We had a oil system failure this morning running up the TTC engine. A
 screw came out of the engine oil pressure pump part of the dry sump
 pump. It doesn't take long at 150 psi to piss oil all over the air
 plane and the ramp.

 One would think paying $50,000 for this engine the screws would have
 been safety wired. I bought 2 dozen NAS binder head 10-24 screws from
 Aircraft Spruce for 27 cents each.

 You must look at every detail in your home built aircraft and
 consider what would happen if that detail (what ever it may be)
 failed. Make a list of every nut and bolt in the entire aircraft.
 That is what Van's Aircraft  does.

 We also cut the air going into the cooling system down to a slot 1.5
 inches high by 20 inches wide and the engine temp went all the way up
 to 140 F  at 8300 RPM.   ROFL.

 We took the oil cooler off as well and the oil temp went up as well.
 We don't need no stinking oil cooler when carrying 4 gallons of Mobil
 One.

 More on this latter today when I get the logged data out of the
 Motec.

 BTW the gap in the iridium RX8 plugs is .021" inches.

 Paul Lamar

 Paul, It is acceptable to use automotive parts in an experimental,
 but everyone must keep in mind to adapt standard aircraft practice to
 those parts...... your screws being a great example! Keep it
 safe..... self locking nuts, cotter pins or safety wire...... Larry
 Childs


 Here is the test run screen captures of the data  log.

 The water temperature increased to 143 F but could go higher with a
 longer run and the small rad opening. The oil reached 156.4  F with
 no oil cooler. That too could go higher with a longer run at 8000 RPM
 and more boost.

 Note with the small prop the engine will do 8300 RPM with hardly any
 manifold pressure. The manifold pressure never got over 55 inches of
 HG at 8300 RPM with the small prop.

 Paul Lamar


Paul,
Maybe it's time to have a second critical set of eyes look
over the all the work that has been done..... something
like a mini annual inspection done by an IA experienced
4with experimental aircraft.
Barry Bordes

Thats a good idea. IA's are rarely called upon to inspect experimentals
i suspect :-) $500 for there signature alone :-)

Dry sump pumps are rather rare on aircraft so the screws were overlooked
by our A&P licensed mechanic.

As far as the fuel injector mounting problem that was a very unusual and
defective design.  An  IA would not know how to handle that as EFI is rare
on certified engines. Maybe on light sport Rotax's.

It would take a mechanical engineer to spot the problem with the bad design.
The pivot point was not on the center line of the injector separating force
consequently the 150 psi force disjointed the extender from the injector.

It was not obvious why it required safety wire to hold it in place and it was
left off.  It stems from the fact that the compact Bosch injectors are not
quasi standard length and extenders were used to make them  longer.
Probably because RB had injector holders for the longer injectors and
did not want to redesign them for the short Bosch injectors.

We supply p-port mounting blocks for RX8 and Siemens  injectors.

As you can tell from the pictures I have this was discussed many
times in the past 18 years. If Jim M had read the newsletter he would have
been aware of some of these things.

Paul Lamar

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