Originally Posted by
thedeerhunter
Hi everyone, I recently took a risk and purchased a used JPX T250 turbine off of ebay. I am new to turbine engines and have a few questions... any help would be greatly appreciated, I'm in desperate need of some education by those that have been around jet engines.
1. Does anyone have a manual for this engine? can't find one online anywhere.
2. Anyone know the spark plug size/code?
3. There are 3 oil ports, I'm assuming 2 are oil ports and one is a pressure return? How do I tell which is which?
4. I pulled the engine apart and inspected the bearings... they looked/felt fine. Does anyone know if the engine will need to be rebalanced since I took off the front compressor vane and rebolted it?
5. How much pressure during air start should I use at the regulator, i'm guessing in the 100psi range?
I have many more questions, but these would be a good start.
Thanks everyone
Dave
Me and my dad flew this turbine a lot!. Both on a Bandit and T33. The best advice is what Harley just told you: mount it on the wall! it is very pretty to look at
We had lots of fun with it, but it was a difficult engine to operate. You need to be trained how to use it. Start up procedure was fully manual, needs lots of support equipment (pressure gauge, spark ignitor, air bottle, regulator, etc). You needed to play with the pressure at the compressor to know when to open the gas, then you ignited the engine at the right time, kept raising the pressure with air until it was running. It did use a lot of air, you would get 4 to 6 starts from a scuba tank.
Getting electrocuted by the spark plug ignitor was one of the fun parts of this engine !!!!!
And harley, you are right, it did not have an ecu. It was a servo operated needle witht a 6 seconds delay.
Propane fuel was fun too. You had to know how to fill up the tank. It was a full process from start to finish haha... can't believe we survived that era!
Now, once running, they were super reliable. No fuel pump. But you only had like 4 or 5 minutes. ANd throttle management made a lot of difference. That is why you see the old school turbine fliers being more active on the power... we had to, it was not a choice
Sorry you might have wasted your money, but I seriously doubt there are many people around that can help you. I for one, completely forgot how to run one.
Good luck