flyrotary@lancaironline.net Mailing List Archive

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I think whether you are for TES "O" rings a lot has to do with your comfort level.

If you are comfortable that you are never going to overheat your rotary then the TES rings are probably not going to do a thing for you. However, given that you can seldom pull over to the side of the road when the temp gauge heads HOT in aircraft, I think its only natural to want a bid of an edge.

Several people (myself being one of them) have cooked the stock inner coolant "O" ring (coolant in the combustion chamber), but was able to replace the cooked "O" ring and return to flying. Never cooked the outer "O" ring and have left that one stock and I feel that if you do get it hot enough to cook the outer ring - then you have compromised your engine.

I have had the TES type in three rebuilds and only had one failure(recently) when the part of the apex seal trapped in the rotor milled lightening-hole generated a localized hot spot on the side housing which exceeded even their temperature capability.

Personally, I think for aircraft usage - anything you can do (reasonably) that gives you even a slight edge is worth it for peace of mind, particularly given that cooling can be marginal in the best of systems with high OAT , high power and lower airspeeds.

But, as stated - that's just a personal viewpoint.

Ed A

----- Original Message -----

From: George Lendich

To: Rotary motors in aircraft

Sent: Sunday, July 24, 2005 7:46 PM

Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Mazda Factory O rings vs TES O rings

Rusty, see response in the body of your message below.

I'm wondering why people like Tracy Crook and Bruce Turrentine bother with TES "O" rings. I think they may have a better idea - don't you!

You don't seem to be wondering why they DON'T use them on the outer O-ring :-)

That little extra "piece of mind" and rationalisation of product - crush similarity etc..

Seriously, you're absolutely right about this being appropriate for the list, and it's human nature to want to improve things. Unfortunately, until it's proven with some hours on a flying engine, you can only hope that it will be at least as good as the stock ring, since they never fail.

Maybe !

What's all that information of water in rotor housing coming from?

One good thing that came out of this thread for me is learning that Mazda went back to putting the o-rings in the rotor housings. I hadn't realized that. I did a check on the stock Mazda o-rings though, and note that there is a different part number for 74-85, and 86-95 (and later in other countries).

I think that's material improvement - anyhow that's what has been put to me!

I wouldn't be too quick to assume the size of the Renesis seal, or the pre-86 seal will be the same as the one on the end housing that Kelley is sending Creavey.

That hasn't been claimed!

George ( down under)