Dear owners of Kingtech K140 (F or G),

I have been thinking about to upgrade the turbine of my Boomerang Elan from my current 22Lb thrust turbine to something around 27~31 Lb thrust. I am seriously considering the Kingtech 140 but I would like to heard from you about two aspects: - Fuel consumption: does somebody else have any fuel consumption data other than those ones announced by KT? - Reliability: what is the K140 reliability in terms of turbine flameout (for reference my current 22Lb thrust turbine is simply 100% reliable. I have around 150 flights (perhaps 170~180 starts) and I have no flameouts in my backlog. I fly in an environmental with low humidity and medium to high temperatures (ranging from 7°C in the winter and 40°C in the summer).

Regards

I have a kero start 140 and have had no issues. It always starts great as long as the battery is good, it does take a lot of juice to start but can get at least 5 flights on a charge of the 3800mah Nihm. The starts are very easy and non-eventful. In my flash I burn about 100oz in a 6-7 minute flight, which is usually heavy on the throttle. As far as flameouts- not an issue, nock on wood but of the several kingtechs between a few of us ( 12-15 ) there has never been a flameout.

'Some buddy' else....?

I just bought a K140G , great engine starts and perform well lots of power .

I have 3 and all run and start great no flame outs. Around here the same guys seem to have the same trouble, flame outs no matter what brand, gear trouble and flames on start. What does that tell you?

I think the extra power is a great idea, I put 28 lbs in mine. The concern I would have is the physical size/weight of the 140 as it seems to be more like a 160/170. The weight and dimensions of the 140/170 are the same on the Kingtech web site.

The Kingtech product I have experienced was excellent, however, in this case I would suggest a Cheeta or one of the lighter 30 lb turbines.

PaulD

The size is a problem some times. I am putting a 140 in a JL F-15 and have to move the main former support a little to back to make room for the speed brake. The air cylinder will be pretty close to the rear of the turbine so I will have to put a heat shield over it.

I have a K-140 in my Skymaster F-15. The engine has 61 runs on it with 630 minutes on the timer. Out of the runs on it I believe 3 of them were test starts. As for the fuel consumption, I have 124 oz's of fuel on board without the 4 oz UAT tank. I consider this unusable fuel. The 2 main tanks at a total of 84 oz's and 39 oz tank up in the front between the intakes. I run a 7 minute timer and when I land the 2 main tanks are empty and front tank has about 3/4 of it left. On the F-15 I do balance it with the front tank 3/4 of the way full because this tank is so far forward of the C/G. If I do run this tank low the C/G changes a little so I just go to a lower rate on my elevator.

I have never had a flame out on the engine. I have not had any problems with the engine. It starts clean and runs great. The power is great as well. This F-15 is on the heavy side at 30 pounds empty. With fuel and the center line smoke tank full I am upwards of about 35 to 37 pounds.

Here is some video of the F-15 flying watch the whole thing and you will see how well it holds the nose for landing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEKASGZTPsE

RCU won't Upload pics right now so I will Try again later

Joe Lewis
Kingtech
K-80 and K-140
Owner

Finally able to post pics of my Kingtech K-140 in my F-15.

Joe Lewis
Kingtech
K-80 and K-140
Owner

To all buddies how colaborate I thank you a lot. Very nice and clear answer. No way to choose another one.
Concerning to the space for installation, the K140 is 4.5" wide like the olds P-80s that were used as reference for Elan design. The turtine itself fits but KT has a wide bracket (wider than usual) and I would need to cut off part of the 'bracket ears'... I will think about.

Regards,

Mucio
Brazil

i am about to install a Kingtech 140G in my F-15. Will post photos as soon as done...