Kelly,
Sorry to hear that you won't be at Sun N Fun. I do understand that you
would like more info, but I will have to provide what I can now and the
rest later as I have already started packing the trailer for Sun N Fun.
The 200Z gearbox uses 2 sets of interchangeable gears allowing me to
customize the gear ratio from 1:1 all the way up to 3.54:1, so getting a
gear ratio that will allow the 13B the rpms needed to generate good
power and keep the propeller below 2700 rpm is the easy part. All of the
same features will be retained in the 200Z for lubrication and easily
supporting hydraulic constant speed propellers. The propeller shaft
rotates with the standard propeller rotation so more expensive pusher
propellers are not required.
Pictures will be taken as Sun N Fun where Ed Kelepeis will provide his
Mazda Renesis engine to display everything on. Ed has also finished his
new fuel injection manifold to display as well. This is when I will get
all of my pictures to share with everyone. I should be able to send
those out during Sun N Fun.
Due to the differences between rotary and piston engines our standard
clutch mechanism will be changed to a dampening drive plate. This takes
advantage of the rotating mass of the gearbox and propeller to reduce
the weight of the flywheel while preventing damaging harmonics. This
also saves a lot of weight several different ways and makes the whole
package more compact.
The initial display will use an existing bell housing of cast aluminum
that is on loan to me. The worst thing about this bell housing is the
starter is in the worst location possible for using it with the 200Z
gearbox (MURPHY!). I have been able to extract all the critical
engineering data from this bell housing to design a stronger and lighter
CNC bell housing incorporating several other features that will reduce
part count, interface complexities, costs, and puts the starter where it
needs to go.
I have also located the sources for converting carbureted 13Bs to fuel
injection, a good ECU that controls the fuel and ignition, and a
normalizing turbo charger system that automatically prevents accidental
over boosting. The sea level boost is a mild 2psi and should maintain
sea level power to 16,000 ft.
That's about all the info I can provide right now. I'm sorry if this
seems more like a teaser than all the info you were looking for, but
being in the early development stages has its limits. If everything goes
well I might have a 13B prototype firewall forward package on display at
AirVenture. Certainly there will be a lot more information coming out
between now and then.
Thanks for asking for more info. I will put out more announcements as
things develop.
Thanks,
Stuart Davis
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