flyrotary@lancaironline.net Mailing List Archive

The 13BT front cover was not difficult to remove with the engine in the airframe, on the Fred Breese bed mount (like the Cozy grrls mount).
The wrong front gasket had been installed (by me). The front iron oil passage recess is the 'Small' type, I had used the gasket and plastic retainer ring for thr 'Large' type. The black O ring and paper gasket were bloken out on one side, and the white plastic ring was stretched out on one side.
I was able to pickup the gaskets from Dave Adkins, and he took the time to show me 2 the casting types, the related gaskets, and give some assembly advice.
NOTABLY: MAKE SURE THE THRUST BEARING SPACER RING IS IN PLACE. If it gets loose, the flat little roller thrust bearings will slip down and when the hub bolt is torqued, the spacer will crush the inner edge of these thrust bearings. This will cause Engine Failure.
I hope I didn't use too much Black RTV. Anyway, it's all together and torqued. I'll give it a day for the RTV to set up, then put the oil & water in it and start it up.
My engine compartment oil mist could be caused by running with the oil level too high. The front main seal looked good (when I had it apart)

-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff Whaley <jwhaley@datacast.com>
To: Rotary motors in aircraft <flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
Sent: Wed, Apr 30, 2014 8:32 am
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: SWITCHEROO becomes low oil pressure

Your oil leak could be anywhere; however, my oil-fill cap has a hole drilled in it and the little vent tube goes nowhere, i.e., open to the engine compartment; never leaked a drop; just lets off steam.

I did have an annoying oil leak that required a mild cleaning after every 2 hours – turned out to be the main seal – this seal was compromised by a nicely-painted counter weight; after the paint wore off and the seal was replaced there was no more oil leak.

Jeff

From:	shipchief@aol.com
Subject:	SWITCHEROO becomes low oil pressure
Date:	Tue, 29 Apr 2014 21:42:09 -0400 (EDT)
To:	flyrotary@lancaironline.net

I enjoyed a nice 1.2 hour flight yesterday, but ended with oil or exhaust smell. Never a good thing, conjuring up images of a fuel fire or carbon monoxide poisoning.

Today I gave it another routine cowl raising inspection, and noticed the usual oil film. It's everywhere, and comes from no-where. It was cooking off from the under slung muffler. I wiped it off, and I think the culprit is the crankcase vent from the oil fill tube. I had to shorten the tube so it would fit under the cowl. Now the vent line is pretty low, just over the center iron into which the oil tube fits. It discharges thru a tube and hose arrangement to the right side of the cowl outlet on the bottom. I think the airflow in this area is turbulent and sometimes back flows into the cowl and spreads all over.

I added another heat shield to keep the radiant glow of the exhaust system off of the fuel system.

I also noticed the throttle opened about 40 degrees shy of full open. So I adjusted the cable lock nuts to give more; however, the throttle is sufficiently oversized that it didn't make an appreciable difference.

After a joyful morning of small improvements and cleaning, I decided to make an hour flight, have some lunch and do a second hour flight.

Well, that was arrogant of me. I made it about 30 minutes and noticed the oil pressure had dropped from 62 or better to 38 PSI. Water & oil temps were in the 160F& 170F zone. So I headed for the nearest airport and slowed 'way down. The oil pressure increased to 39-42, so I eased it on home. Off with the cowl, oil checks full, everything on the outside of the engine looks good. I got a mechanical oil pressure gauge, and yes, 40 PSI at the oil filter housing, while reading 39 PSI on the Engine Monitor.

I'm stripping the 'front' cover off, expecting to find the famous oil O ring blown....Maybe I should have used larger diameter oil discharge hose...

The bolt that takes the 19mm socket on the pulley hub defeated me this evening. I hope it's not a left hand thread...I'll continue tomorrow.

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