When I borrowed it, towed it to Sun & Fun and ran it up Dave did
  ask me to   limit the   manifold pressure to 45 inches of HG. Try
  boosting your typical Lycoming   to 45 inches of   HG and you will
  be killed by the shrapnel :) Dave never really gave up on   it. He
just     ran out of energy to work on it. I have a lot more
pictures. You  might be   able to get it   Steve as you have plenty
of room in your  hangar. I think I can get it to   cool.  Maybe
 not 400 MPH but  well over 300.

     Here is the last address I have for Dave. At the least it should
  go in the   EAA museum.

     Dave Garber
     935 Archer Grove Rd.
     Athens GA. 30607

     Doug Fir knew him too.

     Paul Lamar

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  Paul, that is an interesting idea.  I'm insane to even consider it
with  everything else going on.

  We'll need to find out if Dave's estate have the parts in good
  condition...complete fuselage skins,wings, etc.

  If you will help with the engineering  and will do the outreach to
  the estate and they will be willing, I would be willing to consider
establishing
  a rotary engine foundation or other volunteer-based, non-profit
for the  purposes of attempting to get the aircraft reengined and
flying.  It  would be with the expressed intent that it eventually
reside in the  EAA museum.

  In this regard, let's discuss using using two of our three rotor
  engine NA peripheral port engines at least in the initial test
  phase.  With the three rotor engines, we'll need to evaluate how to
  reduce weight everywhere we can.  Also look at swapping out those
  heavy metal C/S props for ligher Hartzel composite CS or other.

  Steve Beckham

  I'll volunteer my time and travel expenses if somebody can loan us
a  pickup truck. I think it is stored in a trailer. I borrowed
Dave's  SUV the last time. Perhaps his widow would loan it out
again. It may  mean two trips across the US which I don't mind.
Perhaps the  Mcminnville Spruce Goose museum would be interested
once we are done  playing with it. The engines are in good shape. I
would not change  them. Dave spent big bucks on the accessory
drives.  Dave had them  over hauled recently. The wood spars need
inspection.

  Paul Lamar

  Paul,

  Others

  Yes Dave was a great guy and I only knew him for four years but he
  was very helpful and gracious in providing me with my Bell 47 parts
  for a very reasonable price.

  Dave told me he did fly the plane about eight hours but never over
engine  rpm of 5500, because of the inferior bearings in the stock
Bell 47.  Paul might have run it faster for a few seconds at Sun and
Fun:)  Up  until he had a stroke a few years ago he was still hoping
 to rebuilt  the DG-1 and do some speed trials.   I was helping to
organize the  project, much to his wife's dismay.

  The plane is damaged though as something fell on it while it was
in the  hangar. I believe he wanted to make new wings and it definitely
  needed a new canopy.  The design is not without warts and there
are several  things he told me he would like to change.  I came up
with a few myself  mainly in the wing attachment method and the PSRU
internals design.  Quite frankly I am surprised the PSRU didn't
seize.  Some of the roller  bearings in the Bell box had flat spots
on them. He had a good oiling  system in it.  Dave was especially
proud of the tail and rudder and  remarked that because it extended
downwards as well it had a lot of  authority.

  Dave also let me take of lot of pictures of his Fuji which was
  dressed out Japanese colors and pointed out the landing gear
  mechanism for my benefit.  From my understanding the Fuji sat for
  awhile.   I don't know what happened on his last flight but a year
  ago I also had an engine lose power on takeoff despite sumping the
  wing tanks well
  (draining them completely actually) and sumping the front.  Ground
  ran it for almost 20 mins as well. But a little water stayed in
the carb  bowl and of course fuel floats on water.  Depending on the
climb out  angle the water is sucked into the carb and the engine
sputters.  It  doesn't die it just doesn't make enough power to
sustain flight.  Luckily I was prepared for it and had a lot of
runway ahead of me to  land again.   After several more engine
starts and sputters it ran fine.    The local A&P said it is a
common problem with planes that sit for  awhile.

  Contrary to belief Dave  never gave up on the idea of seeing it
race  and was quite upset at the Reno crowd.  He also licked the
cooling problem  showing me some custom radiators he had with angled
baffles. He offered  to sell me the plane or the engines several
times and as much as I would  have like to, I feel like the rest of
you it would be a shame to  part it out.  I wanted Dave to see his
dream come true, fly, and  kick the pants out of the competition or
at least make some records.  After the stroke he was agreeable to
having some else fly it.  Now  the wiser choice would be to restore
it to museum quality.  It needs  some work, paint, and I would guess
at least a thousand people/hours  to accomplish that.

  We are missing out on the company of a great gentlemen.  I can
  contact his wife about this matter but for the time being I think
we  ought to respect her space and give her time to coup.   Losing Dave
  in a flight accident was one of her biggest fears and she made that
  abundantly clear to me when I sat in her kitchen years ago.

  Doug in Japan

  You can always get silicon nitride rollers for the pinion gears.
  They will work at twice the RPM.

  Paul Lamar

   Hi,
   How did they start these engines? It is evident from the photos
that there is no flex plate. I take it that required some one to
flip the prop to start. Dale Davies

-
As I recall they had 24 volt aircraft starters/genrators built into
the geared accessory sections. I think Jim Mederer designed the
accessory sections. All I had to do was push the start button.

Paul Lamar

 Hi Paul,
 Thankyou for the answer. This was not a low cost install by any means,
with the Bell redrives and the accessory drive gear cases; times two.

Dale Davies