Motorstar NA: Radial Aircraft Engine Sales And Service

STATUS OF M14P ENGINE PRODUCTION

December 2008      
 

Motorstar Romania.

      Motorstar has continued to produce engines, both new and overhauled. The new production engines use virgin materials for all parts. Some of the accessories are overhauled or use overhauled parts. The supply of new magnetos, air compressors  and carburetors has dried up and they are not in production at this time.

      Motorstar produces air, electric and dual start engines. They also produce the standard M14P 360 hp engine and a 400 hp variation. These options are available on overhauled engines as well.

      dMotorstar produces new cylinders ann pistons. They are often used on the overhauled engines.  

The engines are available with the standard 14mm spark plugs or with western 18mm spark plugs. 

Spark Plug variations are as follows: 

Russian P/N SD-49SMM 14 mm spark plug 

      These are the original Russian spark plugs. They are getting very hard to find and the price has risen from $12 per plug a few years ago to $40 or more per spark plug today. They are a massive electrode design. 

Chinese 14mm Spark Plug

      These are the Chinese equivalent of the Russian spark plug.  

Champion REL37B 14mm spark Plug.

      These are often substituted for the original Russian Spark plugs. They are readily available but are becoming more costly. The prices are in the $38.00 each range now. They are a little colder than the engine would really like. The engine has a tenancy to “load up” at low power settings in colder weather. They are a massive electrode design. The barrel oportion of the spark plug is smaller in diameter than the Russian spark plugs and it is necessary to either change the lead ends (elbows) to a western lead end or to use a double threaded adapter. (internal thread for the Champion plug and external thread for the Russian lead end.  

Champion RVL 38S 14 MM Spark Plug

      These are a new design by Champion specifically for the M14P series engines. They are fine wire design that all but eliminates spark plug oil fowling on the lower cylinders. They are designed to fit the original Russian lead ends and do not require adapters. E#very one who has flown with them rave about the better performance of the engines and the long life of the spark plugs.  We had a set installed in a Kamov helicopter that uses the same engine. They have flown three seasons on the same plugs and they show almost no ware. They claim much smoother engine operations, smoother accelerations and zero maintenance. They have over 300 hours on them to date.