I am turbo charging my VW/Rayjay Happi variant. I have added to the design a larger Oil cooler, wastegate, pop-off valve and ECU controlled fuel injection configured and PC programmable MAP. The pop off valve and wastegate have special selected springs. I have also added ceramic coatings to the combustion chamber, Nicke aluminum cylinders and poly coated bearings. All investments are made and I will assemble the engine after I finish the airplane.
By the way I have some fuel injection manifolds for a 2180 for sale if anyone is interested. Ronald R. Eason Sr. President / CEO Ph: 816-468-4091 Fax: 816-468-5465 http://www.jrl-engineering.com Our Attitude Makes The Difference! -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2005 4:36 PM To: KRnet Subject: Re: KR> Geared vs direct drive Turbo & my 2 cents I love this subject and have contemplated turbo charging my 2180 for quite some time. I feel I have extensive knowledge of turbo charging systems as I have done extensive amounts of turbo and turbo engine work on automobile applications. However, and not to slight anyone here, I don't think I would ever consider taking a turbo from one application and believe I could bolt it to my VW 2180 or a Corvair engine and expect success. I cut my teeth in turbo experimenting with automobiles. I will also credit much of the knowledge I gained came from many individuals involved in the Shelby Dodge Auto Clubs. Here is what I learned. Or, I could just cut to the finish and suggest that if you want to turbo your airplane, start with a proven turbo and engine application and then make minor modifications as you need. But back to what I learned. With a turbo several things are critical to it's success. I would say that the most important is proper air fuel ratio delivery and the ability to monitor that. In an aircraft , this would be highly critical. I think more engines blow up ( turbo or normally aspirated) because they get to a lean mixture condition. Adding a turbo makes this even more of an issue. For that matter, anything that increases horsepower makes fuel delivery very important. So, fuel injection would be my choice over a carb on this subject. I would also install an air fuel meter. You would also need to deal with the great deal of increased heat that a turbo creates. Both to your oil and probably even your air fuel mixture. Cooling the air fuel mixture can be done with and intercooler. The increase in oil temps would be a challenge to your oil cooler and oil delivery system. You may also need to deal with the fact that when you shut off the engine, all that hot oil from your turbo will drain down to your engine , thus increasing oil temps after shut down. The most reliable automotive turbo's use both oil and engine coolant to keep the turbo cool. You also need a reliable way to regulate the waste gate. Or in other words you have to be able to keep the turbo from overboosting. Again, I believe you need to monitor this with a guage. If not you will never be able to keep head gaskets on your engine. You would also burn holes in the tops of your pistons, burn valves and so on and so on. Speaking of valves, my experience leads me to believe that you would need to change the exhaust valves on your engine as well , in order to deal with the increased temps of combustion. This goes back to the idea of starting with a reliable engine turbo combination. I could go on and on with the subject of turbo charging. I would also say that I think it is the cheapest and best way to get more ponies and torque out of an engine. I also would guess that there are people on this list that know 10 times more then me on turbo charging. But I qualify my information with the years I spent experimenting with turbo in automobiles and that I was able to take a 2.2 four cylinder engine of 140 horsepower and develop a reliable dyno tested 360 HP with incredible amounts of torque. But, I did this using a tried and tested engine and turbo combination. I was able to take advantage of computerized controls for fuel delivery and waste gate controls. I was able to write my own computerized fuel tables and timing curves to assure air fuel mixture at various RPM ranges. This was all done via Engine ECU and interfacing a laptop computer. And the whole system seems a little complex for a KR2. I also need to mention that I struggled with all the items mentioned above. No big deal when on the ground ( ok maybe a few towing bills and head gaskets and parts and such) but I sure wouldn't want to have those issues in the air. I would still like to turbo an engine for my KR2. I am still unsure of the best, lightest and most reliable way to do it. Maybe I will start with some Rev Master turbo parts and go from there. Jeff York KR-2 Flying N839BG Home page http://web.qx.net/jeffyork40/ My KR-2 http://web.qx.net/jeffyork40/Airplane/ to see my KR-2 Email [email protected]
