JetsMunt Merlin 166TS
 

I'm considering this engine for my next project. Anyone flying one of these, and how do you like it?

Joe

Joe I sent you pm.

Currently flying a 166TS in my DerJet Cougar. Of course i am biased when I say how good it is but it simply is!
I have quite a few flying with customers who are reporting Very Happy Feedback on their 166's.
I also have another 2 more coming for myself for an F14, the twin igniters mean that they can remain buried in the F14 and still start even if ever one of the igniters should fail.....everyone knows igniters only ever fail just after you've driven 1000km's to a jet event :)

In the US, give Fender a call, he will look after you.

Hey Phil thanks for the info! I said the same exact thing about the twin igniters, I missed two shows due to faulty igniter and it just happen to be my 14

I have a Merlin 140 and experience has shown it to be overly sensitive to atmospheric conditions. Maybe the M166 is different but based on what I have had with the 140 it would make me reluctant to own one.

The 140 is one of our biggest selling engines. None of which have ever seen issues with varying atmospheric conditions. There is obviously something wrong with your engine....has it done it from new, has it been in any accidents, what sort of fuel are you using, how good is your fuel? .......Lots of reasons why ANY turbine can play up,
Why don't you get it looked at properly.

Hi Steve,

Could you elaborate on the issues you were having ?

Paul.

Fuel used is Jet A. Engine has never been damaged and has less than 3 hours total run time. I was looking for an engine with very fast acceleration for a particular jet. An online video showed this engine to be nearly instant so I bought the Merlin 140. The first time out to fly the plane with this new engine, every time we tried to test the fast acceleration on the ground, we got an almost instant flameout. Tried it many times, same result. Very disappointed to find out it had to have acceleration set to normal or slow in order to run the engine up to full power due to the heat and humidity. Our flying season is characterized by heat and humidity.

Earlier this year it began surging around 2K rpms above and below the set idle of 35K. The only way to stop the surging was to advance the throttle stick a bit. Found out later that when the weather is hot, you have to adjust the idle to 40K to hopefully stabilize the idle. I have not flown the plane since the surging so I have not tested the 40K idle solution offered by Jetsmunt. Had a flameout on the runway after starting acceleration for takeoff. No flameout issues in the air though.

A jet flying buddy with the same engine in his Avanti also had to increase his idle to 40K which caused some issues getting the plane to slow down enough for landing on a club runway. He has had numerous flameouts when starting the takeoff roll. He has tried every sort of adjustment he could think of and those recommended by Jetsmunt which seemed to help a bit but he still experienced the flameout issue.

He later found out that the 140 has a reputation for being "finicky" and that has been our experience as well.

I have no idea whether any of their other engines need frequent parameter adjustment. Just stating our experiences.

I have other engines of a particular brand which have never required adjustment of parameters no matter whether the weather was hot, cold, humid, or any mix of these conditions.

Hi Steve,

I have an M100. The acceleration when set to the quickest setting (very fast I think it is) is amazing. It seems to go from half to full throttle in less than half a second. Impressive to see.
I had mine set to fast when I first put it in a plane. It would flame out every flight. I would take it up resonably high (cause I knew it was going to stop plus I was trying to diagnose the fault) and just cruise at half throttle. Every time it would flame out.
I was advised to put the acceleration to normal which I did. No flameouts since and I now have about 20 hours on the engine.
As a side note, I now love this engine. Always starts nice, runs perfect and is good on fuel. It looks good as well which is a bonus.
My flying site where I had the flame out issues was about 750 meters above sea level. Low humidity with ambient temps in the hi 20's (degrees C).
For me the normal acceleration curve is fine. Faster than my other turbines. It would be nice to run it on the fast or very fast curve but I am not willing to risk it.

Paul.