I have been thinking a lot about this extraordinary engine lately.
When Felix Wankel invented this he had no idea it would ever generate
650 HP and weigh less than 200 pounds. This is a monumental
achievement.
Historically this development is on a par with the jet engine and
the turbo prop engine on a power to weight basis. Actually Felix
Wankel did not design it in. It just happened that a reasonable
geometry Wankel is an extremely robust mechanism.
Ask any piston engine engineer/designer. The end is not in sight for
the Wankel. Just wait until Mazda or some one else builds a turbo
compound version. Not only will it best a turbo prop on power to
weight ratio but it will burn half the fuel.
Most people can not comprehend this. I have been thinking about it
for 46 years :-)
I just completed the starter motor mounting. A serious mistake was
made on the starter mounting holes locations. They were .150 inches
off on the x and y axis. It took me ten trips walking back and fourth
from the TTC hangar to my hangar where I had the mill doing the
cutting. About 100 yards each way.
Trail and error cut and fit. It is a kludge and not cosmetic but it
will work. There was no way to get the air plane on a surface plate
to measure things.
The "engineer" that "designed" this was fired a couple of months ago
:-)
Also it took us about a month to fix the mistakes in the gear box.
There was an automotive spring plate coupling between the engine and
the gear box. This engine would have chewed that up and spit it out
in milliseconds. We replaced it with a rubber coupling.
Paul Lamar
Your TTC install looks great. One can actually see the engine, and
can probably get at most components if needed. You might consider
offering your design-services to Detroit et al. :)
Robin Berglund
You misunderstand Robin. The goal is to provide no user serviceable
parts. If you could see the spark plugs or oil filter you might want to
change them yourself thus depriving the dealership of an opportunity to
rip you off.
Mark LaPierre
Back to aircraft engine design. One of the greatest books on the subject
IMHO is A History of Aircraft Piston Engines by Herschel Smith.
I love this book.
Here is a quote from one of the reviewers.
"A really great book on A/C engines from the beginnings to 1981. I never
realized there was a hard cover version of this book ( expensive ! ).
The 5 star rating has been appointed for one simple reason. My soft
cover version used to sit on the table in view of a lot transitioning "
Blue Collar " Pilots. It never surprised me as one of the guys ( pilots
) would grab his coffee , wander over to a soft seat & get totally
immersed in this fine book ! During the evenings or a weathered-in
situation this book was always asked for if not in sight & that came
from the mouths of some pretty high-time pilots ! Bush-Drivers ,
ex-military as well as private pilots would ask to borrow the book for
the night if laying over, etc. WARNING - after so many people thumbed
through or read different chapters over the years the pages started to
depart the spine, just a fair warning as to how popular this book is
amongst pilots & AME's ! Sections on history , A/C types for the
particular engines , dates. specifications, etc. Even " Odd Balls & Lost
Causes " ! Believe me , this book opened up a lot of interesting stories
over the coffee table, etc.? As far as we were all concerned:
"DEFINITELY FIVE STARS" ! THANKS HERSCHEL. "
A real steal at $18.
Paul Lamar
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