Heikki Lehmonen wrote:
  Dear Paul,

  Referring to my earlier message about our purchase of Beaver&Wankel: We are confused about the
right/best lubrication oil types. Another this type engine was destroyed in Finland because the lack
of oil or bad oil. So we don't want to run our engine before we are sure about the right type of
lubrication oil and gearbox oil.

  1. Wankel Norton Aerotor 80 twin rotor engine, model P62, 80 hp (year 1990?/ srno AE 1742-9): In
brochyre recommendation is Castrol A545 (synthetic), Nobody knows anything about this oil type
here!, What could be the best alternative(s), Mobil-oil type? (someone told about Mobil Pegasus 385
or 485 but they are not very common either?).

  2. What about gearbox oil type? (should be changed after every 2 years or 150 hours).

  3. And Spark plugs Champion UG 501 PV or UG 80. Other alternatives?

  4. Does anyone have the Engine maintanance manual for this type of engine.

  Most grateful of any help here in remote Finland!



  Best Regards,


  Heikki Lehmonen
  Metsäkouluntie 15
  FI-76100 PIEKSÄMÄKI
  FINLAND


The oil metering pumps sometimes fail so we mix one ounce of synthetic liquid cooled 2 cycle
oil with one US gallon of fuel. I use the Walmart brand here in the US.

The Norton is a roller bearing engine so you may need more oil per gallon.
We have found that up to 4 ounces of oil per gallon does not seem to hurt
the spark plugs.

Paul Lamar

BTW Heikki Kovalainen and Kimi Raikkonen  are two of my favorite F1 drivers.
What is it about Finland that breeds such great race drivers for being so small
a country?  I flew a VW powered motor glider over there once about 25 years ago.


Paul Lamar


Heiki,

the Norton AERO engine was the predecessor of both the UAV Engines and the Mid-West Engines (later Diamond Engines as a department of Diamond Aircraft in Wiener Neustadt, Austria). I am not 100% sure about your type of early Norton AERO engine, but I have been working as a development engineer for both MWE and Diamond, so maybe I can answer some of your questions:

1. Engine Oil: Mobil Pegasus 485 was fine, but is no longer available. The two engine oils certified by MWE and Diamond Engines are
- Silkolene Comp2 PREMIX (see: http://www.fuchs-silkolene.de/off-road.html )
- Bardahl KGR Injector (see: http://www.bardahlgermany.com/p/52137947/bardahl-kgr-injection-oil-fuer-2-takter-1-liter-flasche?cid=shopinfo )
Both are perfect replacements, but both are quite expensive! All engines I have tested and passed off for manned flight at both companies were run on Silkolene Comp2 PREMIX. In case make sure just to use the Comp2 PREMIX variant!
DO NOT USE the other variants like COMP 2 PLUS SX or COMP 2 PLUS as they are of inferior quality for Rotaries!

2. The gearbox oil MWE recommended was Silkolene PRO SRG 75 SAE 75, see http://www.fuchs-silkolene.de/maintain.html

3. Champion UG80PVs are weighed up with gold nowadays! Depending on your application of the engine I would either use BOSCH UEC, a very similar surface discharge plug, or NGK CR9EK. Both have downsides though:

The BOSCH plugs' threads are some millimetres shorter than the Champions'. So if you plan on replacing the BOSCH plugs with Champion plugs after some time you will find the end of the threads in the rotor housings sooted up. If you try to force a Champion plug in again you will inevitably push the (hard) carbon deposits into the combustion chamber where they might get trapped in an apex seal grove and potentially jam the corresponding seal. Worse still is the potential risk of the rotor housing's plating chipping off! Thanks to their recessed surface they have a tendency to foul due to oiling up a little bit easier than the Champion plugs.

The NGK plugs have the same thread related problem. Their electrodes burn off rather quickly (I failed to get the engine started after just 40 hours' running as the gap was well exceeding 1.0mm), but they don't foul as easily as both of the surface discharge plugs. But when they do, they have had it. The only cure will be replacing them.

A third alternative is the NGK R 0045 - J 10 race plug. It is very similar to the aforementioned BOSCH UEC, but I have never tested them. They are available in heat ratings from 8 to 12 (?) as well, the 10 being closest to the Champion UG80PVs though.

4. The only people I could think of having a manual would be
- UAV Engines http://www.uavenginesltd.co.uk/
- Austro Engine http://www.austroengine.at/ (try to speak to Günther Weber, one of the mechanics I trained at Diamond Engines)
- Richard Negus, the "custodian of the Norton Rotary engine", who has retired unfortunately, see: http://www.nortonmotors.co.uk/The%20Team.htm . In case you get in touch with Richard or Günter please send my regards!

Two additional points of importance:

- In the Norton/MWE/UEL/Diamond/Austro engines the Mikuni oil metering pump(s) feeds the oil directly to the rotor tips and to all bearings. If you try to run the engine only on petroil mixture without feeding oil to the bearings the bearings will run dry!!!

- The Norton engine is, as Paul stated quite right, a roller bearing type engine with fresh air cooling of the rotors. Therefore the rotors run considerably hotter than the oil cooled rotors of a Mazda engine. Hence the engine is MUCH more depending on the correct type of highest quality oil than, say, a Mazda engine. I have seen quite a few Norton motorcycle Rotaries seized from using the wrong oil just once!

P.S. Amongst a few others I have a Norton Rotary myself, see attached pictures.


Regards,

Martin Rühe