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From: "Ed Anderson" <eanderson@carolina.rr.com>
To: "Rotary motors in aircraft" <flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
References: <list-2172367@logan.com>
Subject: Re: [FlyRotary] The adventures of Chris and Dave..
Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2007 06:05:44 -0400
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Hi Dave,

Congratulations on making progress.  Sounds like a few more teething 
problems to work out, but you'll get there.

Ed
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Staten" <Dastaten@earthlink.net>
To: "Rotary motors in aircraft" <flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2007 12:29 AM
Subject: [FlyRotary] The adventures of Chris and Dave..


> Met Chris at the airport today for a short little session.. couple items 
> on the punch list...
>
> Chris had picked up a replacement second fuel filter (fine element in a 
> bowl) to be placed between the pumps and the injectors. The original i had 
> bought, I had cross threaded at some point and the fitting/base was toast. 
> We still had a coarse screen upstream of the pumps to catch large trash, 
> but wanted to keep smaller stuff from plugging the fuel injectors
>
> We placed the new filter on there, removed the checkvalve I had used as a 
> male-male union/placeholder. In the process I took a small bath in 89 
> octane mogas, before we realized that the line was below the sump, and 
> siphoning, and we sealed the cutoff.. Ooops. No smoking please!
>
> While i was there, I also had come to the realization over time that I had 
> set the fuel pressure regulator based on memory to a value of 44-45 psi. 
> After reviewing the manuals that came with the upgraded EC2, I realized 
> the correct value is in the 35-36 psi  range. This was resulting in a 
> significant over-rich condition.. 25-35% excess fuel injected based on the 
> default map of the EC2 (fuel flow is a function of pressure and opening 
> time).
>
> Keep in mind that previously we were also over-rich because of a manifold 
> pressure sensor leak that caused the EC2 to think it was at wide open 
> throttle. We were literally pouring fuel into the engine, no wonder flames 
> shot out the tail pipe.
>
> Chris also removed and re-installed the IVO prop, this time placing some 
> limiting washers into the assembly that were called out,( but never 
> actually placed in there by me, and not communicated about this). We then 
> flattened the pitch on the blades to a finer setting because on Chris's 
> last run he stated the engine appeared to be bogging down when he opened 
> the throttle.
>
> This time, starting was EASY. The BEST START we've had yet, and one of the 
> best runs we've had yet. Fuel pump on, mixture at midpoint, mode 0, no 
> prime, CONTACT. 3-4 seconds crank and we were running. When we leaned from 
> midpoint the engine began to bog, and would falter and stumble past the 9 
> o'clock position on the knob. We warmed it up, with good temp readings on 
> oil and coolant (95 degrees prior to start, good climb in temp while 
> running). Killed it. Did a hot start with good re-start.
>
> Things run rough on B side now, not really amenable to leaning.. it 
> stumbles. The programming hasnt changed, so its either a function of not 
> having a temp sensor, or we still have a wiring gremlin with something 
> that is only active on B side (coil disable?, bad sensors on the B side of 
> the unit)
>
> We intentionally ran the unit long and hard enough to reach 210 degrees 
> water temp, saw the blinking at 211 so we know that the over temp alarm 
> works. We then chose to do a shutdown and hot start again. This time we 
> didnt get the desired start. We really didnt try too many variables at 
> that point, due to time. Next time we will try running the pump for a full 
> minute to cool the fuel rail prior to attempting a hot start. There is a 
> heat shield but there are exhaust components less than a 1/4" away from 
> the fuel rail's integral heat shield. That will be changed by the time we 
> fly.
>
> On a side note.. I have determined that when I was building I led myself 
> to believe that the oil pan did not require a gasket, and that sealant was 
> adequate. In my installation this has proven to be completely and utterly 
> false. The gaskets are on order, and we will be lifting the engine up a 
> few inches to drop the pan, scrape sealant and re-install with gaskets on 
> both sides of the sandwich plate. The leaks appear to be coming from the 
> upper side of the sandwich mount/engine interface, where oil spills over 
> during its return to the pan.
>
> I may talk to Chris about a second oil temp sensor between the engine and 
> the first cooler so we can examine the temp delta across our cooling 
> system. Likewise may tap a probe into the tank of the radiator to read the 
> colder coolant temp exiting the radiator to examine that delta as well. At 
> this point in time we have NO airflow over our rads other than what 
> natural convection and wind generate. We are pondering a small fan 
> covering one portion of our rad to assist with this, and I am also 
> interested in using a spray bottle system as well if needed, to spray an 
> evaporative coolant on the radiator if needed for ground ops or high 
> performance climb.
>
> Keep in mind we have not run our ducts yet. The radiator in use was 
> purposely selected by me, a sirocco style crossover design. The easiest 
> explanation is that there are two radiators stacked one on top of each 
> other, and the water flow enters in our case at a top right half tank, 
> goes to the left, drops down in the left side tank, then flows to the 
> right and exits through a lower right half tank, in a U shaped or C shaped 
> flow pattern. I did this with the idea of using an aux fan being on my 
> mind from the very beginning. John Slade had used a full sized fan that 
> covered the whole radiator, and was actually obstructing flow at higher 
> speeds, and was a hinderance to his performance. By using this radiator 
> design, we can place a small fan that covers less than 1/4-1/6 of the 
> surface area of the rad's frontal area, but provides cooling airflow to 
> fins that contain 100% of the coolant flow. At lower power settings on the 
> ground this should be more than adequate. At altitude and speed, the 
> unobstructed remainder should be adequate, and if need be we can use the 
> fan there as well, or leave it on 100% of the time.
>
> Today was our best day yet with regards to engine starting and operation. 
> Its all coming together one bit at a time.
> 1.4 hrs recorded engine time. Actual is estimated 2.0 or more.
>
> Dave Staten
> Velocity N-17010
> Mazda Rotary 4 port, NA for now.
>
> --
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