Paul:
Next time you talk to the Mazdatrix guys, thank them for the great job
they did on my engine.
It's been on the plane for four years now, I haven't taken it off since
I installed it in Palm Springs June 2001.
375 hours on it now, never a problem. 540 hours total.
It did start leaking oil from somewhere around the front cover on the
right side after about 1 year. I've never been able to locate the source
exactly. But it's a low seepage that I just live with, not worth taking
the engine off for. I have to add a quart every 3 to 4 hours, but some
of that loss is injected oil - two remaining oil injectors in the
engine, the two from the intake manifold have been removed.
I recently completed a round-trip from Oregon to Kansas, the engine
continues to perform flawlessly. My biggest problem travelling is
finding mogas. I can't burn 100LL, it will foul my plugs every time.
Updates on http://www.ductedfan.com

Perry


Paul:

What steps can one take to be sure that he does not need to use mogas?
Don't want to be limited to only mogas.

Rick Irwin


The engine runs fine on 100LL. 100LL just slowly fouls the plugs and
slows the response time of the O2 sensor which is not a real problem as
Tracy does not use the O2 sensor. Perhaps for initial tuning.

Run some auto fuel once and a while and the O2 sensor and maybe the
plugs will recover.

Paul Lamar

Seems like there should be an adaptable sparkplug design that would be
less susceptible to lead fouling.

As well, if you are able to lean properly, especially running lean of peak
EGT, the fouling problem should be reduced - less total byproduct per
operating hour.

I also wonder if running a lead scavenger such as TCP would be viable in a
rotary.  I know the lead scavengers can be only marginally effective on
engines that don't burn very hot (like the little Continentals) - (I
think) low EGT means the lead salts condense in the cylinder instead of
riding out through the exhaust.   I would guess that the rotary runs
plenty hot for the scavengers to do their job - esp when leaned properly.

Additionally, I wonder if running two-stroke as pre-mix would be better
with the lead, instead of injecting crankcase oil like Perry's plane does.
Seems like any ash buildup from the crankcase oil would provide a place
for lead deposits to form more easily.


Regards,

Matt-


Ah Matt you may have hit the nail on the head there. As far as I know
Perry is still using the stock 2nd gen computer system with no way of manual leaning.
At least he did not have a way a couple of years ago. My RX8 engine with
the stock computer holds the mixture to .01 of stoichiometric.

Due to NOX emissions Mazda has little choice even though leaning
at 65 MPH cruising to 100 F EGT lean of peak would result in better MPG.

Paul Lamar