Waiting for things to start

It's Sunday morning at Mitchell (KMHE). If the oil temps were not a factor, I should be able to true around 205 - 209. Problem is, it's warming up already and i'm bound to be frustrated. Some tail winds, but the center of the high pressure pretty well covers the route.

I think it will be a slow run. We'll see.

Maybe tomorrow

Tonight's weather for Mitchell, SD - the starting line:

"Rain and thunderstorms likely, mainly before 10pm. Some storms could be severe, with large hail, damaging winds, and heavy rain. Chance of precipitation is 70%."

I don't want to subject my Quickie to all that. Looks like I'll postpone and leave for Mitchell tomorrow.

The Quickie in her race colors

Off to the Races

Oil temp problems still are there, but I'm going anyway. Even if I have to throttle back, I'll still be in it. I leave tomorrow, for Mitchell, SD. You can read all about the race here: http://airventurecup.com

The list just came out of who is in the race, so I thought I'd publish it here. The description of each class is listed at the bottom.

Race# Pilot Name, Crew Member, Aircraft, N#, Hometown

Turbine Class
007 Rene Dugas & Vernon Rogers, Turbine Legend - N95007, Monroe, LA
11 Walter Bestgen, Lancair IV-P Turbine N900WB, Grass Valley, CA
104 Marty Abbott, Turbine Legend, C-GUTT, Calgary, AB, Canada

Unlimited Class
"T" Paul and Pam Tackabury, Lancair IV-P N94PT, Laguna Beach, CA
23 Mark Patey, Lancair Legacy, N913MP, Orem, UT
32 Mike Patey, Lancair Legacy, N36XX, Orem, UT

Sport Class
9 Tony Crawford, Questair Venture, N94Y, Port Orange, FL
10 Keith & Tim Phillips, SX-300, N53SX, Port Orange, FL
24 Rich & Ricardo Guerra, Velocity, N724X, Plano, TX
30 Harry Hinkley, SX-300, N301E, Iowa City, IA
51 Mike Reibling, Seawind 3000, C-FVEL, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
60 Jim & Gwenn Cianci, SX-300, N6L Port Orange, FL
75 Sarah & Bob Bean, Glasair III, N75Y, Port Orange, FL
80 Keith Walljasper, Seawind 3000, N80CC, Normal, IL

Sport LX Class (Lancair Legacy Aircraft)
2 Alan Crawford, Lancair Legacy, N550AC, Buchanan Dam, TX
002 Vince Walker, Lancair Legacy, N41VR, Boulder, CO
5 Lee & Jay Behel, Lancair Legacy, N138A, San Jose, CA
50 Charles Bracken & Colin Hogan, Lancair Legacy, N550BL, Detroit, MI
52 Jim & David Thomas, Lancair Legacy, N252JT, Groveland, CA
77 Scott Alair, Lancair Legacy, N495SL, Pleansanton, CA

Sport FX
4 Paul Siegel, F-1 Rocket Evo, N4XU, Cincinnati, OH
14 Wayne Hadath, F-1 Rocket, C-FAUH, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
42 Kevin Eldredge, Sbach 342, N142WP, San Luis Obsipo, CA
#43 Bob & Cory Mills, RV-6 Rocket N600SS, Reno, NV
109 Tom Martin, F-1 Rocket EVO, C-GEVO, St Thomas, Ontario, Canada

Formula RG Blue
13 James & Sandy Redmon, Berkut, N97TX, McKinney, TX
35 Ernie Chauvin & Ron Holden, Lancair 360, Windsor, Ontario, Canada
38 Mark Quinn & William Benjamin, Lancair 360, Port Orange, FL
44 Rick Argente, Lancair 360, N360ZR, Piscataway, NJ

Formula RG Red
45 Bill Rossman & Mathias Klittich, Lancair 320, Denville, NJ
777 Craig & Jordan Schulze, Lancair 320, Grants Pass, OR

Formula FX Blue
91 Bruce & Steve Hammer, Glasair 1 TD N91LH, Lafayette, LA

Formula FX Red
37 Red Hamilton & Marilyn Boese, Tailwind, NX374WT, Fort Bragg, CA
46 Jeff Mallia & Vern Kokosa, Cozy Mk III, N46WM, Schenectady, NY
61 Tim Bovee, Mustang II, N1861D, Wenatchee, WA
86 Dave Biesemeier, Sidewinder, N3786A, Loveland, CO
93 Rich & Heather Lamb, Long-EZ N893LT, Hobe Sound, FL
99 Kerry Fritz, Long-EZ, N25KF, Lancaster, PA

Formula RV Gold
18 John Huft, RV-8, N184JH, Pagosa Springs, CO
33 Dick Martin, RV-8 N233M, Green Bay, WI
41 Dave & Diane Anders, RV-4, N230A, Cottonwood, CA

Formula RV Blue
8 John Mullaney & Dave Henning, RV-7, N808TB, Port Orange, FL
12 Alan Carroll, RV-8, N12AC, Madison, WI
21 Tom Moore, RV-7A, N621TM, Frisco, TX
27 Jon Ross, RV-8, N207RV, Northport, NY
39 Jean-Pierre Verdier, RV-7A, N37KV Conifer, CO
71 Bob & Jeanine Axsom, RV-6A, N710BJ, Farmington, AR
96 Doug Shoup, RV-4, N596DK, Ludington, MI
97 Perry Burford & Jim Wilson, RV-7, Windsor, Ontario, CA

Formula RV Red
34 Chris Murphy, RV-4, N117CM, Fort Collins, CO
63 Bob Vasey, RV-3, N13BV, Sylvia, KS

Sprint
22 Sam Hoskins, Q-200, N202SH, Murphysboro, IL
83 Dave Adams, Long-EZ, N83DT, Villa Ridge, MO
90 Dennis Collins, Lancair 235, Fountain Hills, AZ
98 John Keich, Midget Mustang, N825J, St Louis, MO
111 Klaus Savier & Jenny Tackabury, Vari-EZ N57LG, Santa Paula, CA

Sprint-LSA
3 Lynn Matteson, Kitfox IV, N369LM, Grass Lake, MI

Sportsman
64 Jeff Lange, Sonerai, N1463J, Waupaca, WI

Sportsman KR
156 Mark Langford, KR-2S, N56ML, Harvest, AL

RACE CLASSES:

The racers will be divided into categories based on engine size and landing gear configuration.

UNLIMITED:

Any Experimental Category aircraft with a Turbo Charged engine with a displacement of 1400 cubic inches or less. Class winners in both Fixed and Retractable gear.

SPORT CLASS:

Any Experimental Category aircraft with a normally aspirated engine with a displacement of 1000 cubic inches or less.

SPORT FX:

Any Experimental Category aircraft with 550 cubic inch displacement normally aspirated with Fixed Landing Gear for RV-10s, F-1 Rocket, Harmon Rocket II etc.

FORMULA RGT:

Any Experimental Category aircraft with an engine displacement of 360 cubic inches or less, with retractable landing gear That is Turbo-Charged.

FORMULA RG:

Any Experimental Category aircraft with an engine displacement of 360 cubic inches or less, with retractable landing gear. Will be divided into a blue (360 cubic inch) and Red (320 cubic inch) classes.

FORMULA FX:

Any Experimental Category aircraft with an engine displacement of 360 cubic inches or less, with at least two fixed landing gear. Will be divided into a Blue (360 cubic inch) and Red (320 Cubic inch) classes.

FORMULA SW (STEVE WITTMAN TAILWIND CLASS):

For Whittman Tailwind Aircraft with an engine displacement of 360 cubic inches or less, with at least two fixed landing gear.

FORMULA RV:

Open to Van's aircraft RV-3, RV-4, RV-6, RV-6A, RV-7, RV-7A, RV-8, RV-8A, RV-9, and RV-9A airplanes powered with an engine of 360 cubic inches or less.

Will be split into a Blue (360 cubic inch) and Red (320 Cubic inch) classes.

SPRINT CLASS

Any experimental having an engine displacement of 240 cubic inches or less.

Sportsman Class :

Any Experimental Category aircraft powered by a Volkswagen or Corvair engine converted for aircraft use.

Sportsman Light Class: Any Experimental Category aircraft meeting the rules of the Light Sport Category.

* NOTE: Formula classes are split into RED or BLUE. The Blue Division is for aircraft with 360 Cubic inch engines and the RED Division is for 320 Cubic Inch engines.

Beating the Heat

The temperature in the hangar has been in the high 90s for quite a while and I'm getting tired of it.

I was trying to fit an oil cooler somewhere into the mix a, but I really didn't have much luck. Maybe I didn't try hard enough. I know it's doable, since others have made it happen.

I always thought that a properly set up and baffled O-200 does not need an oil cooler. Once the ignition started working right, I think the oil temps got a little better.

I found a nifty adapter that will add a couple of oil cooler ports onto a spin-on filter adapter but when I tried it, one port pointed straight up and would interfere with the cooler itself.

For a cooler, I got hold of an Earls Performance, but again, not too much room.

At some point, I just decided "screw it". Fly with what you've got. I am getting tired of all the messing around. I'm just going to fly the race and if I have to throttle back to keep the oil temps below 240F, so be it. Right now I just want to be in it.

I do believe there are a lot of design improvements that could be made with the oil tank. For one, a more aerodynamic shape would help cooling air flow around it. I could also add heat sinks or cooling fins, but all that will be in sump design #2.

Right now, I am doing all the things I can to make the current system as efficient as possible, such as closing gaps in the plenum. Yesterday, I did a little streamlining on the snorkels and today I'm going to add a cooling hose and point it at the sump.

And for a special treat, my new Craig Catto prop will arrive today!

The Missing Miss

Where to begin?

Today started at Bob Carter's day job at Wildlife Materials. I had purchased a bag of diodes from our local Radio Shack and Bob said he could install them in the EC3. I figured I would drop off the unit and he would install them in a day or two. I was happy to see Bob put them in them right off the bat and I was out of there in 15 minutes!

You know on Sesame Street where they play "One Of These Things Is Not Like The Other"? Let's see if you can spot the two diodes. You can click on the photos to make them larger. Here is the before photo of the EC3.

And here is the after:

I'll give you a hint. R69 & R72.

The idea behind the switching diode is to condition the signal so it can be better read by the ECU. This is a fix if the signal coming from the sensors isn't behaving. Mine was certainly not behaving. In fact, it was downright rude.

For some reason, which I don't understand, as the RPMs increase, the amplitude of the waveform varies all over the place and that confuses the EC3. We have tried everything we could think of to flatten it out, but no luck. That includes stiffening up the brackets, fooling with the gaps, etc. ad nauseam.

For one final test today, I completely disconnected the backup sensor from all the ship's wiring, just to see how it looked on it's own. Here is the result. Notice how well behaved the wave is in the idle ranges, but it seems to go crazy as the engine speeds up.

While we were fooling around, I stuck another AN3 bolt joining the trigger bracket and the angle iron brace, attempting again to reduce vibration.

Perfect conditions for a flight test. Today is was 98 F in the hangar and the official temp on the ramp was 94 F. Even though it was a long taxi in the heat, I took no chances with the mods to the ECU and used our 5,500' runway. By the time I got to the departure end, the oil was already up to 135 F.

Takeoff is always strong, since the trouble doesn't happen at lower RPMs. Takeoff normal and I shallowed the climb to 800 FPM to keep the cylinder temps down. Because of clouds I only climbed to about 4,000', but the OAT was still 79 F and my density altitude was about 6,500'.

Leveled out, put the pedal to the metal and here we go. The RPMs climbed to about 2,800 and I turned off the mag, electronic ignition only. The engine remained smooth.

Went faster and tried it again. The engine remained smooth. Holy s**t, this might work.

Went faster yet and saw the tach bounce off 3,100 RPM. Haven't see the engine go that fast in a month of Sundays. Switched off the mag. The engine was still smooth!

Talk about elated... I kept flipping the ignition selection switch, trying to get a failure and there was none. We finally got it beat! Unbelievable!

Well actually, the root cause is still there, the misbehaving waveform. Tracy Crook's mod is a fix for a deeper problem and I still want to fix it, but at least I know I can race.

I let Sandy know right away and my second call was to Craig Catto who informed me that he was going to start making my new prop today! Certainly icing on the cake.

And best yet, when I got home, my grandaughter made fish tacos for dinner.

Four Tries, Four Strikes

And I was so optimistic...

Had all intentions of killing the miss today. Started by verifying the spark plug gap was set to .027", which is the range that Klaus recommends for high compression engines.

Wasn't the best day for all this. The outside air temp was about 94F and the winds were gusting to 20 kts.

Flight test #1 - Removed the back up sensor from the bracket and tied it back, to ensure that it was not interfering with the primary, in any way. We theorized there may be some mutual inductance between the two sensors, which are 18 degrees apart, through the trigger wheel and for any inductance in the wires sending the signal to the ECU. Theory and test failed.

Flight test #2 - Set the primary sensor to a very reduced air gap of only .014". We did this since we seemed to have improved results on the ground by tightening up the gap. Test failed.

Flight test #3 - Swapped both sensors. Maybe we just had a bad sensor. Test failed.

Flight test #4 - Did a dynamic propeller balance. Theory being that if the prop were out of balance, it might be messing up the sensors. I know my prop is about of balance right now, so I was willing to give it a try. C-Rod just bought a very professional system and bent over backwards to help. We started with an imbalance of about .47 IPS (inches per second) and when finished we got down to a very respectable .13 IPS. The engine is now nice and smooth, but the Test Failed.

Oh yeah, still have high oil temps.

On the plus side, my lovely wife had a nice dinner waiting for me.

Happy 4th of July but No Joy in Mudville

Over the last few days I have been trying several things and thought I'd catch it up, before going out for a 4th of July picnic.

Air gap - I had the scope out the other day and a couple of people much smarter than me. We were getting the miss, on the ground, at WOT. The Electromotive manual says to have the sensor air gap set to .030 to .060, depending on the trigger wheel style. At various times, I had been running it in the .030 to .040 range. Just for grins we tried setting it to .060 and it ran worse.

Then we went the other way and set it to .020". (Remember, I have a run out of .003" for the mounted trigger wheel.) Unbelievably, the miss disappeared (on the ground). Then we tried setting it to .017" and it was still fine.

Unfortunately, the subsequent test flight failed. Got to altitude and running on the ignition only and the miss was still bad.

Terry Crouch urged me to go the extra mile and "make the sensor support strong enough that you can hang the airplane on it, without it flexing". So, I trundled down to the lumbar yard and bought some 1/8" angle iron. I fashioned a stiffener to the sensor plate and mounted it on the two nose bolts. No lightening holes. This tractor quality part does not flex. (I still have yet to try rebar reinforced concrete, but that may have to be next).

Today's flight test - failure. No change in the miss characteristics. Rats. The engine actually backfired when I was switching from BOTH to IGN.

Talking to Terry some more, we wondered if somehow the backup sensor might be interfering with the primary. The plan is to make a single flight with the backup sensor removed from the system and see if that has any effect.

A couple of you have inquired about variations in the air gap due to wobble in the crank or prop extension. I haven't checked this relationship yet, and promise I will on the next visit.

Happy 4th of July

Sam