I have flown about 1000 airborne hours, which is perhaps 1/2 of my total car / motorbike mileage, yet I have not had a single mechanical failure on the aircraft, whose engine sits there at 65% power all the time, and best part of 100% power for some minutes after each takeoff.
On the basis of the above admittedly small set of data points, I don't think I would swap my IO540 for any car engine.
I've got about 1,000 hours on single piston engined light aircraft and about 8,000 hours on small turbines, both singles and twins for the latter. I also have 40 years of riding experience on motorbikes, new and old, two and four stroke and the same amount of experience in cars, including some amateur motorsport.
I think it best to keep the big capacity, torquey engines in the sky and the more revvy engines on the ground. I wouldn't willingly swap back from my turbines for the airborne stuff though, even though I've had neither type fail on me in the air. Having said that, there is no twin piston engined aircraft that can do my required type of flying work, so there is no choice anyway.
The B series engine is one of the best automotive engines ever made IMO.
I take it you mean the Honda? "B series" means something else to us of a certain vintage. AKA Leyland. That was still a good engine in it's day, though.
