From: Mike Fontenot <mikef@apexconsultingservices.com>
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Initial Engine (not) starting with EC2 - SHE STARTED!
To: "Rotary motors in aircraft" <flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
Date: Tuesday, May 5, 2009, 9:20 PM

Hi everyone,

Good news!  She STARTED!  And ran for about 10 minutes.  Sweet Jezzzus that sounded good. After a year and a half I think I'm going to get this bird in the air.

So here are the details: When we last left our GEO and the EC2 the crank position sensor (CPS) connections for the primary and backup EC2 controllers were swapped. Last night I hooked them up the right way. This afternoon I started thinking that this swap might not really be  the problem, as much as I wanted it to be.

Here's my logic, I'll call 'pull' and you can start shooting.  Since the A& B CPS are just reading the magnet on the wheels, I would think either one could be sending timing info to the EC2. So having them swapped would make no timing/reading difference, assuming the magnets, CPS, and wheel teeth were doing their jobs. Anyway, moving on.

I talked with a good friend very knowledgeable of engines on Sunday. He suggested two things:

1. A can of Cold Start right into the throttle body.   Try that first, if no good move on to #2.

2. Put some injector cleaner into the fuel and run that through the fuel system for a while. That might free any deposits on the injectors after sitting for 1.5 years.

Tonight - Tuesday - with the CPS connected to the right spots I tried to start her up.  Same as last Sunday, did not want to start. So  took the air filter off and sprayed in some Cold Start.  Sat down, hit the starter and BOOM, she started. It ran a bit rough at idle (1630 RPM) and I had to increase the mixture to keep her running.  Earlier Tracy had suggested that the first time around the EC2 injectors rate may have been set too high for my engine. I was biased to this as well and when I reduced the mixture she almost died.

Anyway, with it running fairly smooth with Mixture control at about 0400,  I switched to Mode 3 and started lowering the fuel injector (FI) flow there. Engine almost died, but I increased the mixture to keep her running. So I said what the hell, lets increase the Mode 3 FI rate and see what happens.  Engine started to smooth out nicely, mixture bars came up.  I could start bringing the mixture knob back to 12 while increasing the FI in Mode 3.

I know I need to get the MAP up to around 22 to set the Mode 3 value properly, but to make it start and run consistently I was able to play with the balance at these lower MAP values to keep it running smoothly. I took it up to around 2100 RPM and kept it nice and smooth.

I let it run for about 10 minutes. During that time I tried switching to the B controller, almost died. It was great just to sit there and listen to her run, and run smoothly. The WX prediction is for possible thunder storms tonight, and I could see a dust front moving towards my house. Wind picked up to around 30 MPH.  So I shut things down and pushed her back into the garage. It is not trivial to move her in/out of my garage. Anyway, I don't think my neighbors even realized what was going on, and even if they did, it was not for long.

I know I've got a lot of work to do but I appreciate the feedback and advice so far. Thanks a lot, I'm sure you'll be getting more questions from me soon, but I think I'm on a good road.  This weekend I plan to take her to a shut down Target store, with a huge empty parking lot, find a tie down spot and open her up.

I 'll keep you posted. Thanks again.

--
Mike

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Mike Fontenot
Apex Consulting & Services LLC
Lakewood, Colorado
303 / 731-6645
mikef AT apexconsultingservices DOT com
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