John and his partner have been working on this for a long time.
         Something like
         20 years. Just recently did they get it flying. The first thing
    that
         happened was they lost an apex seal. Probably due to detonation.
         They over hauled the engine and then the turbo let go. Nothing
    new here
         as that is probably about the 8th 2nd gen turbo to let go. The
    turbo
         caught fire when it failed. Fortunately not a lot of damage and
    John
         was able
         to glide to a safe landing back at Camarillo. The turbo is being
         modified
         to Dave Leonards spec. Hopefully we will get a report after his
    5000
         to 6000
         mile trip.

         I was unaware they were flying. The last time I saw the
    airplane was
         about five or six years
         ago. If I had known about it I could have warned them about the
         detonation
         and the 2nd gen turbo. You MUST monitor the intake charge air
         temperature and keep
         it below 140 F or you WILL get detonation sooner rather than later.
         We have known about and discussed  the 2nd gen turbo problems
    for at
         least two years
         and maybe three.

         The PSRU is a home made belt unit built according to Blanton's
         plans. The ratio
         is 2:1 so they need a lot of boost to get the HP. They had the
    large
         pulley custom
         made by a broach shop in LA.

         They are running 50 inches Hg MAP for take off and 45 inches of
         HG  MAP for climb
         out.  Max rpm for climb out is 4500.  Static engine RPM is 5100
    RPM.
         The turbo is working hard.  Cruise is 4000 RPM with 42 inches
    of Hg.
         TAS is 160 MPH. Fuel burn on take off and climb out is about
    7.5 gallons
         an hour extrapolated from the last short trip when the turbo failed
         so they are not making very much power despite the high manifold
         pressure. The manifold itself is stock without the mass air flow
         sensor. Just the stock TB. You can get away with that if you
    use a belt
         drive as the engine sits lower. They are using Tracy's EFI unit
    instead
         of the stock computer.

         During prior cruise flights they were burning 4.6 to 5.0
    gallons and
         hour.
         More about the cooling system shortly.

         Did I get all this right John?

         Paul Lamar ...No rotor no motor.



    Courageous, but it seems that people insist on working too hard on
    things that they don't need to and skip taking care of some important
    stuff.  Buy the PSRU.  Build (or buy) a P-Port.  _Everyone's_ time is
    worth something.

    I think all new installs need to run on a test stand at high power
    settings - takeoff power - for at least 50 hours .  If not a test stand,
    on the chained down airplane with fan cooling.  People make too many
    rosey assumptions about how much better things will go once there's
    slipstream cooling air through the system.  I'd make exceptions to this
    if an install is a _direct_ copy of another which already works
    reliably.  In that case, only spend 25 hours on the stand.  There are no
    direct copies!!  Hah.  :)  Lots of useful stuff will be learned in the
    process of making it run well on the ground.  It's a tough pill to
    swallow because lots of builders really want to be fliers instead.

    I don't think they're undergeared so much as overpropped.  It's not all
    that unusual for a LongEz to cruise with the prop at 3000RPM.  They
    aren't supposed to have props with diameter greater than 62" (though
    some aircraft do), so I think 3000RPM is no big deal, and that would
    allow a 6000RPM engine speed.  They need less pitch, less diameter,
    and/or a better prop airfoil.  Do these guys have any other EZ
    experience?  Oh wait, are they running an IVO or Warp drive - I think I
    can see it in one of the pics.  How fast are they allowed to turn? And
    at what RPM does that blade get really inefficient?


    Matt-

    I think you are being a bit hard on them Matt. A lot of these decisions
    were made over ten years ago. Probably before one could buy a PSRU
    off the
    shelf. These guys are true rotary engine pioneers along with Yvon
    Cournoyer
    and Ken Welter with a similar belt drive PSRU's. We have come a long
    way since
    1997. Turbo chargers have advantages at high altitude (12K to 14K)
    cruise.

    Here is the cooling stuff. The original configuration was a real thick
    (5 or 6 inches) custom rad core in the nose. I did not think it
    would work when
    I first saw it and of course it did not work. They adopted the super
    simple, super
    quick under the fuse mounted  heat exchanger with Kays & London wedge
    shaped diffuser. Works like a charm. Super slick cowl. So far water temp
    is 205 F take off and 185 F cruise.

    Oil cooling in the nose is two Earl's supply oil coolers back to
    back in the
    cross counter flow configuration. In other words the back cooler
    gets the
    hot oil first. Oil temp is 205 F on take off and climb out and 192 F
    in cruise.
    --
    Paul Lamar ...No rotor no motor.


Yeah Paul,  you're right..  I was at work when I wrote that.  I still
think they are over-propped..


Matt-

They could be. We will see when they get the new turbo charger.
One bit of evidence against that is the 5100 static RPM.

Perry Mick, what is your static RPM again? I think the Andrich turbo Long EZ MPG
might work out to be exceptional. It is showing some signs of that already.
John and I discussed the reasons for the new 16B. I think we both agree Mazda
made it larger with more torque so they could raise the RX8 axle ratio and
cut the 80 MPH cruise RPM to reduce engine friction. What would be ideal of
course is a constant speed prop.

-- 
Paul Lamar ...No rotor no motor.

I watch this user group newsletter for information and encouragement.  I go
to the seminars at Oshkosh, Sun n Fun, and Copperstate.   I wonder how many
people are scared away from using a rotary watching other people being
bantered for their efforts.

Rick Irwin

That is the down side. The up side is this newsletter can save people
from making the same mistakes over and over again. However some people
don't listen or don't want to listen.