Subject: mikuni carbs
From: Rotary Engine
Date: 5/28/2007, 4:38 PM
To: AARotary Engine


     >
     >      > Mikuni HRS48 is looking good. I'll mount the carbs close
    to the
     >     engine
     >      > for good idle and low profile and use a 25 inch long stack.
     >      > Mikuni claims 120 HP per carb which is perfect for our use.
     >      > If a Mikuni can live on a hog it can live on a rotary.
     >      >
     >      > If this works it is a major breakthrough for the rotary in
     > general.
     >      > I would not be a bit surprised if it finds it way into car
     > racing.
     >      >
     >      > Mikuni is in my neck of the woods so perhaps I will hit
     >      > them up for some test 48 mm carb loaners.
     >      >
     >      > Paul Lamar ...No rotor no motor.
     >
     >     Hello Paul,
     >     How are you going. I have been of the list for some time now
     > but dave
     >     has passed on your email. I have mounted two Mikuni on the
     > renises for
     >     my Mustang. I did not need to go to the bigger ones for this.
     > the best
     >     price I found was from www.easternperformance.com
    <http://www.easternperformance.com>.
     >     all the flow rates are at another site.
     >     What ignition are you going to use? i was looking at using the
     > same
     >     system as the Jabiru uses on this. I have a Harley direct drive
     >     alternator to mount also.
     >     I have been working on the lightning with the 8 5100 Jabiru
     > engine in
     >     of late but will go back to the Mustang again. I am a lot
     > happier now
     >     that I have descended with the high pressure fuel supply.
     >     I have also had this project on hold as the RAA in Australia
     > get its
     >     new regs in place to include the Mustang
     >     Regards Don
     >
     >     --
     >     Best regards,
     >     ddunbar WA
     >
     >
     >     We are doing fine Don. We just got a new Golden puppy.
     >     BTW Robin and I might visit next month. I would like
     >     to explore WA some more.
     >
     >     Yes I know. Here are some old pictures you sent.
     >
     >     Don't expect a lot of power if your using the Mikuni with the
     >     side port RX8 motor. The hot tip is a p-port engine.
     >     I would swap these for the 48's and p-port the engine. It is
     > real easy
     >     now that Mark Steitle has figured out how to tig weld them in.
     >     This is a piece of cake for the highly skilled people you have
     > over
     >     there.
     >
     >     You don't have to use the power and fuel burn if you don't need
     > it.
     >     Also the extra power will pay off big time when cruising at
     >     10,000 feet because you are down to about 60% power anyway.
     >     In other words starting with 240 HP at sea level you will
     >     have 144 HP at 10,000 feet where the aerodynamic drag is
     >     much much lower. Mount the 48's close to the block for a
     >     better idle. Don't fool around :) Jump in! The water is fine :)
     >
     >     Ignition:
     >     A multi spark capacitor discharge ignition one per spark plug
     >     has an advantage for a rotary as it will fire through a fouled
     >     spark plug. If you burn any 100LL the plugs foul sooner rather
     > than
     >     later.
     >     If you use one per plug the RPM at which they fail to fire
     >     multiple times is doubled as that number (about 4,000 RPM) is
     > given
     >     for a four
     >     cylinder engine that fires twice as often as a one rotor engine.
     >     It will also fire a leaner mixture so you can cruise with a lower
     >     fuel burn. MSD Part number 6200. Don't worry about the total
     >     power consumption as each unit is using half the power as a four
     >     cylinder
     >     unit single unit would be using.
     >
     >     The easy and simple way to trigger it is use two mag pick ups
     > mounted
     >     180 degrees from each other and make a new steel trigger wheel.
     >     Mount the new trigger on the outside of the RX8 e-shaft pulley
     >     as it is easier to fabricate brackets and clear the belts.
     >     Thanks again to Mark Steitle for this tip.
     >
     >     Fire leading and trailing plugs at the same time around 20 to 30
     >     degrees BTDC.
     >
     >     http://www.msdignition.com/ignition_4_6200.htm
     >
     >     Paul Lamar ...No rotor no motor.
     >
     >     Paul,
     >
     >     I don't think the MSD is going to fire more than one spark above
     >     3000 rpm, which is what it says in its literature.
     >
     >     Even with one box per rotor (or even one box per spark spark
     > plug),
     >     there is not enough time for multiple sparks. The fact that you
     > have
     >     less cylinders to fire does not change that.
     >
     >     Let's say the engine is running 6000 rpm. That's 100
     > revolutions per
     >     second, or 360 degrees of rotation every 10 milliseconds.
     >
     >     The spark duration from the MSD is 20 degrees, or 1 /18'th of a
     >     revolution. That works out to 10 milliseconds divided by 18
    equals
     >     0.5 milliseconds for the spark itself. Trying to cram in
    multiple
     >     sparks in that short a time would only be counterproductive
     > because
     >     you are shortening the time that spark is present.
     >
     >     Also, I'm not clear on whether you are proposing to use one MSD
     > box
     >     per spark plug, or one box per rotor. I would think you could use
     >     one box per rotor and use a coil with two towers two fire both
     > spark
     >     plugs in a rotor at the same time.
     >
     >     Btw, this would also work with my flywheel magneto. Just use two
     >     charging coils on the stator -- one each going to an MSD box. Use
     >     two magnetic triggers 180 degrees apart to trigger the boxes.
    And
     >     use two of those twin-tower coils.
     >
     >     You could do the same thing with two sets of points and not
    bother
     >     with the MSD boxes. I still like this method better because its
     >     simpler, less stuff to fail and you will get a very hot spark.
     >
     >     The point of CDI is to get a big jolt of voltage to the coil
     > primary
     >     side very quickly. The charging coils on the flywheel magneto
    will
     >     put out higher voltage the faster the engine spins -- like any
     > magneto.
     >
     >     Depending on the number of windings on the stator coils, you
    could
     >     easily get 400 volts at 6000 rpm, which is what the CDI box
     > puts out.
     >
     >     The other point of CDI is to get that voltage to the primary
     >     windings of the spark coil very quickly. Here again, my scheme is
     >     just as good because the dwell time (points closed) is so long.
     >
     >     The points only are open for 20 degrees of  revolution. The
     > rest of
     >     the time current is flowing from the charging coil on the
     > stator to
     >     the primary winding on the spark coil -- 340 degrees. At 6000 rpm
     >     that is 9.5 milliseconds. So the primary has all the time it
    needs
     >     to be fully charged with high voltage.
     >
     >     There is zero advantage to the CDI system. The CDI system is good
     >     when you have multiple cylinders and the time gets very short for
     >     the primaries to charge up. Plus -- unless you have a magneto
     > -- you
     >     only have a piddly 12 volts going to the primaries.
     >
     >     This is not the case here. You have high voltage going to the
     >     primaries and a very long duration time.
     >
     >
     >     Regards,
     >
     >     Gordon.
     >
     > BTW the chart I uploaded was wrong on the duration of the
     > spark. It came from Heinz Heisler's book and there
     > are frequent errors in the illustrations. The decimal
     > point was missing. Heisler had it correct in the text
     > but the illustration was wrong. Here is the corrected version. I
     > double checked the Bosch Automotive Handbook for the corrections.
     > Sorry about that I misled you. It is getting so I have to check
     > everything in Heislers book.
     >
     > "I don't think the MSD is going to fire more than one spark above
     >  3000 rpm, which is what it says in its literature."
     >
     > It depends on the size of the capacitor and the output resistance
     > of the power supply charging the capacitor. The traditional
     > value for the capacitor is is one micro farad with 400 volts charging
     > it. That is the capacitor used in this third chart yielding
     > a .35 ms spark duration.
     >
     >
     > As I recall and if memory serves me correctly the energy is
     > proportional To voltage squared times 1/2 capacity. E = 1/2 x C x V^2
     > which gives 80 mj.
     >
     > It is possible MSD is using a smaller, faster charging capacitor.
     > MSD uses 460 to 480 volts. 470 squared is 220,900 while 400 squared
     > is 160,000 of course. MSD claims 100 mj and 12 sparks maximum per
     > firing event.
     >
     > However it is also possible to design a high RPM MSD
     > ignition system using multiple smaller capacitors that are charged
     > in parallel and fired in sequence with .1 ms or shorter spacing.
     > The pulse
     > transformer coil must be designed accordingly. I can't say
     > for sure MSD are doing that as I have never ever seen inside of
     > one of their boxes let alone the skematic.
     >
     > I was thinking of one MSD unit per rotor to keep the cost reasonable
     > but Racing Beat is using one per spark plug.
     >
     >
     >  Paul Lamar ...No rotor no motor.


    Mikuni slide carbs and capacitor discharge ignition---I  have the
    feeling that we (the rotary movement) have taken a very long and
    tortured path to get to this simple and elegant combination.  I know
    I can get comfortable with this set up.    Jerry

    Don't get too comfortable. I just checked on the price
    at my local motor cycle shop and the Mikuni 48 mm are $500 each :)

    If I had a dyno I would still be working on the slide throttle carb.
    If I can promote the loan of a couple of Mikuni's I'll test those
    on this P-port RX8 engine go around.

    Maybe Bill Jepson knows somebody and he can get a discount.

    Paul Lamar ...No rotor no motor.


FYI, I put Mikuni carbs (48mm throats) on my 13B and I test fired it
about 6 months ago.  I was really impressed on how the carbs worked
without even tuning the carbs (jets) and timing.  I found four used
carbs for about $300.00 CDN and rebuilt them.  There is one concern with
using these carbs; ethanol mix fuel may ruin the diaphragms.  I will
also need to add a primer.

Ignition is based on Terry's EC1.



I've attached pics to this e-mail.  Note, things have changed with the
water plumbing and I am still working on the muffler since the pictures
were taken.  So be warned ;o)

Cheers,

Burck

Wow four 48 mm and it runs. Holy smoke! I think you are a bit over carbed :)
That says a lot for Mikuni carbs.
That is a wonderful fantastic price on four 48 mm carbs.
Is that $300 CDN each or $300 CDN for the lot?
I would love to find a price like that.

Paul Lamar ...No rotor no motor.

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