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Electroair tach signal

bob888

Well Known Member
I have found that the electroair timing ring and bracket won't fit on the front of the crank and further that the bracket for the magnetic pickup (probably) won't clear the inside structure of the flywheel. So...has anyone adapted the output of a Garmin G3X to provide the timing signal for electroair? Alternatives? Electroair plans to have a magneto timing housing for 6 cylinder available in the next couple of months. That may be the ultimate solution.
 
The G3X can do a lot of stuff but it has no way to output engine firing/timing to the electroair (actually it works the other way around, the electroair provides an output to the G3X to display RPM).
 
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Thanks for responding guys.

Engine is C4B5 IO 540. The ring gear is 149 teeth. As a matter of interest, the G3X has a tach source in the Hall effect transducer that is installed in the magneto; that is why I wondered if this could be a tach source for the electroair ignition system.

There just doesn't seem to be room on the front of the crank, and even if I could get the timing ring on, the clearance for the mounting bracket relative to the inside of the flywheel is minuscule, probably not room to get the coming out of the magnetic pickup to clear.

Any help/suggestions will be appreciated.
 
CSTW II

Bob, I installed the CSTW & mag sensor on two different IO540-C4B5's without issue. Frankly, removing the prop for the CSTW is a major PITA. But, the collar (curved part toward the crankcase) fits & the sensor / adapter on the right side of the eng has plenty of space.

I know this doesn't help in your situation. Pix might help off-line.
 
machine the front of the timing ring

Bob,
I installed the Electroair system on my RV-10 with a factory IO-540 D4A5 over a year ago and had the same issue. Here's how it solved it. The issue is that the flange for the propeller mount begins tapering out and the ring won't fit around the crankshaft and still align with the crank sensor. I resolved it by machining the front of the timing ring to create more room to slide the timing ring forward. Here's the important part... You need to measure the diameter of the crankshaft and have a piece of round stock machined to this diameter and mount the timing ring to the round stock before machining. If you just tighten the 2 halves together then machine you will end up with a machined oval that still won't allow the ring to move forward. This was pointed out to me by the seasoned machinist who helped me on this. He used a Bridgeport to machine a 30 degree angle from the base outward, after you have created about a 1/8'' wide cut readjust to a 45 degree angle and open up the front of the timing ring further starting where the 30 degree angle ends until you have created enough space to allow the timing ring to move forward enough to line up with the sensor. My sensor mounted per instructions and I have a double groove flywheel for my A/C so your case may be different in some way. I have probably 150 hrs since the install, no problems at all and I am very happy with the Electroair system. I discussed this issue and shared my pictures etc with Electroair at the time so I know they are aware of the issue.
Happy to answer any questions you have.

Regards,
Don
 
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