http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/05/mazda/

Mark Suspinski

Nothing new there. I saw it at the 2005 Tokyo Motor show.

How's the Tracy EFI p-port engine coming

Paul Lamar


What's new in the above is that they delivered it to a customer.

So we bought a vacuum pump and pulled down a vacuum in the water jacket.
No
sooner had we started the vaccuum pump, than coolant started pouring down
the line and into the pump - lickety split. After much nashing of teeth,
we
drained all the oil out of the pump and filled it with clean oil. We also
tried blowing the coolant out of the block by pressurising from the other
end of the block -- not a drop. We lifted and dropped the tail. Not a
drop. We hooked up the vaccuum pump, and immediately started drawing
coolant into the pump again. Once more from the beginning, draining the
contaminated oil out of the pump, and trying again to find where the
coolant
might be & drain it. Again, we could not get coolant to come out. Again,
we hooked up the pump, and again sucked large quantities of coolant into
the
pump.

After 7 or 8 go-rounds, we stopped getting coolant out every time we pulled
a vaccuum. We pumped the water jacket down to an indicated vacuum of 24"
hg. I used a mechanics stethascope and listened all around the leaking
PPort. After quite a while, I found the tiniest of hisses at the 7-o'clock
position. We prepped the area and mixed up some proseal, thinning it to
the
consistency of motor oil. We applied it all around the PPort, focusing on
the 7 o'clock position. We did not see any visible sign of anything
getting
sucked in. We finished by applying some thicker proseal all around the
PPort and left it to sit for 20 minutes with the pump still going. After
20
minutes, we disconnected the pump and left it to cure.

We'll be going out tomorrow to see if it did any good. We'll pull a vacuum
again and see if the hissing is still there (can't imagine it will be).
The
real test will be when we run the engine again. After a few cycles of heat
soaking it and letting it cool, (as well as pressurizing the water jacket)
we shall see if the leak returns.

I would have felt better about it if I'd seen a little puckering at the
7'oclock position to indicate something had gotten sucked in. But perhaps
that is not to be expected -- what leak there was had to be very small
indeed to make such a tiny hiss under that much vacuum.

Mark (Rocky mtn high)

I assumed you knew where the coolant drain was on the block :)
The good news is you were able to pull 24".

Paul Lamar


Great! Good for you. I know how it goes and how it feels to finally fix
it. 390 hrs and I just now fixed the last oil leak that is going to be
fixable. What a great feeling it finally is to always have a clean belly
and never leave oil drops everywhere I park. Maybe something of a
confidence booster for the wife as well. She actually flew cross country
with me last week all the way to Vegas and the only thing she seemed to fret
about was turbulence.

I fixed the last major leak a few months ago - the turbo oil return. A
combination of high heat, needed flexibility, large diameter, inexperience
with brazing, and downward only path have made that the source of most of my
oil. But the heat shielding and high air flow caused the oil to get
everywhere so I never really knew where it was coming from. Finally solved
the problem with good old JB weld used to seal up the brazing (which still
does 90% of the work).

Fixing that large oil leak allowed me to find the last one (because there
was no longer oil EVERYWHERE)... a poor weld on the intake runner that
leaked fuel and 2-stroke oil when MAP ambient pressure. Never actually
found any hole, but smeared a bunch of JB weld around the real weld in the
area near the largest build-up of 2-stroke oil and finally, after 5 years of
flying, 99.9% of the mess is done with.

There is still one small little leak... the axle of the TWM throttle body
will leak a tiny bit of oil/fuel when I am running boost. I never really
thought about it, but it may not have been designed to run with a turbo
system. Regardless, I can not think of an easy way to fix it but I can live
with it because it is next to negligible.

I have been flying ALOT lately. I mostly fly formation with the SoCal RV
group. And the NorCal RV group, and IFR proficiency, and wifferdils on lazy
sunday afternoons. I ride her hard and put her away wet... hardly ever look
under the cowl anymore.. spend more time cleaning off the bugs. Except for
the oil leaks solved, the latest issues have been loose transponder antenna
cable.. OMG - what a boon it was to finally find that one! Solved about 10
minor intermittent problems at once (flickering lights, music interruption,
incorrect transponder code, unreliable traffic monitor, bouncing fuel
indicators, and maybe even some issues with my bluemountain EFIS)...

BTW, for anyone planning the panel... forget about anything more than 10
years old! Tech is very much better now. The root cause of all those probs
was a 1960's Cessna 357 transponder that I thought was a good deal 'cause it
only cost $700. Forgeddaboutit. In the long run it cost me more than
$3k... I could have had a nice Mode-s 330 for that much. I bought a nice
new SL-30 - love it! I bought an old nav indicator - had to replace it.
You get the picture.

Oh, I hardly ever mess with the engine any more. For the first 100 hrs I
was putting in almost 10 hrs. of tinkering for ever hr. of flying. Now that
ratio is reversed. Sweet!

Went to a fly-in formation clinic in Norcal last month. Couple of guys had
to take off their cowl and do some work... for once I was not among them.
Cool.

Paul, have I mentioned what a thrill it is to actually fly a plane I built
myself
Have I mentioned how I am finally really happy with my engine choice and it
makes the thrill that much sweeter to know that I did the engine
installation myself as well Paul

Paul, have I mentioned how this airplane is a once-in-a-lifetime
accomplishment second only to getting accepted to, and graduating from
Medical School (yet it is a lot more fun than going to work every day)

Paul, what have you done for your airplane today This e-mail is my
semi-annual contribution to this list. It was fun but I cant wait to fly
again... Slip the surly bonds.. and touch the face of God... yada yada

Everyone, keep that work going. It is soooo worth it.

Paul, less typing, more building. :-)
-- David Leonard
(ok, maybe slow down on the beer for tonight)

Turbo Rotary RV-6 N4VY
http://N4VY.RotaryRoster.net
http://RotaryRoster.net

Get off it Dave. What is with you I think you are trying to stabilize
the rotary engine technology :) You are afraid your rotary engine will become obsolete :)
I like working with my hands as much as the next guy but I get a bigger kick
of of designing things and doing R&D.

You want to see the engine in my C182 It looks a lot better than the engine
in your RV6 :) I did the 182 engine installation.

Here is a car that I designed that beat the worlds best race cars
including Ferrari. Set lap records all over Europe and won the BOAC
500 out right. This car design set the standard for race cars to this day
and that was 1969. World champion Phil Hill drove it. It still looks modern.

Last picture is a wing I designed and built with my own hands for Ferrari
with world champion Chris Amon driving. I also redesigned the chassis in the
bargain.

When are you going to install that turbo tach and contribute to our body
of turbo charger knowledge

Paul Lamar

Paul,
I remember watching the Ferrari Can-Am car. It wasn't the fastest car
out there, But it did sound the best!
Bill Jepson

Chris Amon complained it was too wide to pass :)
He should have got the pole and he would not have that problem.

Paul Lamar