X-Mozilla-Keys:                                                                                 
Brian D. Cain wrote:

Hey guys, has anyone figured out a way to monitour "cylinder head"
temperatures in a rotary?

My buddy and I, John Wise, were just discussing if this is possible.  At
first glance, a standard CHT wouldn't fit in the rotor housing.  We did come
up with a way around this.

Is there a way to measure the temperature of the leading spark plug since
it's constantly in the flame front and hottest point of the chamber?

Sure would be handy to have some numbers like this.

B

-] Brian D. Cain, FC Motorsports. 
-] 1988 Mazda Rx7 Turbo II/FC3S -- 13.86 - 104.08mph.
-] Dallas, TX   (214) 885-8227 ICQ#: 1733105
-] http://rotary.simplenet.com/fcm/intro.html

I think we discussed this a long time ago here on the ACRE NL.

One can get thermocouples that replace the spark plug
washers. I think you are right and there would be a problem
getting them under the spark plugs.

The best place is on the inner wall right next to the steel liner.
You would need to drill a small hole in this area and figure out
how to imbed a small thermocouple. I suspect it takes some kind
of ceramic insulation to do this and still not short the thermocouple.

Then you have the problem of getting the wires out of the water jacket
without causing a leak. 

Come to think about it right next to the spark plugs there is
a web that could be carefully drilled all the way down to the steel
liner
without breaking into the water jacket. I would use nothing larger than
a 1/8 inch drill bit for this purpose. This web is only about
a 1/4 inch thick. Bury the thermocouple at the bottom of this hole.

As I recall I think we decided it was better to bolt the thermocouple on
with the boss for the knock sensor if you have a late housing.

If not you could drill and tap a small hole for the thermocouple
somewhere near the spark plugs. This needs to be done with
the rotor housing off so you don't drill into the water jacket.

For all sorts of heat sensing stuff try.

http://www.omega.com/

Paul Lamar
 
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