Mike/Ed,
I couldn't agree more. I am holding my breath waiting for the other shoe to fall.
Now, in fairness, the issues I have had with the EC2/EM2 must have been from my own doing. I learned/am learning electrics as I have gone along. The broken ground was my fault even if obviously unintentional as were the other issues. The reality is, it has just been recently that I have actually been able to actually tune the engine. Unlike has been mentioned by others I do not believe this to be emotional "rationalization" but instead first hand observation of what is happening and the continued process of this endeavor.
My two year delay on the project cannot be attributed to the EC2/EM2. I toasted my first engine due to my ignorance and provided a GREAT learning experience. It 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 strakes, but it did cause a long delay to rebuild. Finally, my second engine, 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 not unheard of, it is not the norm. I am getting pretty comfortable with the 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 good and bad thing. Good I have learned and gained experience. Bad that is was ever and issue in the first place place the time and expense needed to get past.
All these issues, IMAO, are not limited to a rotary build. Some were my own doing, 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 cost prohibitive.
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. Once I stopped trying to tune engines that were leaking coolant 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 with 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 coolant leak, but the strakes likely either way unless the failed Jeffco really was due to ethanol in the Mogas. Who know with certainty?
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 learning 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 the 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?
All the best,
Chris
Thats not funny Ed - thats exactly where I'm at now. Everything is working
pretty well and I'm walking around on eggshells with fingers and toes
crossed hoping all the bad stuff is behind me.
One of the frustrating things is looking back over the past year and trying
to recall out of all of the red herrings I chased, which ones actually 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 are the things I changed
that did make a difference that I recall:
1) Adding a small "capacity" to the MAP sensor inputs. Dave Leonard
recommended 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 table locations that straddle the staging point to minimize the stumble
that was occuring as I transitioned from 2 to 4 injectors and back.
3) My engine would not run well at these low power settings with the default
program. Tracy is correct in that trying to program the EC2 actually made it
worse. The problem isnt programming the EC2, its programming the 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 working well. Too bad I
procrastinated for 6 months before finally doing it.
4) Reseating the improperly seated B controller in the EC2. This never
caused the engine to run poorly, but occasionally caused the engine to not
run at all. Which was not particularly confidence inspiring (and one of the
reasons that I still dont entirely trust the airplane).
5) Sending my EC-2 back to Tracy for update. Lots of changes and
improvements occured in the 5 years between when I bought it and when the
engine first ran.
A couple of things I wasted a lot of time on that did not actually make any
performance difference:
1) Chasing phantom vacuum leaks. If the engine isnt running correctly your
MAP/vacuum gauge will likely read incorrectly. Is this the cause of the
problem or just a symptom? I spent a lot of time looking for the vacuum leak
that the gauge appeared to indicate, but it didnt exist.
2) Chasing electrical noise. I spent a lot of time chasing what in hindsight
appears to have been a non-existant problem. I made a couple of wiring
changes that simplified my installation a little but had no detectable
effect on performance.
3) EC2 tuning blindly relying on a MAP gauge, EGTs, and O2 sensor. See #3
above.
Off to the airport to fly and see if my landing gear shimmy is cured after
installing gear leg stiffeners.
Mike Wills
RV-4 N144MW
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ed Anderson" <eanderson@carolina.rr.com>
To: "Rotary motors in aircraft" <flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
Sent: Sunday, August 23, 2009 6:03 AM
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Progress Report: Velocity N17010
> Well, Chris, the rotary deities apparently 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.
>
> Sounds like you should just start the engine once a day to keep the
> motivation high.
>
> Congratulations for 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/index.html
>
> http://www.flyrotary.com/
>
> http://members.cox.net/rogersda/rotary/configs.htm#N494BW
>
> http://www.rotaryaviation.com/Rotorhead%20Truth.htm
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rotary 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: Velocity 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
> wire to my ECU. How I had to send the unit back and how I not only
> scrambled the brains of the EC2 but also of the EM2. While you had it I
> received the fuel pumps from RWS that had been back ordered to replace
> the noisy MGS(?) pumps with push on hose connections <yikes>. I
> installed the new pumps and much better plumbing to them a couple of
> weeks ago while waiting for the electronics to return.
>
> Well, I got my electronics back and installed them all back in the plane
> day before yesterday......NOW, here is the scary part. I turned on
> everything, placed the mixture in the middle, gave two shots of primer,
> hit the start switch......AND IT STARTED.....IN LESS THAN ONE
> BLADE.....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 voodoo 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 under my oil cooler to pull air through which is helping keep the
> oil temps lower longer. The coolant temp has not been an issue at lower
> power settings since I installed the larger radiator/heat 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 that broke and am confidant (ok,
> confidant with fingers crossed) with the current install.
>
> Go figure.
>
> All the best,
>
> Chris Barber
> Houston
>
> --
> Homepage: http://www.flyrotary.com/
> Archive and UnSub:
> http://mail.lancaironline.net:81/lists/flyrotary/List.html
>
> __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus
> signature
> database 3267 (20080714) __________
>
> The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.
>
> http://www.eset.com
>
>
>
> __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus
> signature
> database 3267 (20080714) __________
>
> The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.
>
> http://www.eset.com
>
>
>
> --
> Homepage: http://www.flyrotary.com/
> Archive and UnSub:
> http://mail.lancaironline.net:81/lists/flyrotary/List.html
>
--
Homepage: http://www.flyrotary.com/
Archive and UnSub: http://mail.lancaironline.net:81/lists/flyrotary/List.html