Rotax notes
For what it is worth, i copy and pasted my rotax notes from excel into
this E-Mail, poor format. You can probably wade through.
Again i am not an Expert, i have never seen a rotax up close except at
the factory for a demo flight. I am pretty good about picking peoples
brains who know, then try beating up what is told me to get what is
probably pretty close what i want to know.
Please beat anything up listed if it sounds not right.
Ron Parigoris
12-30-2002 conversation with Phil Lockwood from LOCKWOOD
AVIATION in FL. Kerry is other technition 1-800-LA ROTAX or Technical
Assistance 1-863-655-6229
Gal from Lockwood recced. Looking at www.rotax-owner.com
Lockwood Aviation sells Rotax motors and flight and engine instruments
and is largest Rotax dealer in Country, they will honor all Warrenty
work
If purchase from them, expect more special treatment after warrenty
Motors like to be mounted fairly rigid, he is not real thrilled with
continental 0-200 Lord mounts if they are softer
Cylinders are Nicocil plated Aluminium, they do not rust or wear! If
they need replacing, they only cost ~$250, he said some real high time
like 4000 hours only .001 wear
Spark plugs are standard NGKs. Change bout 200 hours. They load up and
run rough, especial with Leaded fuel
Has E.I. By Ducati, black box with a stator and a coil on block
Reccomended MoGas for lower power settings and less than 12,000 feet.
Above, MoGas can vapor lock, although not bad on 914, high pressure
pumps circulating fuel. Best use 100LL and TCP, some fly high on MoGas
and 914s
If you run 100LL run 5,000 to 5,500 RPM and use TCP, or it can stick
valves. Jeff from ABC Rental said he trained on Katana, choir to keep
temps. Up to make TCP work, need heat to get lead out
914 is motor that is used in Preditor, tons sold, a lot of R+D went into
it and newest one is pretty good
914 runs a bit smoother with lower compression compared to 912S 100HP,
also 912S can not be hand propped, 914 can
914 will run all day till TBO at 35 inches, 40 inches for 5 minutes. 30
inches and MoGas should make things last longer and work fine.
914 has a 2.43 to 1 gearbox, and the 912 a 2.27 to 1 box (1800RPM Idle
will equate to a slightly slower prop than 912? So perhaps idle up just
a bit)
914 has hydrolic lifters, if motor turned backwards, will suck air in
oil lines, or if lines filled with air, can cause lifter problems
Fill oil filter, and hand prop or crank motor till pressure
TBO on 914 is 1000 hrs.
Europa Demo has close to 1,000 hrs., use auto or better cycle oil with
gear lube, not aviation oil, Lockwood likes synthetic
Turbo is air cooled, works well
Intercooler a good idea, 90 degree TO will overheat airbox temp and
boost will go down
John @ Europa said Intercooler an easy option, it mounts above air
intake, need to move oil tank from right to left side
Some folk had turbo stick with non synthetic oil
Turbo Exhaust is Factory and nice, recently they made it out of thicker
material, significant change. He said older thinner would go to TBO
newer ones should be longer.
He said Rotax motors gets a bad rap, because some Mfgs. Made less than
great exhaust systems that were no where near the quality of the Rotax
motor
Oil change at 50 hours, especial 100LL, synthetic cycle oil with gear
lube, think Castrol GTR (think 100 hrs recced? But 100LL gets things
dirty)
He said motors are kinda broken in at Factory, uses Synthetic from get
go
Jeff ABC Rental trained in a Katana with 80HP said Castrol GTX does not
hold up under shear stress
Motor takes 3 qts oil, dosent leak or will you need to be adding.
Overall very reliable, give it fuel and oil and they run very reliably
Blocks crack in some glider tow operations. Very few. They begin to leak
oil. Incrediable loads, and they crack after the motors are high time.
No failures, just leak oil. Rotax investigating, thinks they will never
resolve completely. Full power, get hot, dive no power and cool, hard on
any motor.
Prop strike can twist a crank. Cranks are pressed together. Rotax only
allows 1 pressing, so at TBO you replace them. ~2800
Rods have plain bearing, no can service, mains 2 piece and replacable
Aeromaster CS props OK, uses warp drive CF Blades. Had problem with
ejecting blades early on, thinks problems resolved. He does not sell
aeromaster.
Said MT and Hoffman or MT/Hoffman was expensive but great ~$7500, but
uses wood core blades???
think without accessories, motor is 124 lbs!!!
He uses Blue Aeroquip hoses, he thinks good to 300PSI? I think these are
ones Brian uses on Balloons for LPG even though they are not rated for
LPG and do not have certification.
He thinks teflon/wire reinforced may take a set after a while??? He says
no need for anything more than Blue in his opinion
Gearbox failures, the worst noisey worn box will not let you down in
flight. They will not start. The motor relies on some inertia from prop
and box, worn will not allow a start, has light flywheel
Katana problems: Idle at 1800RPM Min.!!!! Less will wear out gearbox so
minimum 1800RPM he said he can hear motor pounding too low RPM or out of
sync carb across field
Gearbox 600 hours new belville spring washers and re shim, if no do this
big repair at 900 hours, splines and other, pounding does them in
(Europa sends in box at 300 hours for inspection
Say no to pounding for long gearbox life. Minimum of 1800RPM idle,
cutting out motor with fuel cut off may cause pounding??
Europa said every 300 hrs. they send gearbox out for inspection, said 20
minutes to take out
You are right when it comes to abuse in the training fleet. The most
frequently replaced parts on these planes is the gear-box and clutch.
Must These motors have a slipper clutch to protect
prop strikes, 1 guy had lead in it from 100LL and there is an
adjustment, plobably the shims that rotax guy mentioned
be the result of all that yanking of the throttle for all those practice
engine-outs. Then it's rebuilding those carbs.... seems like they are
always
fiddling with those. Luckily with liquid-cooled heads shock cooling is
not an issue.
Dynamic balance prop. He said sometimes you get luckey, usual not. Have
it dynamic Balanced, balance critical, Europa demo flight, not balanced,
but he was headed to get it done, he just put on new blades as the ones
he replaced had some corrosion from spending 40 days and 40 nights in
the rain when it got stuck somewhere and they left it outside. anyway
supposedly they have better seals now.
Has Bing carbs, constant velocity, has 3 jet needle positions. Does not
have a mixture control. Said works well. Forget number of hours, but
carb snot a problem after a while (200 or 300 hour clean up?) same
problem with R-100GS
Said was not reccomended to cut off fuel? Said stabil a good idea or use
AvGas if no fly for a while probably cutting off motor with fuel will
make miss and hurt gearbox?
Balance of carbs critical, first you must plug up balance tubes. Most
carbs set that they go full bore if cable lets go. You need to pull to
idle. Well idle stops are not real strong, he uses balance tubes for
guage connection
You are best off taking out idle stops and using cable stops for
adjustment. He likes cycle arrangement better. Use stops and give
cables a bit of free play. You can't pull against stops they will change
after idle set at minimum 1800RPM sync carbs over idle, again have
balance tubes plugged up. As a matter of fact, he plugs guages into
those balance tube holes
He can hear an out of sync Rotax across field
Ira Said heard Turbo problems, overflow spewing out coolant all over
supposedly AD on it
Ira Said heard that wastegates stick on turbo??
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