[FlyRotary] Re: Progress Report: Velocity N1= 7010

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My two year delay on the = project cannot be attributed to the EC2/EM2. I toasted my first eng= ine due to my ignorance and provided a GREAT learning experience. I= t was me that did not have it properly gaged and ran it too hard without = a prop. My bad, my learning curve. The Jeffco failing in my strakes= exact cause is still unknown, but I did not use Jeffco to redo the strak= es, but it did cause a long delay to rebuild. Finally, my second en= gine, comprised of 80% new parts (all new housings and plates, seals etc)= failed due to a failure of a brand new factory part. While it is n= ot unheard of, it is not the norm. I am getting pretty comfortable with t= he build process. While I do not relish the thought, I am no longer= intimidated by the idea of cracking the engine open. That is a goo= d and bad thing. Good I have learned and gained experience. Bad tha= t is was ever and issue in the first place place the time and expense nee= ded to get past.

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All th= ese issues, IMAO, are not limited to a rotary build. Some were my own doi= ng, some were bad luck and could have happened to anyone with any engine.= I hate to think of the cost if I would have trashed a Lyc due to my own = ignorance. The rotary allowed me the ability to buy new stuff. = ; I do not think I could have done that with a Lyc. It would have been co= st prohibitive.

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It has = only been in the last few months that I have actually had the opportunity= to actually get everything past "proof of concept" stages and make solid= progress to flight ready. This especially includes the engine.&nbs= p; Once I stopped trying to tune engines that were leaking coo= lant into the combustion chambers things got MUCH easier <g>. = As I have said before, even though I have not doubt that the rotary does= take longer, everything I have learned I too would have had to learn wit= h a Lycoming. Yes, it is much more plug and play with a Lyc, but I = would still have had to learn all the things that are VERY unique to that= engine too. I may have had similar problems...well, uh, not coolan= t leak, but the strakes likely either way unless the failed Jeffco really= was due to ethanol in the Mogas. Who know with certainty?=0A

=0A<= DIV dir=3Dltr>I gotta say, how really swheeet= the engine sounded starting right up and running so consistently. = Subsequent starts took a few more blades. That's ok, I am lea= rning what the engine likes. One time was due to a low charge when I left= my cooling fans running while doing something else. Again, can't blame t= he system for doing what it is supposed to do. It was my oversight.= I hope to learn these lessons on the ground...don't cha think?

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All the best,

= =0A

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Chris

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Cpl. Christopher Barber, JD

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Badge 330

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Bellaire Police Depa= rtment

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5110 Jessamine=0A

Bellaire, Texas 77401

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713-668-= 0487

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713-662-8289 fax=0A

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CBarber@BellairePolice.com

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=0A=

=0AFrom: Rotary mot= ors in aircraft on behalf of Mike Wills
Sent: Sun 8/23/2009 11:= 16 AM
To: Rotary motors in aircraft
Subject: [FlyRota= ry] Re: Progress Report: Velocity N17010

=0A

=0A<= P>Thats not funny Ed - thats exactly where I'm at now. Eve= rything is working
pretty well and I'm walking around on eggshells wit= h fingers and toes
crossed hoping all the bad stuff is behind me.
<= BR>One of the frustrating things is looking back over the past year and t= rying
to recall out of all of the red herrings I chased, which ones ac= tually made
a difference. From day one my engine ran great above about= 2800 RPM. It was
the low power settings that gave me trouble. These a= re the things I changed
that did make a difference that I recall:
1= ) Adding a small "capacity" to the MAP sensor inputs. Dave Leonard
rec= ommended this to me and it helped damp out oscillations.
2) Moving the= staging point up. Related to this is very fine tuning of the
MAP tabl= e locations that straddle the staging point to minimize the stumble
th= at was occuring as I transitioned from 2 to 4 injectors and back.
3) M= y engine would not run well at these low power settings with the default<= BR>program. Tracy is correct in that trying to program the EC2 actually m= ade it
worse. The problem isnt programming the EC2, its programming th= e EC2 blindly
without knowing what's in the MAP table. Installing Ed's= EFISM solved this
and was the single best thing I did to get things w= orking well. Too bad I
procrastinated for 6 months before finally doin= g it.
4) Reseating the improperly seated B controller in the EC2. This= never
caused the engine to run poorly, but occasionally caused the en= gine to not
run at all. Which was not particularly confidence inspirin= g (and one of the
reasons that I still dont entirely trust the airplan= e).
5) Sending my EC-2 back to Tracy for update. Lots of changes andimprovements occured in the 5 years between when I bought it and when t= he
engine first ran.

A couple of things I wasted a lot of time = on that did not actually make any
performance difference:
1) Chasin= g phantom vacuum leaks. If the engine isnt running correctly your
MAP/= vacuum gauge will likely read incorrectly. Is this the cause of the
pr= oblem or just a symptom? I spent a lot of time looking for the vacuum lea= k
that the gauge appeared to indicate, but it didnt exist.
2) Chasi= ng electrical noise. I spent a lot of time chasing what in hindsight
a= ppears to have been a non-existant problem. I made a couple of wiring
= changes that simplified my installation a little but had no detectableeffect on performance.
3) EC2 tuning blindly relying on a MAP gauge, = EGTs, and O2 sensor. See #3
above.

Off to the airport to fly an= d see if my landing gear shimmy is cured after
installing gear leg sti= ffeners.

Mike Wills
RV-4 N144MW

----- Original Message -= ----
From: "Ed Anderson" <eanderson@carolina.rr.com>
To: "Rot= ary motors in aircraft" <flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
Sent: Sund= ay, August 23, 2009 6:03 AM
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Progress Report: = Velocity N17010

> Well, Chris, the rotary deities apparentl= y decided you have suffered long
> enough. Congratulations, I= know the feeling - almost like - well, Magic.
> Then there is the = anxiety waiting for the other shoe to drop {:>) - just
> kidding= =2E
>
> Sounds like you should just start the engine once a d= ay to keep the
> motivation high.
>
> Congratulations f= or hanging in there
>
> Ed
>
> Ed Anderson
>= ;
> Rv-6A N494BW Rotary Powered
>
> Matthews, NC
>= ;
> eanderson@carolina.rr.com
>
> http://www.andersonee.com
>
> http://www.dmack.net/mazda/ind= ex.html
>
> http://= www.flyrotary.com/
>
> http://members.cox.net/rogersda/rotar= y/configs.htm#N494BW
>
> http://www.rotaryaviation.com/Rotorhead%2= 0Truth.htm
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: R= otary motors in aircraft [= mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net] On
> Behalf Of Christopher = Barber
> Sent: Saturday, August 22, 2009 8:58 PM
> To: Rotary= motors in aircraft
> Subject: [FlyRotary] Progress Report: Velocit= y N17010
>
> Tracy et al,
>
> WHAT ARE YOU DOING = TO ME!!!! I am not quite sure how to act. In the
> last= chapter of the continuing saga I informed all of the broken ground
&g= t; wire to my ECU. How I had to send the unit back and how I not on= ly
> scrambled the brains of the EC2 but also of the EM2. Whi= le you had it I
> received the fuel pumps from RWS that had been ba= ck ordered to replace
> the noisy MGS(?) pumps with push on h= ose connections <yikes>. I
> installed the new pumps an= d much better plumbing to them a couple of
> weeks ago while waitin= g for the electronics to return.
>
> Well, I got my electroni= cs back and installed them all back in the plane
> day before yeste= rday......NOW, here is the scary part. I turned on
> everythi= ng, placed the mixture in the middle, gave two shots of primer,
> h= it the start switch......AND IT STARTED.....IN LESS THAN ONE
> BLAD= E.....kinda like, uh, well...a car engine <g>. No hesitation.= Fired
> up and ran strong, clean and consistent through all power = settings. Who
> would of thunk it?????? Again,I am not = quite sure how to act. I may
> have to start working on other parts= of the airplane and support
> systems.. Did ya put some vood= oo magic in the boxes this time?
>
> Also, the new pumps are = significantly more quite....just an added perk.
> OAT today was 100= + and my temps stayed good. I added two four inch
> fans und= er my oil cooler to pull air through which is helping keep the
&= gt; oil temps lower longer. The coolant temp has not been an issue = at lower
> power settings since I installed the larger radiator/hea= t exchanger.
> Oil is still running over coolant but I can let the = engine sit on the
> ramp (where an electronic thermostat sitting on= the strake read 132
> degrees) at a moderate idle all day long and= not worry about it.
>
> Oh, yes, I rewired the ground wire t= hat broke and am confidant (ok,
> confidant with fingers crossed) w= ith the current install.
>
> Go figure.
>
> All t= he best,
>
> Chris Barber
> Houston
>
> --<= BR>> Homepage: http://www.= flyrotary.com/
> Archive and UnSub:
> http://mail.lancairon= line.net:81/lists/flyrotary/List.html
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> -= -
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