I added a few detail pictures to Randy's collection on his one rotor powered DragonFly.

It has a very interesting idea in that the Ellison carb is mounted directly on the intake side of the turbo charger.
A very compact way to handle the intake system.
The turbo charger is not Mazda so it might be large enough to live with a one rotor. I suggested a Garrett turbo charger tachometer kit to keep an eye on the turbine RPM.

All and all a pretty good installation job with the possible exception of the motor mount. The belt drive also needs a few improvements to the torsional stiffness. A minor thing to improve.

We were not able to identify the ignition system yet but it looks pretty straight forward using what appears to be an early Mazda magnetic crank angle sensor distributor. I think the coils came from Ellison but I am not sure about that.

The water pump housing is custom but I do not recognize the cartridge. It is from something other than a Mazda. The two oil coolers are a needless complication when one larger one will do. One of the oil coolers is in the vicinity of the sharp exhaust pipe bend so the bend radius would benefit from the removal of that oil cooler.

I suggest something from the Setrab catalog pdf attached.

If the turbo charger could be rotated
180 degrees that would put the exhaust in the rear and the carb in front which would benefit both.

All of the cooling openings need the application of Kays and London's or Kuchemann and Weber diffusers.
The water cooler is the quick and simple type under the fuse behind the cockpit which is very good way to go on this airplane as it has limited volume under the cowl.

There is nothing really wrong with it and I think it will fly as is. Keeping the turbo charger would make it a great cross country aircraft as speed up high would be spectacular for a such an aircraft. It would probably be the only turbo charged DragonFly in the world.

Ed Carver and I were trying to talk Randy into keeping the rotary :)

Paul Lamar


Paul,
Thanks for coming out and talking with me yesterday, I learned a lot.  For now you have convinced me to sit tight with this engine till I know more about it. I plan on weighing it to see where I stand.  If it's 250 lbs or less I'll keep it, more than that and I'll see where I might be able to cost effectively reduce some weight.
Thanks for the cooling information and I will look into rotating the turbo, that makes a lot of sense.
How do I go about sizing the oil  cooler for this engine, is there a formula or just go big and restrict air flow till I get the temps where they should be?
I'll check on my laser machining source and send you the contacts name.
Randy

The stock RX8 Mazda oil cooler is about 10" by 10" by 2" thick.
Core volume is therefor about 200 cubic inches. There are two of
them on the high power RX8 240 HP engine. One ahead of each front wheel.

We have found the earlier RX7 oil coolers to be adequate for aircraft
use so I assume the RX8 coolers are at least as good.

Bottom line... one 10" by 10" by 2" should work for a 120 HP one rotor
IF it has a good diffuser duct ahead of it and the back side is not blocked.

Looks like a Setrab A34S22 will work. Nobody has reported
any problems with this Setrab company so it is a good bet.

Paul Lamar