ken watson

I flew a direct drive soob turbo today and was pleasantly surprised. I know a lot of people bag these machines but this flew great.Climbed out better than the 503 I once owned and was very smooth. Motor ran extremely sweet maxing out at 3300rpm and cruisng at about 2800.Was a little noisy but not that bad. Blades were 26ft Larkins which are exceptionally smooth and probably the best blades I've flown. They pat up very easily and its a shame Bert no longer makes them. Prop was a Sweetapple. One thing interested me and hopefully some one may know the reason. The turbo manifold had a blead hole in it that vents to open air. We blocked it and it had no effect on boost pressure which max is about 6psi. Is it there for a reason , or has someone missed out on blocking it? When blocked idle reduces because of the richer mixture, but seems to be smoother. Any knowledge appreciated. Thanks, Ken

Birdy2

is it on the pressure side or suction side?
if its on the pressure side Ken, its to bleed out any fuel vapers after condensation.
If its on the suc side its the same, but for water condensation.
the 914s have the same thing.

Fencing Wire

Nothing really wrong with them, Ken. I punted one around for about 8 years. In a lot of ways, it was a more user friendly machine than a lot of others. (like standing on the ground to put your rotors on). If I wasn't such a "large" bastard (and you can read into that what you want), I wouldn't have changed it.

How long was the Sweetapple?

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FW

I can't remember what I did for brains before shit became popular.

ken watson

Yeah mate its on the pressure side. I think the prop is 54 or 56". The bloke who owns it fitted a starter motor which works great and means you spin the rotors , strap up and hit the button. Makes it real easy. These are an effective low cost machine with 4 stroke reliability and an engine that isn't working very hard(max 3300rpm).I think the turbo must be necessary to give it the grunt. Ken

niquenaque

Ken,

Out of curiosity:

How much do you weigh?

Was the prop a wide chord prop or just normal and pitched very coarse?

Cheers,

Nick.

mceagle

G'day Ken,
How big is this bleed hole? Sounds a bit like it may have blown off a little rubber bung from a manifold port. EA81 T's have a large pressure bleed off valve in the manifold but that is in a big hole in the plenum chamber.

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Tim McClure

ken watson

G'day Nick and Tim. My weight about 80kg(maybe a little more). Had 40l of fuel on board.I think its just a normal wooden prop, not very wide. I'll find out more from the owner. Hole is like the normal brass thing you put a vacuum pipe on, except its been cut off. Engine is an ea81 that was modified to be turboed(decompressed). Thanks Ken

niquenaque

Thanks Ken,

By the time I throw some clothes on and boots, etc, I would be up around the 100kg mark. I was thinking of doing the same sort of thing with my machine before the redrive came along courtesy of the finest crash test dummy I know.

So if it was sweet for you with an all up pilot weight of 20kg less than me, I think it would have been problematic if I had tried it.

Cheers,

Nick.

Gyrodes

Ah Nick you could always reduce the weight by going to tonnes instead of kg's yeh I know I'm a smart arse Des

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What you focus on grows. Des Garvin

Fencing Wire

Nick,
About 200 pounds (in the old lingo) was about the upper limit for pilot for direct drive. I'm about that. On a cool day with the air nice and thick, it went real good. If the day got warm (and the air a bit thin, it was more like a "stick in a puddn".
Cheers

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FW

I can't remember what I did for brains before shit became popular.