Wrathall Mark wrote:

Mark wrote>
I have also added the recommendation to safetywire the tension bolts. I am
currently woking on a low wing fuel system recomendation summary, and will
do a coolant plaumbing page as well (unless someone else beats me to it).
Mark
www.rotary.microcosman.com

Paul wrote>
Mark. On the subject of tension bolts you might also mention the need to
coat them with RTV before installation. If your engine is already built
take the bolts out one at a time, coat them with RTV and replace and
torque them before you remove the next one. Do this in the order
shown in the shop manual.
Paul Lamar

Mark wrote>
Actually I just cut and pasted your recommendation directly... " Perry had
the 35 pound flywheel in there which did not even slow down. Just bent the
bolt over at 90 degrees when it came out of the hole and contacted the
flywheel. Could have seized the engine if it had been an auto transmission
flex plate. Best to drill the heads of those bolts and safety wire them.
This is a well known problem with early necked down tension bolts. Racing
Beat recommends coating them with RTV before installation to damp the
vibratory modes"

I will be updating this page to reflect that the overheating occured after
shut down, and as more information comes to light..

It would be interesting to find root cause here, but it is unlikely we will.

Perry:
Did you strip the engine before installation? (from the discussions it
sounds like no)
What was the history of the engine?
Had the engine been previously split? (this would open the possiblity that
the tension bolts were incorrectly torqued - Mazda probably has robust
procedures in place to control this).
Has or will Mazdatrix return the rejected hardware from this engine? (you
indicted the rotor housings have shrunk - please provide exact measurements,
secondary damage, and photo's of condition. This would be interesting).
Is your engine still rigidly mounted, or have you added rubber damping?
Is your fan still hung via an extension directly on the e-shaft, or is it
now supported by bearings?

What was the coolant consumption , if any before this failure?

What was your typical stable coolant temp in climb, on the ground at idle?
Had you bled the cooling jacket after you last broke into the system?

What was the coolant consumption during the trouble shooting flights
performed in Palm Springs?

Were you getting blow down into the coolant during the troubleshooting?
What was the leakage rate you and Paul observed from the hose connection?
When was this connection last tightened?

 
The AirCraft Rotary Engine NewsLetter.              Powered by Linux.

http://home.earthlink.net/~rotaryeng/            http://www.linux.org