Thats right... Not quite.

Tonight Chris and I conducted a little "surge" of our own and gave it a
go. Er.. No Go.

Here's the lowdown.. and We will entertain all pointers, no matter how
obvious.

For those new to the group, Chris and I have a Mazda 13B 2nd gen turbo
rotary engine, mated to a Velocity SE (the small one). Our install in
normally aspirated at this time. We have Tracy Crook's Real World
Solutions Engine Controller (EC-2) and his PSRU/re-drive (RD-1B).
Tracy's engine monitor (EM2) is not installed yet.We have dual
batteries, and when finished, will have dual alternators and essentially
two independent busses run by 2 different electrical systems in this all
electric airplane. Mistral intake with integral throttle body in place.

Over the past week or so, we have sealed the oil lines, and have oil
flow from the engine's oil pump, through the cooler in the front and
then to a 2nd cooler under the aft cowl, thence to the block. PSRU oil
comes off the rear iron out the stock oil pressure port. Stock oil
pressure relief valves are in place (80# in the back, 135# or so in the
front)

Electrical: Have been cranking in short spurts for about 2 weeks. During
that time, we have powered the EC2. We have put the injectors and their
resistors in line (we have low impedance injectors x 4). Injectors have
been clicked open with power across the terminals. Crank angle sensor
was installed by me a LONG time ago, but i remember being meticulous
about installing it at TDC on one of the front rotor faces at that time.
Prior to our efforts today, chris took a junk spark plug, hooked it to
one of the rear coils (the most accessible), grounded the plug and
cranked. We had spark.

Manifold plumbing: We have two AN4 hoses from the intake to the
firewall. We have pinhole restrictions in both ends of the manifold
pressure tubing to dampen pressure fluctuations at the EC2's manifold
pressure sensors. We verified airflow through both restrictions prior to
start attempt.

Fuel: Today Chris sealed up the last of the fuel system (sealant on the
fittings, reconnecting the vents). We went and got 2 gals of premium
mogas and at about this point we decided to try and shoot for first
start (around 4 pm). Mixed 2 oz oil into the two gals, mixed well,
poured into the right strake and it trickled down to the sump. We turned
on the lower fuel pump and were rewarded with the sound of the fuel pump
priming then a pressure indication on the fuel pressure regulator's
attached steam gauge. We also found a leak.

When I did my initial fuel system design, I put a coarse filter (in-line
barrel style) before the pumps, and a large, cannister style fine filter
downstream of the pumps but upstream of the injectors. Rationale: coarse
filter to keep debris out the pumps that would clog or damage them. The
fine filter is to keep small stuff from clogging the injectors. When I
last messed with the coarse filter I apparently crossthreaded the
AN6-1/4 pipe fitting that goes on the inlet. Chris discovered this when
he sealed the fuel system. We hoped it would work for the moment. It
didnt. Quickly removed the fine filter from the fuel system, put a check
valve in there SIMPLY as a union (AN6 on both ends). The fact its a
check valve is no factor here.. its a placeholder device. Pumped up the
system again and got a good 20 psi from one pump. Adjusted the regulator
until we got a full 45 psi on one pump. Both pumps on puts it closer to
55. We mopped up the small amount of spilled gas, made sure things were
ventilated well and carried on.

Given that we do not have the proper inlet air temp probe installed
(apparently it came with the EC2), I instructed Chris to crank on
controller B Mode 0 (the backup engine controller on Tracy's EC2.
Controller B does not use the temp probe input but uses a set standard
temp. Lights.. Camera... NOTHING. We cranked.. we had fuel flow through
the regulator, we had needle bounce on the pressure gauge because the
fuel pressure is manifold referenced.

Over the course of troubleshooting we discovered that Controller B did
not have spark. Controller A did. I had disconnected the wire to the
installed temp probe we had temporarily in there since I had heard
through the list that it may not work properly and I didn't want to skew
the A controller (thats why i tried to crank on B in the first place -
the temp probe issue).

So.. what we know:

We had no indication of combustion occurring. No pops. No sputters. No
catches.

Crank angle sensor must be working, because the thing is sparking as we
crank. (on controller A). We do not have test mode for injectors and
plugs. We have not gotten that upgrade.

We have fuel to the fuel pressure regulator and PRESUMABLY downstream.
We have not broken the couplings to confirm this yet.

We have spark on one of the coils. We will verify on all four. New
plugs, 7's and 9's, installed for this event. Spark verified with an old
plug that came with the engine.

I did not hear the injectors clicking during the cranking. I do not know
if i COULD have heard em clicking. I tried touching one injector during
cranking and did not feel anything discernable. I asked if we have a
sweep multimeter so that we can check this tomorrow, on all four injectors.

We tried with cold start on at first, then off, mixture at "1 o'clock"
(slightly rich), default program. I did not smell fuel in the exhaust
pipe. We have a straight pipe in place temporarily. I had to stand next
to the exhaust pipe to get close to the injectors.. while cranking with
hot plugs. In a hangar. Yea.. That would have been loud. I think this
(fuel) is our most likely source of our problem here.

Fuel pressure oscillated during cranking. Does this need to be dampened?
(this is the only instrumentation at this point).

Does program B come with default on it? (I have not read the manual
regarding this just yet)

So.. there you have it. We were VERY close to turning dinosaurs into
decibels. More tomorrow. Feedback from folks familiar with the Rotary
and EC2 combination is highly desired.

Dave

--
Homepage: http://www.flyrotary.com/
Archive and UnSub: http://mail.lancaironline.net:81/lists/flyrotary/List.html