Some time ago I disassembled my test
engine and discovered what looked like local over heating. It appears to have
been the result of my own ignorance. It appeared to me that the reason for the
local overheating must be somewhere in the coolant flow. I think, someone on the
other e-mail group pointed to that possibility.
What it boils down to is the fact that not
all the cooling pockets in the rotor housing are open to coolant flow. In
particular, the second opening on the inlet side is totally blocked off by the
side housings. I left it open, and worsening the situation, there is a
comparatively large hole in the rotor housing web. As a result, most of the
coolant did go through this opening, and not through the area around the plugs.
If I had looked close at the flow pattern from MAZDA this problem could have
been avoided.
Fortunately, there is no permanent damage
to the engine, and the engine in the airplane has not run yet. I fixed the
problem by closing off the opening. The engine is now going back to the test
stand for another 10+ hrs of beating.
Richard
Sohn
N2071U