Richard Goode Aerobatics

This week's overhauled engine now on its way to Australia.

M 14 PF, serial number 831034 after total overhaul with Aerometal. It will be going into a Yak 52 owned by Ned Restom of New South Wales Australia. The whole transaction was handled by our friends, Luskintyre Aircraft Restoration of NSW, where Ned is a customer. He wanted a high specification engine, which we obviously prepared including the PF supercharger; our supercharger modifications; our automotive plug conversion kit; our AYC coils and Carillo pistons. However he did not want to be committed to high octane fuel so chose standard compression pistons. Nevertheless the engine produced 444 hp on the Aerometal calibrated dynamometer which was very pleasing, particularly since it was exceptionally smooth.

We also liked his choice of a fairly pale yellow, as opposed to the many bright red engines that we have been producing of late! It works well with the black. Of course, paint colour choices are totally in the hands of our customers, although sometimes we attempt to advise them, but they usually ignore our advice! You can see our special significantly thicker oil drain plugs waiting to be drilled and tapped for his new oil drain system. Too many people try to use the original very thin aluminium plugs which are likely to crack and break open, which is not what you want on an intake tube!

You can also see the transport mounting legs, and of course mounted to the join between supercharger and crankcase and not onto the engine mounting ring, in order to avoid distortion if the crate should be dropped. Also you can see our standard treated wood shipping crate which we use for international air freight – and going into Australia it has to be "treated" otherwise would be rejected by the customs.

This week's engine to come out of Aerometal with an interesting story!

This is M 14 PF, serial number 0222009 for a SP 55M, s/n 01-01, registration ZK- # # #, owned by Steve Geard in Tauranga, New Zealand. The SP 55 has an interesting background. Slava Kondratiev, who we got to know well through joint projects in the 1990s and early 2000's, was demonstrably the leading light aircraft designer in Russia. So he designed the Yak 55 and then was persuaded to take a team to Sukhoi by Mikael Simonov, then the General Director of Sukhoi who had decided to get into light aircraft – which Sukhoi had never done before. But with Slava he chose the right man and, Sukhoi had the technology with some of the most brilliant designers in Russia and they came up with the Sukhoi 26. This led on to the two-seater Sukhoi 29, but at that stage Slava was becoming fed up with dealing with the internal bureaucracy of Sukhoi and decided to leave, taking with him a few of the key people, including the two pilots who worked for Sukhoi and had been both in the Russian team.

He set up his own company called Technoavia with various ideas of new projects. An easy one was to develop the Yak 55 which of course he knew well to make it lighter; better rate of climb; faster rate of role and generally a better aerobatic aircraft. By and large he succeeded in this, and the SP-55 aircraft is very different to the original Yakovlev 55 although built on the same basic airframe which Slava was able to obtain.

As a rather interesting, but not directly relevant side-story, the two pilots were "Valoda" Makagonov, who was married to Halida Makagonova, who subsequently became Women’s World Aerobatic Champion, and was exceedingly helpful to me in introducing me to Sukhoi, which ultimately led to my being their sales agent! The other pilot was "Misha" Moltchianouk who flew excellently in World Championships, but was also the factory test pilot for Yakovlev, and in particular for the Yak 41, the first supersonic vertical take-off fighter. During testing of the Yak 41, he was flying low level at high speed when the electronic control system failed which pitched the aircraft violently down; it was estimated that he had about two seconds to eject which he just managed and the Zvesda ejection system saved him!

Steve wanted one of our "ultimate" engines which involves PF supercharger gears; high compression Carillo pistons; the Aerometal supercharger modification to bring diffuser and impeller closer together; micropolishing all the gears, both in the drive gearbox and in the accessory case at the rear of the engine; our automotive plug conversion kit and our AYC coils – both of which now have full certification from EASA (European FAA); polishing of the intake ports. All of this added up to an extremely powerful engine – 469 hp on the government-calibrated dynamometer at Aerometal at 103% rpm. Steve also ordered a 2.7 metre diameter MT propeller from us, which, combined with this power will make his aircraft into a veritable rocket ship!

In the first three photos of the engine, you can see that it has a tubular steel Yak engine mounting ring whereas the SP 55 has a rather special solid titanium ring, but the Aerometal dynamometer mounting stand does not have the appropriate fittings for this ring, although we do for the titanium rings in Sukhoi 29 and 31. So the engine was tested on the dynamometer with the Yak ring and then the rings were changed over. A slightly frustrating thing to do, since all the ancillaries – carburettor; magnetos et cetera have to be removed from the engine and then subsequently replaced once the rings have been changed. But as you can see this was done and the solid titanium ring was installed. Interestingly it appears to be totally symmetrical and can fit onto the engine with either side facing forward, but in only one of these positions can it be connected to the engine mounting arms, but having said that there is nothing on the ring to indicate which way faces forward! So this needs to be established before it is removed from the engine and appropriately marked.

In the close-up photos of the engine mounting, you can see that the transport mountings to go inside the shipping crate do not bolt onto the mounting ring, contrary to what many people think and indeed do. The fact is that the engine mounting rings are designed to accept aerodynamic and "G" loads, but not the sort of force that can occur if a crate is dropped with the mounting arms attached to the ring. So you will see that they are bolted to the very strong joint between supercharger housing and crankcase, which is how we always transport engines.

Steve – happy flying!

This week's engine after total overhaul and uprating on its way to the US to be fitted to a Bearhawk!!

This is serial number 642051,going to our customer David Robb in Georgia. The engine had all our normal high-performance upgrades, with the exception of having the Carillo pistons with standard compression which will give David the flexibility about different fuels that he might need to use. Nevertheless, on the Aerometal calibrated dynamometer, 442 hp at 103% is a good figure. An interesting aspect of the engine is that it has absolutely no pneumatic systems. We do make quite a lot of engines for customers needing them for Yak 52 W and TW, but where they have dual pneumatic and electrical systems for starting. Our own view is that this does tend to lead to unnecessary additional weight, particularly since the standard pneumatic system, if used correctly, it's very reliable. But I can say that we never had a customer wanting to delete either system!

But in this case David ordered the engine with only electrical systems – as you can see from the photographs with the ring gear on the propeller fl**ge and of course starter motor. Importantly every pneumatic part of the engine has been removed, so no compressor/air distributor/airlines to the cylinders, and even the ports into the cylinder head have been sealed.

We had only vaguely heard of the Bearhawk aircraft and so had asked David for more information, and he explained that Bob Barrows designed the Bearhawk 4 Place in the mid 90’s and started selling plans. They were typically built with Lycomings or Continentals with 180 - 260hp. In 2000 Budd Davison proposed the below drawing, suggesting it be enlarged and built with a M14-P. Two engineers and airplane enthusiasts, Rob Gaddy and Keven Deutscher, took the design project on and redesigned the Bearhawk fuselage 27” longer, 6” wider, and 2” taller than plans. They started building two of these enlarged and strengthened fuselages similar to Budd’s proposed Desert Hawk. One of these two Desert Hawks is being finished by David and is known as the Radial Desert Hawk. It will be the only known Bearhawk derivative with a radial engine. David wanted serious performance and decided to go down the M 14 PF route. With a 250cm three-blade MT propeller and our 442hp M14-PF engine, the airplane should have a sprightly climb!

We look forward very much to see the finished aircraft.

For those of you interested in mechanical art, we have a customer whose principal business is restoring historic racing cars, but he asked us if we could provide an ASh-62 engine to decorate his office. So we found one engine with internal problems but looking cosmetically excellent, and you can see it on display in his office – 1000 hp and 30 L capacity!

This week's engine leaving Aerometal for India! M 14 P serial number KYA632060, for powering a wind-machine.

As you can see this is not one of our glossy-painted engines with nickel plated exposed metal, and indeed a power output far removed from the 470 hp that we can give our engines! Still a respectable 374 hp – but as you can read below, that’s all that’s needed for its new life.

This engine is for an interesting customer that we have mentioned before on Facebook, Winwall in Chennai in India, who make prefabricated buildings. Inevitably, in India, there's quite complex legislation in relation to their work, but the bottom line is that any building they produce must be able to withstand a wind speed of 150 kph – a bit over 90 mph. They had heard of us, and approached us about eleven years ago to see if we could provide an engine and propeller. We always enjoy a new technical challenge and so came to an agreement with them to provide a somewhat cheaper but overhauled engine in that it would not need to go through all the bureaucracy and paperwork for an aviation engine. And for the propeller, see below. And of course, they needed advice on making an appropriate stand for the engine to be mounted on the back of a truck so it could be moved from one location to another.

That engine was a great success and worked for many years, but unfortunately, they started it with the lower cylinders somewhat filled with oil causing dramatic hydraulic lock and effectively complete destruction of the engine, although of course various parts were good to keep as spares. In the meantime, their business had expanded, and so they had ordered another engine, which we had supplied and has been working well, but they needed a second engine to cope with their expanding business requirements. Hence this engine, nicely overhauled, but not to aviation standard, and of course without all the complex paperwork required for an aviation installation.

One interesting aspect of their operation is that they do not use the propeller governor at all and it is lock-wired in place so the engine then works at 80% (2400 rpm) all the time! And of course, with this "industrial" installation, all the oil lines; oil cooler et cetera were locally manufactured truck items, and pneumatic pressure for starting is provided by a large industrial air cylinder, so no need for an air compressor.

For the propeller, it's worth repeating the story of the Russian MT propellers. About 20 years ago, MT were sending a lot of propellers to Russia to be fitted to new Sukhoi and Yak aircraft. They were approached by Speriot who made (deliberate past tense!) the widely used V-530 two-blade propeller, offering to make MT propellers under licence in Russia, which also saved considerable import duties going into Russia. This seemed an attractive idea to MT who awarded a production licence to Speriot, which was subject to a payment per propeller that was produced. However, after a while, MT realised that the Russians had established a totally separate series of serial numbers, and so were only informing MT of about half the propellers that they were manufacturing! MT were able to cancel the licence, but inevitably Speriot continued to manufacture MT propellers, and there was little that MT could do about this. However, inevitably these propellers, if outside Russia, needed overhauls and MT established a very strict regime whereby the Russian propellers were completely "blacked" and could never be overhauled or parts provided for them! This meant that quite a lot of these propellers were sitting around in the West but not overhauled and no ability to overhaul, and simply to get them out of the market, MT offered the owners a discount on new MT propellers, but insisted that the Russian propeller should be returned to them.

As a main agent for MT – and indeed having placed the second order they received when they went into business some 35 years ago, we knew about these "blacked" propellers, and since the use was totally non-aviation, MT agreed to supply a couple of the Russian propellers for the wind-machine application – but on the strict understanding that they could never be mounted into an aircraft!

This week's engine, an HS-6, now completed and on its way to Indiana.

This Huosai, serial number 822369, has just completed testing and is now at Budapest airport waiting shipment to our customer, Robert Miles, in Indiana, for his Nanchang. Like many of our customers Robert has chosen bright red for most of the engine including valve covers, but, interestingly, black magnetos.

In terms of specification, we have now standardised this for our up-rated Huosais, which means the superb Carillo pistons at 7.4:1 compression ratio – still relatively modest; our special supercharger assembly, significantly reducing clearances; fitting our automotive plug conversion kit and our AYC coils, both fully certificated by EASA (European FAA), quite an achievement for part of a Chinese magneto; polishing of induction passages and increasing maximum rpm to a still prudent 2600 rpm.

We guarantee 375 hp on a formal and calibrated dynamometer for these engines and this one actually produced 385 hp. Interestingly, one of our customers had a ground-strike with one of these engines so it came back to us for a full shock-load inspection. Despite quite severe deformation on the metal propeller, there were absolutely no problems in the engine, but when it was put on the dynamometer, now having flown for around 50 hours, it produced 397 hp, so was clearly run in!

Those who look keenly at these photos will see that the transport mounting arms are not attached to the engine mounting ring but to the very strong joint between crankcase and supercharger, just in case the crate might be dropped. You will also see the new Chinese data plate that we have manufactured, of course with the correct serial number. And, as is our normal practice, there are desiccant plugs in one row of cylinders to keep them totally dry until the engine will be started.

We have now delivered 11 of these engines to this specification and have formal orders for another 4 with our partner, Aerometal in Hungary.

M 14 PF engine serial number 541006.

This week's engine is on its way to Vernon Bonfield in Washington State. There are various interesting aspects of the engine, firstly because it will be fitted to a Murphy Moose, with most of its operation being at sea. The previous engine superficially seemed reasonable with acceptable compressions and so forth, but simply didn't have the power to continue to climb, for example over the Rockies, pulling what is quite a heavy and draggy airframe.

Then, unlike a standard Yak engine mounting, where there is a mounting ring bolted to the rear of the crankcase which in turn has fl**ges which bolt onto an engine mounting frame going to the firewall, the Moose has a tubular steel ring, but incorporating the mounting arms welded to it as a single unit. Other non-factory built aircraft such as the Pitts model 12 have a similar engine mounting system. But in the photographs you can see this one-piece engine mounting system.

As with all our engines, the customer has total choice about engine colours, and when I first saw this plan for an essentially grey engine but with white intake tubes and ancillaries such as magnetos, I was a bit surprised, but now I see the engine in the flesh, I think it looks rather good!

In the photos you will see that it has desiccant plugs replacing the sparking plugs in order to keep the cylinders completely dry before installation, and also no governor – simply a cardboard cover plate. The reason for this is that the aircraft uses a Hartzell metal propeller – an obvious requirement in a maritime environment – and the owner has his own new governor to fit.

In terms of engine specification, in view of the problems with the original engine, Vernon wanted a powerful engine, so obviously a PF supercharger and various other standard modifications, including automotive plug conversion kit; our AYC coils; Carillo pistons but he did not want high compression pistons so that he was not obliged to use high octane aviation fuel all the time. But on the calibrated dynamometer at Aerometal it produced an excellent 440 hp, with which we were very pleased for an engine to this specification.

Work of the Russians

This was a lovely Sukhoi 26 single seat aerobatic aircraft owned by very enthusiastic private pilots in the Ukraine whom we used to help with parts for maintenance. It was kept in a hangar in Odessa, which was then bombed by the awful Russians with the result that you can see below. It is almost enough to make one cry!

This week's engine leaving for a new customer.

This is M 14 PF, serial number 712403 for our customer Chris Lee in Brisbane, Australia for his Yak 18 T. It delivered an excellent 438 hp on the calibrated dynamometer, importantly with standard compression Carillo pistons as Chris did not need the ultimate power, and of course this is a significant improvement on the standard nominal 360 hp – typically more like 348 or 350 hp! But otherwise incorporating all our normal improvements such as special tight supercharger assembly; automotive plug conversion kit; AYC coils; polished intake ports et cetera

Looking at the photographs, in one you can see the engine on the Aerometal dynamometer, and some people have asked us how horsepower is actually measured. In between the engine propeller shaft and the propeller is a sophisticated strain gauge which is twisted under the load of driving the propeller; the extent of the twisting is sent by Bluetooth to a laptop which then gives a reading of horsepower and torque. You will see that we use an original Russian V-530 propeller, but one could use a heavy plank of wood to provide the resistance, but of course it would not cool the engine! The observant will also note that the transport mounting arms do not mount onto the normal engine mounting ring. This is purely a precaution just in case the transport crate is dropped which could distort the mounting ring which could make it difficult to install the engine. So rather it is installed with three fl**ges, each with two legs going to the bottom of the crate and bolted to the join of engine and the "Pyramid" – i.e. the whole rear of the engine being supercharger accessory drives et cetera. You'll also notice the quite smart "lifting eye" bolted to the propeller fl**ge. Also, what we regard as being quite important is that the wire locking on the important parts has a blue lead seal so, in the future, one can see whether some part has been removed or changed or whatever!

Carburettors

I have realised that there is quite a lot of misapprehension about the different carburettors so I thought that some people might appreciate a history and also more detail on "tuning" which so few people bother to do and yet which is very important!

Obviously the first engine was a Russian AI14 of 260 hp, whose carburettor was designated K-14 A. Although over 60 years ago it is actually quite a sophisticated carburettor, particularly compared with contemporary automotive carburettors. In terms of the AI 14 engine, it was installed in the Yak 18 A, the predecessor to the 52. Then, under the terms of a deal between Russia and China, the details of which I have never been able to establish, the entire design of the aircraft and engine was given to the Chinese. Interestingly they completely rejected the aircraft but did use quite a few technical details of it, but came up with the very different Nanchang CJ-6, arguably, and indeed in my opinion, a rather better aircraft!

However, for the engine, the Chinese made very few changes, as I have posted here before, with the only significant one being to increase the supercharger drive ratio which increased power to 285 hp. But the Chinese made absolutely no changes to the carburettor, but designated the carburettor the QHQ-14 A, but it is absolutely identical to the K-14 A. An important point is that the K 14 A and the QHQ 14 A both had cockpit controlled mixture adjustment.

Then for completeness, the Russians gave the engine to the newly established design bureau of Vedenyeev who set out to make a more powerful version, and indeed very successfully did so with the M 14 P engine of 360 hp. The carburettor was designated AK 14 P and was further developed and made much more "adjustable" (see below), and importantly had a slightly larger "throat" to accommodate more air, but also had an acceleration pump inside an acceleration chamber which sq**rted in some additional fuel into the supercharger when the throttle was moved forward. But only then, and that is why these engines often give that characteristic small cloud of black smoke and a brief "stumble" when the throttle is opened on the ground from idle which of course indicates a mixture that is too rich.

This AK 14 P carburettor had a further sophistication of having an aneroid capsule which provided automatic leaning as the aircraft ascended to higher altitudes. This meant that there was (in theory anyway) no need for a cockpit mixture control.

The M 14 P engine was chosen to power the Kamov-26 helicopter, of course modified with a right angled drive gearbox for helicopter application. However, a further version of the carburettor was used, the AK 14 V, absolutely identical to the "P" but lacking the acceleration pump system. But it retained the aneroid altitude compensation system from the AK-14P carburettor.

Then in terms of "tuning" these carburettors, the original K-14 A and the Chinese QHQ-14 A are reasonably adjustable apart from obvious steps like the throttle stop. But they both have an idle mixture jet which is adjusted from when the jet is fully screwed in but with an operating range of 6 to 12 "clicks". The main mixture jet similarly works in the range of 16 to 24 "clicks", but also in a clockwise direction to make it richer.

It should be noted that the main jet, also called injection needle, is built up of two parts. They are made in the same manner and have the same movement and function in both carburettors. They are built up of two pieces, with a threaded connection. As it is screwed in, the outer part covers the fuel holes. But in the two carburettors, adjustment is totally different, and you can see below photographs of the different jets. So the AK-14 V jet has a flattened point where the jet is adjusted while the QHQ-14-A is adjusted by a flat-head screw at the "head" part. This means that, having the same thread in both, that they are screwed in from the opposite direction so having the same effect. So in the K-14 A, and the QHQ-14 A the mixture becomes richer when the jet is screwed clockwise while for the AK-14 P the jet is screwed counterclockwise for a rich mixture. However, idle adjustment is the same with both carburettors.

Separately, the K 14 A and QHQ 14 A have a limited range of suction jets of 1.8 mm; 2.0 mm and 2.2 mm. Importantly, these are compensating jets, so larger jet provides less fuel, but the effect of the jets only comes in at above a medium power setting. However, in all these engines the suction jets are extremely important in terms of cylinder cooling, which should be the criteria by which they are changed. Obviously a larger jet means less fuel so the engine will run hotter.

To turn to the AK 14 P and AK 14 V, they have a much wider range of adjustment. The main mixture adjustment – officially called "metering needle adjustment" begins with the locking plate removed and the needle screwed fully in clockwise. It is then unscrewed (obviously anticlockwise) and the clicks will be noted. At 24 "clicks" this is the leanest (least fuel) position. It can then be screwed in to the position of 16 clicks which is the richest (most fuel) position. Then clearly the locking plate is replaced. Conversely the idle jet has a range of 6 to 12 "clicks" and works in an anticlockwise direction to richen the mixture. The jet should be screwed in totally and then screwed counterclockwise between 6 and 12 clicks to richen. But these adjustments are extremely sensitive and should be done very carefully and literally one click at a time.

A big difference is the much wider range of suction jets in these later carburettors. Originally they went in the range of 1.3 mm; 1.4 mm; 1.5 mm; 1.6 mm; 1.7 mm and 1.8 mm. As a practicality, the two larger jets are hardly ever used – I have never seen one on one of these engines. And as we have developed much more powerful engines, it's clear that they need more fuel both to develop the extra power and keep cool so we have manufactured jets of 0.9 mm; 1.0 mm; 1.1 mm and 1.2 mm. As a practicality it's rare to use the smallest, but with many of these engines we fit 1.1 mm or 1.2 mm suction jets.

Then with these AK 14 P caburettors, a further complication is that they have this acceleration jet. As you can imagine the larger jet will sq**rt in more fuel. For some reason most engines seem to have been made with either a 1.2 mm or 1.4 mm acceleration jet which we feel is too large – hence the black smoke on opening the throttle. In consequence, when we overhaul an engine or a carburettor, we will typically install a 0.6 mm or 0.9 mm acceleration jet. Mind you, we do know of a number of "gorilla" mechanics who simply solder up the acceleration jet to make it inoperative!

The next engine development was of course the M 14 PF, and with the Russians we were very much involved in the development of this engine at the time, which ended up at a nominal 400 hp, but using exactly the same range of jets, but typically a smaller suction jet and a richer main jet. We then went on to develop the M 14 R engine, which was exceedingly powerful – approaching 490 hp, but I'm afraid unreliable, but it did show that the carburettor was more than adequate for these types of power output, but of course dependent on correct jet adjustment.

Coming up-to-date, we are now overhauling a lot of the Chinese HS-6 engines, but in a developed form for which we guarantee 375 hp. It has become clear to us that these engines benefit from a better carburettor, and the obvious solution is the M 14 V helicopter carburettor, the AK 14V, with its slightly larger throat and, importantly, much more adjustability in terms of suction jets. So when we are making these engines we offer an M 14 V carburettor at a small additional cost. And indeed of the 10 HS-6 engines that we have delivered one has been so modified and working very satisfactorily, and I suspect that several of the next five HS-6 confirmed customers will also ask for this new carburettor. The only problem is that we do not have infinite supplies of the M 14 V carburettors!

Of the photos below, the first three photos are of the AK 14 V carburettor, identical to the AK 14 P carburettor, except not having the an acceleration pump chamber.

Photos four, five and six are the K 14 A carburettor, totally identical to the QHQ 14 A carburettor in every respect.

The last two photos are of the the main jet needles and show the completely different construction, the first being the QHQ 14 A jet and the second the AK 14 V.

This week's M 14 PF engine leaving Aerometal for the US.

This is engine serial number 0322006 for our customer, Dale Matuska for his Yak 52 TW in Florida. Dale chose a bright "Orient" red colour, which does look good on this engine! He did not want one of our "ultimate" engines in terms of power so we kept to standard compression Carillo pistons. But 437 hp on a corrected dynamometer is excellent for standard compression, but of course with PF supercharger.

Some points for the observant – you will see that the mounting legs for transportation do not go onto the aircraft engine mounting ring. This is standard practice for us since on occasions, these crates can be handled roughly; even dropped and that kind of blow can distort the mounting ring if the legs are mounted to it. So we mount the engines on three pairs of legs bolted securely to the joint between supercharger and crankcase.

Then, like all our engines, it has a Romanian data plate, but, quite correctly insofar as it was originally a Romanian engine like all 52W and TW! You will also see desiccant plugs replacing the sparking plugs to draw out any moisture in the cylinders, and equally a blank on the carburettor intake.

Interestingly this engine was dual start – pneumatic and electric – as all 52W and TW, and slightly unusually we overhauled Dale's original engine rather than one from our stores (The advantage of overhauling one of our engines is that we can send it to the customer and he can then change engines with very little down-time). He had removed all the external parts for electric start, but you can see the propeller drive shaft with longer studs, which are needed to fit the starter ring gear and also the starter mounting bracket on the side of the gearbox. As is our normal practice in such cases we then assembled the engine as a full electric start engine so we could test the electric starting on the dynamometer, but as you can see in the photographs, subsequently removed.

Finally, you can see it has our oil drain system fitted to the lower intake tubes with the larger drain nuts that we manufacture, since we feel it is not correct to drill and tap the original drain plugs which are very thin metal and can often crack and break!