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Right, John
This past Saturday was two weeks from the incident, mainly waiting for parts. I tore down and rebuilt the engine over 3 days, but actually time was probably around 10 hours. Total cost was closer to $2500 what with both new rotor, housings gaskets, seals, etc. However, I believe a complete rebuild of a Lycoming with all new cylinders and pistons, etc, would have run a bit more {:>) Not infrequently a catastrophic failure of a Lycoming means replacement of the crank and even the case, if a rod let go. So all things considered I'm sure glad I fly behind a rotor.
The more I think about my incident and having talked to two other folks who used the Hurley seals and later took their engine apart, that what may have been the dominant factors were soft seals and sloppy apex slots. My friend in Az just took apart one of this two engines that he had flow with (not related to a apex seal problem), he reported that he was surprised at how worn his Hurley seals were. Very similar to mind with a considerable amount of material removed the length of the seal where it rubbed against the edge of the slot. I think Rusty also reported the same.
A second person who had his engine apart due to an oil leak reported the seals from Tracy Crook/Bruce T looked like new.
If the seals were soft either by design for failure in the manufacturing process, then the wear and lost of material in a critical area of the seal combined with side forces due to the worn slot were probably not a combination due for long life.
Going out this AM to install the engine in the aircraft, hopefully will have it ready to by tomorrow.
Best Regards
Ed A
----- Original Message ----- From: "John Slade" <sladerj@bellsouth.net>
To: "Rotary motors in aircraft" <flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
Sent: Sunday, April 24, 2005 11:35 PM
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: EWP Installation Update
Well, Bob, I did finish the engine rebuild tonight and loaded it
in the Van.
What's that, Ed - 2 weeks waiting, maybe 4 days work, and about $1500 in
parts?
This whole story makes a very interesting comparison to the Lycoming powered
Cozy that recently threw an exhaust valve at 6000' over Long Island. He
barely made it into Farmingdale where it is now parked behind an FBO while
the owner figures out how to either come up with $15k .... or....???
John (new wood floor all done....next?)
Homepage: http://www.flyrotary.com/
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