Hi Mike,
On the rotary engine, it's extremely
valuable. I was happily flying
along at 8500 ft. 10 miles from
the airport when the engine suddenly
lost power (Ground level here is
about 6000 ft.) I wasn't getting
enough power to maintain
altitude. First I switched to the B
controller, no help. While
looking at which field I wanted to land in,
I started looking for more
things to try. The next step I took was to
disable the primary
injectors. The engine took off again and I
continued the
flight to land at the airport. The injector disable
switch
saved me from an off airport landing.
Bob W. (It wasn't a
great landing!)
On Thu, 31 May 2007 08:35:43 -0700
(PDT)
Michael LaFleur <mike.lafleur@sbcglobal.net>
wrote:
> Is there a reason you need an injector disable
switch?
>
> Just looks like another failure point and an
increase in risk.
>
> Mike LaFleur
>
> -----
Original Message ----
> From: Mark Steitle
<msteitle@gmail.com>
> To: Rotary motors in aircraft
<flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
> Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2007
8:19:39 AM
> Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: It is ALIVE!!! First Start in
Houston
>
> Dave,
>
>
>
>
Congradulations on first start!!! It is a real rush to hear your
baby breathe its first breath.
>
>
>
> As for the "Disable" switches, Tracy
and I had a discussion on this issue just a few weeks back. He
assured me that I wasn't the only one confused by the logic of the disable
switches. He now recommends that UP be ON (normal operation), and
DOWN be DISABLE. My little pea brain understands that.
>
>
>
>
> Glad you figured it out so
quickly.
>
>
>
> Mark
S.
>
>
>
> On 5/30/07,
David Staten <Dastaten@earthlink.net> wrote:
> We are prolly
gonna go with UP for ON and DOWN for OFF. That seems to be
> the
simplest for us southerners :)
>
>
> Yea.. it was the
injector power switches.
>
> Dave
>
> Bob White
wrote:
>
> >Congratulations Dave and
Chris. Brings back memories of my first
> >engine
start. Are the switches you had to turn over the injector
>
> >disable switches? If that was my diagram, up is for
_disable_ and down
> >is for run! As long as they work
the way you want that's the way to
> >wire them. :)
>
>
> >Bob W.
> >
> >
>
> >On
Wed, 30 May 2007 22:10:06 -0500
> >"Christopher Barber"
<CBarber@TexasAttorney.net> wrote:
> >
> >
>
>
> >>Oh, and for those playing along, we did install the
check valve properly <g>. So far only a minor oil leak from
a plug in the engine Dave thinks he may have just snugged in by hand and
forgot to tell me to get back to and a small coolent leak on a temporay hose
connection. Really, really small in both cases....almost non
issues. FWIW.
>
> >>
> >>Thanks
again for y'all's support and well wishes.
> >>
>
>>All the best,
> >>
> >>Chris
>
>>Houston, Texas
> >>Ellington Field (EFD)
>
>>
>
> >> ----- Original Message
-----
> >> From: Christopher Barber
>
>> To: Rotary motors in aircraft
>
>> Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2007 9:54 PM
>
>> Subject: [FlyRotary] It is ALIVE!!! First Start in
Houston
>
> >>
> >>
>
>> It actually started. We turned it off and it
started again. WAHOOOOO. But a mear wahoooo doesn't
quite express the amazing feeling and sense of accomplisment of first engine
start of the 2nd gen, turbo housing 13b.
>
> >>
>
>> David and I rebuilt it about 1.5 years
ago. Dave did most the teardown, cleaning, measureing tolerance
etc and we both rebuilt it following along Bruce T's video and the Haynes
shop manual. Dave final install on the CC engine mount and
Tracy's PSRU. I ran the wires, hoses...and the rest. A
true joint effort.
>
> >>
> >> We
tried last night to no avail. Turns out when I wired the injector
switches based on a great diagram from the Flyrotary list, the illustration
stated "top" and I installed that end up with the swithes being up when
on. However, when I was checking my wires this pm I noticed that
power was coming through the switch when the switch was
down.....doh! So, I turned them over and rechecked the rest of my
wires and grounds.
>
> >>
> >> In
a damn optomistic gesture while in a pessimistic mood, my hangar mate,
Richard Sessions (who is restoring a VariEZ) and my S/O, Jana and I pushed
the tale of the Velocity out the hangar door (of course it started
sprinkling <g>) (Dave was still at work). We took basic
security procedures, ie showing Jana how to use the fire
estingusher. I turned on the switches (including the now
correclty mounted injector switches), turned on the primary fuel pump, hit
the starter button and DAMN, it fired.........SCARED THE HELL out of
us.......you should have seen my two Cairn Terriers (Winston and Madison)
head for the hills (well, Houston has no hills, but y'all get the
idea). We kinda looked at each other in a mixed shock and
amazement and checke that we didn't blow anything off. We
actually mixed fuel, air, compression and spark and got
combustion.....who'ed of thunk it?
>
> >>
>
>> We waited for the portable battery charger/starter to
bring the battery back up and tried again. Switches up, Pumps on, press the
starter button......damn, it sputtered and started (after some
cranking). It started to rev really fast, or seeminly so, so I
brought the throttle to closed, which didn't stop it, so I cut the fuel pump
and it stopped. Go figure.
>
> >>
>
>> Well, we did this a few more times, never running it too
long since we do not yet have sensors on it yet. Also, Dave got off work and
came by to join the fun. Just the fact it actually ran was
great. Now that Tracy should be getting back into town, we should
be able to order the correct sensors to replace the ones that were
missplaced along the way.
>
> >>
>
>> Not quite sure what to work on now. Obviously
we will want to smooth it out and get it to start easily. It is
currently running better on B than A. I may have inavertanly
changed someting on A while messing with it during start sessions (may need
to reset A...donno yet). I think I will now try to start to clean
up the wiring so as to make it easier to manipulate the stuff in the
cabin. Righ now the panel is laying where the front seats should
be. So this may be a good starting point while waiting for
sensors that will let me know I am not ruining my new engine.
>
> >>
> >> Y'all's support and words of
wisdom, along with Tracy Crooks great products it what helped make this a
reality. Thanks for being there. NOW THE REAL WORK
(read that as fun) BEGINS.
>
> >>
>
>> Dave will be posting a much more technical account
soon....heck, I bet we both rushed home so we could annouce it to the
world.
> >>
> >> Thanks.
>
>>
> >> All the best,
>
>
>>
> >> Chris
>
>> Velocity N17010
> >> w/ a Rotary
13b...that actually runs.
> >>
> >>
>
>
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
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>
>
>
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