James Dunn wrote: "My KR-2 has a VW type 4 engine, mounted ring-gear forward, without a starter or ring gear. I'm wondering if installing mechanical or electrical actuated pressure relief valves in the heads would allow the propeller to provide enough torque to restart the engine in-flight. My centrifugal distributor at low rpm fires just after top dead center."
I predict that if you create and install such a compression relief system, the number one cause of engine stoppage would become that very system. Not to quash your idea, but I personally wouldn't give it another thought. In my experience, engine stoppage is far more likely on takeoff than any other flight regime, due to vapor lock, crank breakage, and that kind of thing. It's likely to happen at low altitude, and with few landing options. You will likely be too preoccupied 1) flying the plane, and 2) figuring out where you're going to put it, to be thinking clearly about how the compression release is going to restart your engine. The biggie though is "if the engine quit, what makes you think a simple restart is going to fix it?" I wish it were that easy, but most of the time, that's not going to help one bit... Mark Langford, Harvest, AL ML at N56ML.com www.N56ML.com
