>
    > Sorry I didn't make to Bill Eslick's for the Rotorfest, I missed by
    > about one hour. About 30 miles north of San Angelo TX the RPM
   suddenly

    > dropped and I could not restore it with any of my emergency
    > procedures. GPS told me nearest airport was Robert Lee about 15 miles
    > away. I headed
    > there and landed without incident.
    >
    > Turning the prop by hand shows almost zero compression in one rotor,
    > indicating bad/broken apex seals, quite similar to my engine-out
    > experience 2 1/2 years ago which caused a forced landing near the
    > Grand Canyon. This time the vibration was not quite as bad, and the
    > RPM dropped to around 4300 which was still not enough to maintain
    > altitude.
    > I called my friend with a Glasair and he cam got me and took me
   home.
    > I
    > will have to find some time to build another motor and drive 12 hours
    > back there and swap motors. Or I might drive there, remove the wings
    > and
    > trailer it back, have not decided yet.
    > My good friend/mentor/flight instructor is trying to talk me into
    > going
    > back to a Lycosaurus, and I have to think of some good reasons
   not to.
    > Until I get the motor back and torn apart, I wont know what
   caused the
    > failure, but I will post anything that I find.
    >
    > Regards
    > Chuck Dunlap
    > RV-6 13B 535 hours
    >



   Chuck. Sorry to hear about your engine ''failure''. Since you mention
   possible bad/broken apex seals, may I ask if you use oil in fuel in that
   engine?. Yvon.

   Yes, I am using Wal-Mart 2stroke outboard oil.
   One detail I left out of my first post was I stayed overnight at Pecos,
   TX and when I got back in the AM someone had filled the fuel tanks
   overnight. I added the oil after the tanks were full, I usually add oil
   gradually  during fueling, so the oil may not have been a bit lean for
   the 1 1/2 hours flown since Pecos. I would not have thought it would be
   all that critical in the short term - I believe George Graham flew quite
   a few hours with NO oil without a problem.

   Chuck



Chuck, I have had that problem on a couple occasions(even gotten free
gas out of it).  Usually on a local trip when I don't even have any oil
to add.  I also have forgotten to bring oil on a longer trip (about a
tank's worth)..

Not only that, but I used to add the oil to the gas cans before pouring
in the plane, but that seemed like an unnecessary step as the oil seems
to mix so readily.  Now I always just add oil in one lump sum after
putting in the gas.

I am guessing that with 100LL the lead will act as a lubricant to some
extent.  I would be very surprised if that had anything to do with you
problem.