Rotary engined Patrol in Australia

[Mark Goldberg]

Here are some pics of the rotary powered Patrol in Perth Australia. They are using an IVO prop, and hope to be doing glider towing with their Patrol.

Another unusual engine choice for a Patrol. Mark

[fairchild]

OH---- BUMMER MAN----- I thought it was going to be a Rotec 2800 ........................... :-)
(radial--- NOT rotary) When I think "rotary" --- I think of an electric shaver------ NOT an aircraft engine !
Wonder of it will be a 3 rotor ? like the skycar was using ?

[bergy]

The Mazda rotaries are nothing to make fun of; if you want to see what a rotary with a turbo can do when hung on the front of a 1000# airframe, just watch this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1lwc3fxfs

(note: the oil weeping onto the canopy on descent came from the oil vent. The vent, it seems, was designed for a steep angle of climb, not for diving at a steep angle - the vent was changed after this flight)

[Bdflies]

A number of years back, there were "Time to Climb" drag races at Sun-N-Fun. I competed in the activity one year. There was an RV-3 competing that was powered with a Mazda rotary. Two things about it impressed me: It climbed like a missile! It was so loud it was obnoxious!
The rotaries make a lot of power. They're not known for fuel efficiency. It was my understanding that cooling was a problem, when producing high power for prolonged periods, but this video seems to dispell that issue. In the late 80's, I drove a Mazda RX-7. Great car! Mine had a 5sp manual. If distracted, it was easy to forget to shift and find yourself tooling about at 7,000 rpm because it was so smooth. Absolutely no vibration!

Bill

[Van West]

That is very cool, have been doing research on the same combo, do you have any more information, build site?, PSRU info? Thanks

[bergy]

Most of the guys affiliated with the rotaryeng.net site seem to be building PSRUs from Ford truck planetary gears. Email paul lamar <rotaryeng@earthlink.net> for more information

[bergy]

Here is a photo of one aircraft installation of a Mazda rotary engine. I seriously considered using one in my Patrol. I even bought one from a neighbor kid who had removed it from a 2005 RX8. It was in running order but not running well, so the kid replaced it. I paid $50 for it (which is within my Patrol budget). Since I am getting old faster these days, I opted for a more "sellable" O-320.

Lots of information available at http://rotaryeng.net/. They are experts on cooling/PSRU/mounts/mufflers/propellers/etc. They have world-wide network of guys contributing to their email chats.

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