Perry Mick got weathered in up in Oregon and Tracy had to turn back around Texas
because of last minute kludged up muffler problems. I am sure Tracy will fill
us in when on the details when he gets a chance.
I gave Perry's talk and Chuck Dunlap took over Tracy's slot in the forums.
Chuck did a fine job on his airplane and he was kind enough to give me
a ride when the air show was over on Saturday. See the top view picture
below. Chuck's engine is cooling fine. Perhaps too well and he will
probably need a cowl flap. The air scoops need a little cosmetic work.
IMHO his throttle body is a bit on the small side as his manifold pressure
is down about 2.5 inches or so from what it should be. Chuck will be working
on that as he is turning only about 5500 RPM at top speed. He at first felt
the pitch on the prop too high but now he feels he needs to
get the manifold pressure up where it should be first.
His in-flight vibration level is a bit higher than Tracy's airplane so I thought
about that on the 400 mile drive home this morning. (I am a bit tired :-). I am
also the most experienced Mazda rotary powered aircraft passenger in the
world, I think, having flown in two different Mazda rotary powered airplanes :-))
The vibration is of course no where near as bad as your typical aircraft
engine but my goal is to make it as good as a car. I think we need to
give some more thought to the hardness, size and location of the rubber bushing
motor mount we have been using. Tracy and Chuck now use small rubber bushings mounted
in close to the engine. Only about 14 to 16 inches apart. IMHO it will help to move
them outboard as the compression will be less under the torque
load from the prop. See the sketch I recently uploaded on the motor plate
with the rubber bushing 24 inches apart.
More on Copper State after I get a little sleep.
Paul Lamar
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