Well, that happens if you wait too long
That being said, my impression after building and running it is that the engine is worth every penny. Even if some have commented negatively on the use of aluminium, I have only heard positive comments from people who actually own them.
I have only run mine a couple of times and can't say much about the longevity, but I can say this:
The fit and finish of the parts is outstanding, I didn't have any problem putting the kit together. Following the detailed instructions book made everything clear. The only operation that needs more care, in my opinion, is the mating of the cylinder port faces and slide valves.
After running it in (described previously) it performs very well now: no leaks to speak of, reliable slow speed and impressive high speed and power.
The only drawback I could notice is that the reversing lever, while perfect for manual control, has no provision for connecting a servo. It's not hard to make one yourself but it would have been nice to have it included in the kit, because I think that most people who buy this engine want to use it in an r/c model.
With the Graham TVR1A one gets a a complex and well-performing engine for a price that would buy you only a simple twin oscillator from other manufacturers. Now if this sounds like an advertisement for Graham, let me state that I don't know the manufacturer and have no connection with him, other than buying his product. And I'm really happy with it.
By the way, if I were to put another TVR1A kit together now, I wouldn't use the supplied gaskets (which are fine, by the way), only some high-temperature sealing paste. To this end I have used Hylomar (on other engines) and it allows perfectly tight seals even when mating isn't perfect. With paper gaskets the job isn't that easy.
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Topic: Building a Graham TVR1A engine (Read 36368 times)