So, learnt something new today.

Got up early this morning to take my plane to Richfield for it's annual inspection and the gentleman that is doing it agreed to give me a lift back in his plane because he "doesn't do taildragger" and can't fly mine. I'm pretty happy because he has a DA20 and i'm looking forward to getting my first ride in one. We get her all checked out, strap in and off we go, pretty impressive performance for 125 hp with 2 big guys and 3/4 full fuel, 600 fpm @ 80 mph and 6 gph starting at about 6000 ft ASL, heck, that's about all i'm getting out of my 180 hp 172 at this altitude, except i'm burning 8.5 gph

Anyway, we're cruising along, enjoying the sites until we notice the oil pressure needle is heading for the floor. all the other engine gauges look good, but the pressure keeps dropping. My pilot starts to tell me about an interesting engineering marvel on this particular engine. There is a oil pressure relief valve, but the oil in that part of the engine is not protected by the oil filter, so every so often, some carbon or metal or whatever can get stuck between the valve and the seat, keeping it from closing, the end result of which is you loose all you're oil pressure. As i sit there contemplating this bit of info while watching the needle's slow descent towards zero and thinking about having this happen on one of my old flights over the middle of nowhere Alaska, i had to ask myself, what were the engineers thinking? and why, with the FAA's zealous pursuit of more AD's, how did this one get missed?

Fortunately, we were able to do an idle decent into Escalante, and after pulling the cowling, and removing enough hosing and wiring to get to the valve, we got it removed and sure enough, there was a ball of carbon wedged between the seat and the valve. Put it all back together, fired it up, no problem, 60 psi. off he flew home, no further problems.

So, i guess the moral of the story is, keep an eye on that gauge and make sure you have the tools with you to fix the problem whenever/wherever it may decide to clog up

Be careful out there

Chris

Good story Chris. So is Maven doing the Annual? Seems like he would be the only IA in Richfield but I thought he only had a Rutan??? looked like a fiberglass canoe with wings

You'll have to let me know how he does (if it is him) on the Annual. I sure like the guy and I think he's fair and competent. Hope you are doing well. I still need to get down there on a bike or in the 205… Seems like all I do is work

Did your buddy move out of the hangar yet??

Yep, it's Maven and he does have a variezy but it's baried in the back of his hanger. He's "watching" the da20 for a friend.
I hear you on the working part but come on down when you get the chance

SixTwoLeemer wrote:
Did your buddy move out of the hangar yet??

No joy as yet

That is commonly uncommon. I had it happen in my O-300 once. I was about half way through Canada. After reaching cursing altitude i leaned my seat back, grabbed a banana, just in time for it to squirt right out of my hands when i finally did my scan. No oil pressure. Same problem as the 240.
The 240 is a really neat engine. I wonder why they have not made it into more airplanes. Its really just an upper induction fuel injected O-200 right?

Not an expert by any means, but that's my understanding. Just never saw that problem before and after experiencing it can't understand why it hasn't been addressed.
So, what did you do?

I'm told that the IO 240 is substantially heavier than an O-200A. Not sure why, though that was verified to the tune of 30 pounds or so by a chart I saw once.

Some of the Reims built (French) Cessna 150s were equipped with 240s, but I don't know if they were IOs or O's.

Interesting engine in any case.

MTV

Here's the spec's for the the 200 series of engines from continental's website; http://www.continentalmotors.aero/uploa ... 12-web.pdf

Googled it. The O240 was used in the Reims 150. Higher compression, 130hp at 2800. 30% more hp than the O200 but only 12% more weight. The O200 is 2/3 of the C-145/ O300, the O/IO240 is 2/3 of the IO360. They use the same stroke as the smaller engines but a bigger bore--4.438 vs 4.0625.

The engine in those froggie aerobats is an O-240-A 130 hp built by Rolls Royce. I think the bore & stroke are the same as a TCM O-360. The RR version has a higher compression ratio than the TCM ones, and it's not exactly the smoothest running engine in the world. An FRA150L performs (if that's the right word) about the same as a 150/150, but with less weight up front.

N-Jacko wrote:The engine in those froggie aerobats is an O-240-A 130 hp built by Rolls Royce. I think the bore & stroke are the same as a TCM O-360. The RR version has a higher compression ratio than the TCM ones, and it's not exactly the smoothest running engine in the world. An FRA150L performs (if that's the right word) about the same as a 150/150, but with less weight up front.

Interesting. I've often thought that one of these engines on the bow of a PA-18-95 might be interesting. That much added weight up front might not be great, but with a composite prop to compensate.......

Bring bags of $$$$ though....

MTV