Bentley Rotary - Rust Prevention

Hi Guys,

Following Simon's post on his fathers dilemma with rust on his Bentley engine crankcase I though I'd better check my own. Just been into the workshop and had a look and took a few pics - hope they are of interest.

As stated elswhere I began this in 1992 and for most of the time the parts as made have been and still are stored in card boxes under the bench in the workshop. As has been described elswhere too the workshop is wood, well insulated and heated with one permanently on oil filled radiator set on 1KW output and this maintains temperature well as well as keeping condensation at bay.

These parts, which last saw light of day at the Forncett 'do' in 2011 (didn't take them this year) were packed away after as you see them with nothing more than a coating of paraffin and Tonna T68 lubricating oil mix - ratio about 10:1. All the steel parts case are made from EN1a and have a wrapping of VPI paper inside waxed paper or are just in polybags. As you see, slightly dull but no sign of rust and indeed apart from one time when a very small trace was found on the thrust box after a long period of hibernation none has ever been experienced.

We all know that rust is a pain but this is offered as proof that it can be controlled by the simplest of means depending on the environment the parts are stored in.

This is the part in question Jeff - if I remember right it came out of a 6" diameter blank - it would be a big lump in stainless - not to mention the swarf

The conrods and master rod are from scraps of UHB11 bolster steel (roughly EN9 - works sponsored). Lovely material to machine with no distortion.

Most of these parts were made several years ago the last parts being the cylinder heads seen stored in poly bags which were posted on here.

Hope this will be of use to someone not least Simon and his dad

regards - Ramon

PS In case you are wondering - regretably I can see no way to find the space in time to continue on it at present

Looks like a lovely job Ramon. Please finish so we can see and hear it run on video!

I have actually seen one of these Bentley rotaries in person here in Waterloo Ontario at the air show 2 yr ago. There was a gent in his 80's who had built it and he was demonstrating it in the static display area just outside a hangar. It started and ran beautifully and the workmanship was excellent. I asked him if he planned to try it on an RC model plane, he said in a loud voice "what!? trust it to a PILOT!?" I got a kick out of that one. A few in-uniform Canadian Forces active duty pilots who were flying in the airshow were hanging around at the time and were NOT amused.

JD

Hi Jeff, each time this comes out, which isn't very often these days I always feel guilty about not persuing it a little bit more. Current state of play is that it could be assembled but for the want of making the piston rings and turning the OD's of the pistons - insides and gudgeon pin holes are done.

I always thought the cylinder heads would be the crux on this build but they were done a while back. This next requirement seems to be another stumbling block though and there's always something else that seems to get in the way - I did get the stand painted and fitted to a base in preparation for this stage but got totally sidetracked - as I'm want to do I'm afraid

Oh well, to quote a well known TV advert that used to run over here 'Maybe tomorrow Jack'.

I was at the Wembley show when Prof Chaddock ran Blackmores original I did'nt see it but heard it several times - by the time I got to it the crowds were so deep or it had stopped. It wasn't that that inspired me to make one - that was much later and, I confess very much on a whim but that's another story

Regards - Ramon

The only way I could think of to make contact, Ramon there are no contact details on your for sale adverts. I was going to ask abut some details regarding the Bentley.

Hello David,

Sorry, I can see it's a bit confusing. It referred to another thread in the Tea Room section - 'Age and Realisation'

Either a PM or posting here will get a response but currently a sale has been agreed with the first person to make an offer.

If it's technical help then it's been a while since working on it but I'll do my best to help

Regards - Ramon (Tug)

Hello Ramon,(Tug)

Thanks for the reply, I just wanted to know what sort of price range the Bentley was but importantly how much work was done, glad you have sold the engine as I fear it would be too difficult for me!?

Okay David no probs