on the A/C and I assumed it was ready to go. I flew it one short hop in the pattern (T/O on video) having too high CHT and too low rpm(1650) and struggled to get proper airspeed. After landing told the seller about it (I had purchased the a/c) and after he consulted with the A&P concluded the prop pitch was too high(A/C has a carbon fiber ground adjustable prop). He adjusted the prop 4 degrees lower pitch and checked the tracking on each blade and tracking was perfect. Static ran the engine and got approx. 2000 rpm(now I know too low still). He said that was good and I flew it again(T/O on video). Went just out of the pattern but CHT too high again (500+). Bottom line, heads cracked between valves and compression low on a couple of cylinders. I got hurt financially and pride. Trusted seller and A&P too much. Didn't do enough homework and asking the right questions and getting outside advice. I knew Al had a Sonerai not far from Tampa and has extensive VW experience and has owned his beautiful Sonerai 2 for 30years. I trailered the A/C to his field (South Lakeland) and he helped me diagnose the real problem was the lack of cooling which led to the high CHT temps(the A&P thought it was a guage and sending unit problem). NOPE it was not. The lower cowl was cut open too much. That can be corrected with fiberglassing repair. Al donated a Saturday to help install the new rings and the new heads all to proper torque specs. We ran the engine for 20 minutes or so cowl off making sure the temp and pressure were good. The engine has been run 2 times since then. Total maybe an hour. One great thing about this Sonerai is the airplane flys great! Like a mini fighter. Fun to fly. I am 72 and it is a little hot for me and I am tall 6'1" and a little cramped in. I will take a loss on the A/C. I do believe you will be getting a flyable sound Sonerai that will give you hours of fun at a very inexpensive price. It comes with a open trailer and can be hauled anywhere (Victor's trailer that he used to trailer the Sonerai to New York in the summer and then down to Florida in the winter). What is needed to fly is fiberglass the cowl to bring the cooling up to standard. I have purchased a brand new baffle kit from Sonex and a new top mount oil cooler that goes with the A/C(bottom mount oil cooler now). This is just like what is installed on the Sonex Aero Vee engine. Al gave me a wooden prop he had on his Sonerai which is mounted on mine now(mine came with the ground adjustable carbon fiber prop which I heard from the second owner who knew Victor that Victor loved that prop and he felt it gave good performance). I will offer the wood prop back to Al. If he doesn't want it back it goes with the A/C as well as the carbon fiber G/A prop. The wooden prop slightly scrapes the fiberglass section of the cowl where Victor glassed around the belt driven alternator on the front. I have the wings off right now because of working on the engine and they are stored in a separate enclosed trailer. I purchased the Sonerai 4/18. I have some pics in the albums. I have typed up all the significant log entries of everything Victor did to this a/c. I can send the docx file to you via email ([email protected]). Have more pics. Price $7,900 Call or text Harry at 813-610-8226
