Gene Kearns wrote:
On Mon, 26 Jul 2004 11:28:39 GMT, Short Wave Sportfishing
wrote:



Gee it seems if "ANY" of the others had a failure rate or 1 in 5 we
would have heard about it, the only others to come close were Opti &
surprise surprise they had the same 2 stroke lean mixture crap, as with
ficht the same hawked around for years & all the big engine makers just
laughed; as they should.

You mentioned that the last time and I've been looking around - I
can't seem to find this 1 in 5 failure rate documented anywhere. Can
you provide me a reference to this that I can look at? I know that
the failure rate for the midrange (100-150) engines was high, but 1 in
5? I'm not sure of that.



There was a high failure rate in some HP models. It was nearly a
bankrupting issue for the company and their customer service suffered
commensurately.

K's irrational passion in this matter is a mystery and probably
pathological. It is fueled by an antiquated understanding of
operating engines lean-of-peak. Although well documented as workable
for decades, she deems operating an engine in this manner idiotic.
Amusingly, the champion she uses for citations in this matter, Textron
Lycoming, has pretty much recanted their immediately previous position
on this matter in Special Service Publication #700..... returning to
their original position that lean-of-peak operation is desirable The
make-or-break point in this matter is engine management. Where there
exists adequate engine management "FICHT Technology" (as if it were
really unique) is a workable process. Where there was an effective
lapse in engine management, there were engine failures.

Net result is that if you have a person or computer making sure that
fuel-air mixtures are appropriate and that no detonation occurs, it is
a viable technology.


But that's it Gene they don't detonate when lean because there isn't
enough fuel there.

You repeated claim to be a pilot so I'm surprised you're not well
across how this goes, as you lean the exhaust temp will actually drop
because there isn't much fuel there, however the piston will continue to
heat up, as you richen & increase power there are rules which forbid you
to just go to full rich, you're supposed to do it incrementally so the
chamber's temp (piston/rings) can be brought back to normal temps before
there's full fuel there to support detonation.

Assuming you really are a pilot as claimed then this is all common
knowledge to you yes???

Now compare how Ficht do it, they run so lean it won't even ignite they
keep firing the plug, them once the chamber is good & hot they suddenly
over seconds give it full mixture & a big increase in power??? What's
surprising is that as many survive as they do.


K