Chris,
I'm sure that we've all met those that love to trash anything except a certified powerplant. However, I had a conversation with a fellow builder once who commented that as experimeters, we were both out on the limb, only that I was a little further out than him. We all have to choose for ourselves how far out on the limb we feel comfortable. Makes sense, if you accept the premis that a Lycoming is a more reliable powerplant than a rotary, which I don't. I had an experience early in my flying career where we blew a jug off an O-200 and just barely made it back to the airport before the thing quit (prop stopped as we flared). So, I don't share the same faith as the "true believers". For me, deciding to use a rotary engine was a pretty easy one.
BTW, as a reminder, I still have a mangled ball of aluminum from that O-200 that used to be a piston. Whenever a "true believer" starts badmouthing the rotary, I show them my souvenir from my previous experience with a certified engine.
On a side note, the wife and I flew our 3-rotor Lancair from Austin to Denver on Saturday. The only problem has been finding mogas. That's a 688nm trip, by far the longest trip we've taken to date. Anyone in the Denver area that would like to meet up, give me a call on my cell (512/497-3046). We'll be heading back to the heat on 7/5/09, weather permitting.
Mark S.
On Sun, Jun 28, 2009 at 3:51 AM, Christopher Barber <CBarber@texasattorney.net> wrote:
ill,
I think you are correct about the tach and the secondaries. I had it do it again today when I was running only the secondaries. The rpm was about 2000 revolutions faster when I shut off the primaries.
Today was spent replacing the 20 awg with the 16 awg that is mentioned in the manual. I also cleaned up some other wire issues resulting from me separating the coil/injector wires from the EC2/EM2 wires.
Ed,
Thanks, seems you nailed it when you mentioned my oxygen sensor not being grounded properly causing the mixture bar to be erratic, now it is amazing how sensitive it seems. You were correct about a gasket that may be preventing a proper ground by the exhaust manifold, so I ran a wire clamped the the sensor to the ground block.
I still feel progress is being made, but I still seemed to be plagued by inconsistencies. Tonight, I was tuning at lower settings and things seems to be going as expected. I decided to ramp up the power and when I did the engine started sputtering and not developing power above about 3400 rmp. Came back to idle and it smoothed out, added power and more stumbles. Damn. I shut it down, restarted and it had gone away. I went to WOT and the power came on amazingly up to about 6200 rpm...and it felt like it. Since my temps were doing ok, I kept it at full power for about 20 seconds or so when the rpm dropped about 400 rpm to 5800. I did nothing to cause the change. I then started to fiddle with the mixture but it did not make a difference in bringing the power back. Hmmmm? Shut down, restarted and it did the same thing. Hmmm? Hmmmm?
Also, twice I had the engine want to stall when I cut the primaries. A shut down and restart had it come back on line again. Sigh, I cannot even count how many times I have rechecked connections and wires.
I am having continued problems with my charging system, so I will try to focus on this for now as it could be a base cause of some of these concerns. Al, spotted my low volts and I was aware of it but focusing on other issues until my EE buddy can come out. What he will be able to detect and help correct would likely take me weeks, if I ever found it....since I have not as of yet.
Most of today was spent with mundane issues (like better wire runs) and folks stopping by the hangar. Also, having to try to put in perspective a very well educated engineering type from another list who emailed me and trashed the rotary and the EC2, in what I believe a well meaning, but very, very harsh manner. I value the concern and knowledge however, he blamed my problems on the rotary etc, while I have seen most my issues being something that could have happened with what ever engine I was learning about. It shook me in its tone and message, even if I do not agree....however, since I do not wish to have my head in the sand, I do not take a well educated persons mindful opinion lightly.
As always guys, thanks for reading and putting your minds together for the common good.
All the best,
Chris
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