The Bluebird Project

Incredible to think that it smells of anything considering how many years it lay buried at the bottom of Coniston Water...Is it jet fuel...or is it the central heating fuel that Donald was rumoured to have been using? Chris

It is absolutely pure, 100% Avtur as determined using gas chromatography. Donald was not using central heating oil, tractor diesel or whiskey, as rumoured. It was proper jetfuel.

One story I heard was that sponsorship for K7's fuel in the 66/67 campaign was arranged via the local farmers, which seems unlikely to me but you never know, and that by the end he was running tractor diesel in the boat.

On that matter I knew a bloke who installed helicopter turbines in an offshore powerboat and whereas diesel was easy to come by AVTUR was not so he experimented. What he discovered was that diesel worked very badly in cold turbines and made lots of soot and smoke but once the engines were hot they could burn it properly so what he did was use dual fuel. Kerosene for starting and warmup then diesel once everything was hot. There you go - a supreme piece of useless information.

Mike Bull wrote:I'd never even heard the rumour about the fuel until Bill mentioned it to me the other day- where the hell did that story originate? At least that's one daft rumour that can be 100% put to bed, anyhow.

I'd heard that from some of the local's in Coniston years ago, guess time warps the memory. Its good that the rebuild puts to bed all of these rumours. Chris

Renegadenemo wrote:One story I heard was that sponsorship for K7's fuel in the 66/67 campaign was arranged via the local farmers, which seems unlikely to me but you never know, and that by the end he was running tractor diesel in the boat.

On that matter I knew a bloke who installed helicopter turbines in an offshore powerboat and whereas diesel was easy to come by AVTUR was not so he experimented. What he discovered was that diesel worked very badly in cold turbines and made lots of soot and smoke but once the engines were hot they could burn it properly so what he did was use dual fuel. Kerosene for starting and warmup then diesel once everything was hot. There you go - a supreme piece of useless information.

The rumour has an element of truth to it, re home heating fuel:

DMC obtained his paraffin from Hadwin's of Torver. It was the same type of fuel which was used for home heating in the local area in that era. This is before widespread use of central heating, particularly in rural areas.
The paraffin is of course pretty much the same fuel as aviation Kerosene - which of course back in the 60's would not have been developed as much as todays aviation fuels are.
Hadwin's were the local Land Rover dealer, established in 1962. After the accident, in lieu of payment for the paraffin supplied, Leo arranged that Hadwin's would take ownership of the teams Land Rover, which was equipped with various compressors, and equipment to support both the car and boat. The Land Rover was retained by the garage, and is to the best of my knowledge in the process of being restored back to its original condition.

Hope that helps,

Neil

I'd be surprised if that story is entirely correct because early in our investigations we collected a sample of pure fuel from the filter bleed screw and sent it to the lab along with a sample of pure AVTUR obtained from the airport. Both were subjected to detailed gas chromatography and the constituents and proportions of both liquids were expressed graphically. The two liquids weren't close - they were exact, right down to the more aromatic compounds in K7's fuel despite 34 years trapped underwater. The only answer, therefore, is that either K7 was running pure, aviation-grade AVTUR sourced for the job or the local central heating boilers were running it too.

Renegadenemo wrote:Three units here, it's the gubbins on the right. It's something to do with the PRC or the AFRC, I assume.

As we look at them. Left to right. Air Fuel Ratio Control, Pressure Ratio Switch, Pressure Ratio Limiter.
All concerned with accelerating the engine, so highly likely to have been set up especially for the task, perhaps where that Lab Report comes in.
AFRC controls supply of fuel to accelerate engine to new throttle setting.
PR Switch devides an engine derived pressure (P2) to better control engine acceleration demands.
PR Limiter prevents overfuelling or stalling of the compressor.
All of the above inoperative during steady state running.

Eau de kerosene, lovely ain't it?

I'm not insane over those bits yet - though I'm quietly pleased that I correctly identified them (and thanks for the neads-up) - it's the CCU (Combined Control Unit) that's currently driving me nuts. it's full of sleeve valves and fiddly widgets and mud. Oh joy! The pump is looking good though. All it needs is a new rotor bearing and we're in business. We have a spare bearing but it's on another rotor and will it come off? Nope. Working on it - and going insane.

sheppane wrote:

Renegadenemo wrote:One story I heard was that sponsorship for K7's fuel in the 66/67 campaign was arranged via the local farmers, which seems unlikely to me but you never know, and that by the end he was running tractor diesel in the boat.

On that matter I knew a bloke who installed helicopter turbines in an offshore powerboat and whereas diesel was easy to come by AVTUR was not so he experimented. What he discovered was that diesel worked very badly in cold turbines and made lots of soot and smoke but once the engines were hot they could burn it properly so what he did was use dual fuel. Kerosene for starting and warmup then diesel once everything was hot. There you go - a supreme piece of useless information.

The rumour has an element of truth to it, re home heating fuel:

DMC obtained his paraffin from Hadwin's of Torver. It was the same type of fuel which was used for home heating in the local area in that era. This is before widespread use of central heating, particularly in rural areas.
The paraffin is of course pretty much the same fuel as aviation Kerosene - which of course back in the 60's would not have been developed as much as todays aviation fuels are.
Hadwin's were the local Land Rover dealer, established in 1962. After the accident, in lieu of payment for the paraffin supplied, Leo arranged that Hadwin's would take ownership of the teams Land Rover, which was equipped with various compressors, and equipment to support both the car and boat. The Land Rover was retained by the garage, and is to the best of my knowledge in the process of being restored back to its original condition.

Hope that helps,

Neil

Thanks for that Neil, I thought there was an element of truth to it! Chris

Renegadenemo wrote:The pump is looking good though. All it needs is a new rotor bearing and we're in business. We have a spare bearing but it's on another rotor and will it come off? Nope. Working on it - and going insane.

!! ?? Pump rotor runs on two carbon bearings is it one of these that's stuck? Or do you mean the bronze thrust ball at the base of the pump extension?
Look closely for a hand etched mark L.S.(then a number) / then another number that signifies an over or undersize used. This specifies that an approved repair scheme has been applied to the part in question. Carbon faced seal on the pump extension is very contrary.