Sad that the early (70’s) rotary got a bad reputation before getting it right pretty quickly. I actually believe the rotary makes a better aircraft engine than a car engine. Notably fuel consumption, where in aircraft use the rotary is at least as good as other gas engines. The harder you push the rotary the better the relative fuel use! If you research it you will find most 90% of the time failures are from the support equipment not the rotary itself. With the good psru you have it will be very reliable. Bill
Bill, Thanks for such a detailed explanation! I need the exhaust in that picture too! I meant to attach a few pictures of my RV-8 in my previous email. I will have to take some better photos of the firewall forward to share as we continue this effort. I agree that it;s a shame that more Rotary assemblies aren't available and that companies like Powersport weren't able to make a financial go of it. I really like the concept and I am highly intrigued by the work others have done. Hopefully I can get to a point that I dare fly it out of my local area without abandoning it for a Lycoming. Pictures attached.
Thanks again!
Ryan
On Wednesday, June 3, 2020, 12:08:23 PM MDT, Ryan Hendrickson < hendoii@yahoo.com> wrote:
Bill, Thanks for such a detailed explanation! I need the exhaust in that picture too! I meant to attach a few pictures of my RV-8. I will have to take some better photos of the firewall forward to share as we continue this effort. I agree that it;s a shame that more Rotary assemblies aren't available and that companies like Powersport weren't able to make a financial go of it. I really like the concept and I am highly intrigued by the work others have done. Hopefully I can get to a point that I dare fly it out of my local area without abandoning it for a Lycoming. Pictures attached.
Thanks again!
OK Ryan, and other rotary enthusiasts, This is the configuration that Steve and Everett, (original Powersport) worked out that was very effective. (see photos attached) The photos show a 2 rotor mounted on an RV3, The engine mount wasn't the best they had ever used, but it shows their best cooling configuration. In the profile shot you see the stack of components. PSRU, 2 rotor, radiators/oil cooler. There are 3 equally sized heat exchangers. On this plane I believe they were all Setrab, but the manufacturer isn't that important. There are 2 water radiators arranged in a V with the oil cooler horizontal between the 2 water rads across the bottom separating the lower ends of the water coolers, thus \_/. They used various cowl inlets and didn't find a major difference there. There was an annular inlet on this set up. The inlet air flowed around the engine which allowed the engine air to be input and generally kept the accessories from overheating, At the rear of the engine there is a bulkhead fitted across the cowl and sealed. Opening for the engine air is directly behind the engine and permits the air to flow between the truncated v with the inside face of all 3 heat exchangers open. The flow is from the inside out toward the cowl and then exiting at the central lower location and out towards the rear in a conventional manner. Three equally sized rads is perfect for the rotary since the oil typically does about 30% of the heat transfer. The swirl pot and header tank are inside the "V" nearest the firewall. This layout was used on their primary RV4 test bed and worked great. A side-by-side like an RV6 would work even better with more room for exit air. The exhaust header is shrouded and has a blast tube in front to control exhaust heat. This layout should work with most of the engine mounts folks are using for the rotary. Sadly major rotary parts are getting difficult to find as this is a very airworthy layout. Bill Jepson
All, My name is Ryan Hendrickson and I have an RV-8 running a Powersport firewall forward setup out here in Utah. I purchased the plane from the builder and a mentor of mine shortly before he went west. So unfortunately, I don't have the benefit of his knowledge to help me tinker on it. Finn has offered some guidance, but I thought it would be also helpful to find anyone else out there running the Powersport design.
The motor runs very well, but I am struggling to keep it cool. If I succeed it solving the cooling issues, I would also love some advice on building an exhaust. It is currently straight-piped off the header and it is unbearably loud. That said, are there any Powersport aircraft out there that are successfully flying?
Thanks in Advance, Ryan
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