Group FWIW

I had heard of a Christavia Mk IV that had a 13B with plugs up that "sized up". I tracked him down & phoned him, he told me that the engine sized while taxing for take off. I asked him what the problem was he told me that he didn't know, he said that he sent the engine back to Atkins. I sent Atkins an email to enquire about the reason for the seizure. To my surprise at 7:30 this morning Atkins phoned me,

he said that the engine was mounted "plugs up" with a home made dry sump system that allowed the engine to run without oil pressure on start up until the system primed itself. The results was that all the bearings in the engine were "wiped out" completely (didn't size up really just stopped). Atkins claims the plugs up added to the problem. He said he no longer uses "planetary "gear reduction drive & that he uses Castrol 20/50 instead of synthetic also said he had a customer with over 2000 hrs, He mumbled something when I mentioned Tracy's 1450 hours but I didn't get what it was. I guess he called me to avoid speculation that the engine failure was a result of his workmanship. I asked him about engine balancing, he said they do "static" balancing in house (what ever that means). so it seems like this was "builder error" He ran it for over 200hrs, replaced it with a220hp Franklin 6 cyl. & is as happy with the change as " a pig in s..."

Thought you might be interested.

Georges B.