Greetings,
I finally got to fire it up today. Overall, it was a
pretty successful first run (several runs). There are a number of leaks,
and I fixed some already. Tomorrow, when it cools, I’ll fix the
rest. The tach doesn’t work, and neither did my optical tach, so I
was just guessing at the speed.
The worst problem is probably due to my proximity to
Tommy. He’s somehow passed along his fuel injector curse to me
:-) Let me just repeat what others have said, if you are even
THINKING about NOT installing the optional switches to test the injectors,
reach up and slap yourself now :-) When I turn off the primary
injectors, the engine is smooth as silk, but when they’re on, it’s
ugly. I’m betting that I broke one of those connections when I was
bending the wires around to fit in the connector. Sure hope I don’t
have to pull the injectors.
I do have the turbo installed, and I have to agree with
Todd. The engine, with nothing but a straight pipe from the turbo, is no
louder than a Lycoming. It might even be quieter. I actuated the
manual wastegate while running at about 2000 rpm, and can hear the difference
in sound, but it’s not all that significant.
The alternator (stock 3rd gen 100A RX-7) is
working fine, but my idea of trying to turn off the excitation current
didn’t pan out. The charge voltage is 14.7 in normal mode, but it
goes to about 16V when I turn off my switch. I tried turning off the master,
which disconnects the alternator from the essential buss, and the voltage on
the non essential side spiked to 18V. Realistically, this probably
won’t kill anything, but I haven’t decided what I want to do about
it. I may add another contactor for the purpose of killing the alt
output. Need to think about this some more.
That’s enough for now. Again, I’m pretty
happy with the first run. I even have it on video :-)
Rusty
Turbo 13B powered RV-3 (experimental aircraft)...Be Afraid
:-)
1993 RX-7 R1... Not stock, carry bail money :-)