Engine decided to cease producing horsepower on climbout... I tried to circle back around and almost made the runway but had to dump it in the grass. No damage to the airframe other than a cracked wing peg but looks can be deceiving...
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Initially I thought the engine died because it either ran out of fuel or went lean and detonated, but no, the reality is
much worse...
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Yeah anyone see the issue here? I think not having a physical connection between the crankshaft and piston would slow you down a bit. The conrod left a nice dent on the inside of the case and did a number on the backplate too. At least it looks like it happened on the downstroke which saved the valves from getting utterly destroyed if the piston was going the other way.
I have honestly no idea what I did to cause this or if I even did anything to. Running 500 rich of peak, always what I do for 4 cycles, so it had plenty of oil. I've heard of Saitos doing this occasionally but that's because for a while they had hollow stamped-in crankpins. Here the crankpin and crankshaft are all machined as one. Maybe some kinda microscopic metallurgical defect? I've got no clue...
So I guess for now I'm on the hunt for a crankshaft for an OS 52 Surpass.