I put a couple of hundred hours on mine without issue.
Points to remember:
1. Let the water temp always come up to +50c before take off. Not doing so can lead to cold seizure. Maintain max power until clear to a couple hundred feet and slightly decrease it a few hundred RPM and the engine isn't screaming for it's life... remember it is a 2 stroke and running quite high RPM in comparison to a direct drive engine.
2. On descent always do a cruise descent, keeping the RPM relatively high to prevent shock cooling... important this.
3. Use good quality 2 stroke oil miked at 50:1, Shell VSX is excellent. Personally, I prefer the engines without the oil mixer and like to mix my own oil into the fuel.
4. Max RPM depends on gearbox and ratio. It can be a "B" "C" or "E" type box on a 582. Mine had "C" box with 2.58:1 ratio and had max RPM of 6600 and cruised at 5300 and burned 12 to 15 l/h.
5. Mixture controls, simple this one.... there isn't any !
6. Never rev it to high on start.
Weak points:
I think it is all on how the engine is treated, I have found them reliable... the following is a guide.
The carburettor rubbers need inspection every 50 hours for cracking and should be replaced if in any doubt. De-coke is supposed to be done every 100 hours, on mine it was always spotlessly clean... good 2 stroke oil is the key.
Replace the spark plugs at 50 hours. Have spare exhaust springs as they tend to break and require frequent replacement... not really an issue. Make sure you wire tie the springs.
Carry out the set down maintenance schedule as dictated by rotax.
The engine provides a lot of power for its size/weight and c.c and is fairly silent in the kitfox set-up.
The ones I found to have issues (generally) are the engines that are mis-treated... not permitted to heat up properly, long idle periods on descending and use of poor 2 stroke oil.
Also as directed in the previous post.... good info on both those sites.
And if you find this a bit much... I have an absolutely stunning Kitfox with the Jabiru 2200 for sale...Max RPM of 3000.... drop me a PM !!
Jon