Wow it’s been a year and 103 hours. Completed my first condition inspection. Took me about 35 hours.
I got tired of checking tire psi so I installed SensAir TPMS by Beringer during tire rotation. The airframe is solid, the only issues are firewall forward.
Cylinder 1 baffle is separating at the head from air pressure so I fabed up some hold down brackets. Fuel regulator psi creeped up .5 and adjusted back. Prop RPM has crept down a bit, adjusting and flying until I get 2680rpm. Throttle minimum rpm on high side and adjusted down, added some Teflon tape to forward hub to tighten up spinner clearance, very small blue stain leak at injector one, removed and reapplied thread sealer.
Scoped and checked cylinder differential pressure.
Found a washer laying in the empennage and one fuel tank attach bolt not torqued. All jams nuts tight!
Had a few issues during flight test. Engine idle rpm was too low to idle. So Aerosport was supposed to run my engine with my throttle body, hmmmm. My crankshaft oil seal developed a leak. So prop was removed to replace the seal, what fun. Exhaust pipes for cylinders 1&4 were rubbing. Was able to tweak the exhaust hangars and the gap has remained acceptable. Had issues with the left forward baffle rubbing on the upper cowl. Retrimmed and seems good now.
Had a heavy left wing. Ended up dropping the left aileron about 1/16″ and added a small wedge to the right aileron. Fabricated a small rudder wedge for centered ball at cruise. The left flap has a slight twist I believe contributing to the heavy wing. Dropped the flap one full rod end turn.
Engine fuel map was way too lean, took several flights to get it adjusted so CHTs stay within acceptable limits. Still learning system32, know enough to be dangerous. It would be nice if FlyEFII had an option to retard ignitions for new engines like SDS does.
Avionics have been solid. The only adjustments made were for instrument labeling, alert volumes, fuel flow calibration, and autopilot tuning.
Knocked out SB000036 for the horizontal aft spar. Had slight binding in rudder and right elevator. Found affected hinges and added washers.
Had issues with Aveo strobes not syncing. Switched to Aeroleds Pulsars, super bright lights that actually sync! The Aveos went in the trash where they belong.
My Beringer wheels and brakes have been flawless.
During my fuel filter inspection found wrong elements in the wing root filters. Luckily I was able to find stainless 40micron elements as the filters are no longer maufactured.
My JDair tailwheel had some play and developed tracking issues during aft CG testing. Ended up installing tapered pins in place of the AN3 bolts. Added an .016 shim under the steering arm to reduce play.
My biggest fear was a fuel tank leak, so far so good.
Having an issue with MAP sensor 1 occasionally showing bogus low MAP, engine not happy running on ECU1. Trouble shot and found engine side firewall connector MAP1 signal pin not locked in connector. Check your pins!
Oil was seeping from the oil filter angle adapter and mag spacer-replaced gaskets.
The bird is running strong and solid. Planning a trip to Kitty Hawk, NC to pay respects.
One mile of road takes you one mile. One mile of runway takes you anywhere!
Working on getting fuel flows adjusted with the system32. Operated flaps and did a landing flap stall. My O2 sensor was not working. Forgot to ground the sensor, now good. Main focus is engine break in. Running 80% power orbiting the airport. Kinda boring constantly circling. ADSB report and FIS are all working. Tested auto pilot, is working well but gains need to be tweaked.
After 2nd flight inspection I found an oil leak that appears to be coming from the forward crankshaft seal. No good. Wiped the whole area down real good. Will inspect again after 3rd flight.
On Sunday 3/5/23 my aircraft became airborne for the first time at 4:37pm! Flight lasted 17 minutes. Completed 1st and 2nd flight test cards. Engine CHTs got into the 400s did a shallow climb to 4500 feet reduced power temps began to stabilize and decrease. Did a clean stall added a notch of flaps and landed. What rush, she’s fast and responsive!
Decowled and inspected. No leaks, everything looks good. Only issue is my crossover exhaust pipe is slightly rubbing the other. Should be an easy fix with a set of thinner exhaust gaskets. Plane has a heavy left wing, adjusted wing skin clearance where rubbing on flaps. Left forward air baffle is rubbing on the upper cowl.
Finished up my training at 81D with Bruce Bohannon. What a patient, super guy, and a wealth of knowledge. Spent two days and six hours grinding out landings as well as a few on his slice of heaven grass runway. Got some stick time in a super sexy Legacy as well, soooooooo darn fine and fast!
Vern Darley conducted my airworthiness certification. A very knowledgeable guy who’s been in aviation his whole life. He’s done over 1000 certifications and knows RVs well and owns an RV. He gave me some excellent 1st flight advice and I took notes.
So finally my build is complete and my pile of parts is an official aircraft! On to transition training and phase one.
Finished AWC application. That was a long and involved process. Installed forward seat floor, forward seat back, and seatbelt. Removed inspection panels, completed condition inspection, and made appropriate entry in logbook.
Downloaded datalog from engine run. Not sure if AFR is displaying properly, and idle rpm needs adjustment.
Adjusted idle throttle position to 7% and ran engine with idle around 700rpm. I think the mixture needs to be enriched. Added adel clamps to right side injector rail for added support. Fabricated and installed spacer bracket for cylinder 3 injector support.
Upper gear fairings do not have proper clearance with the gear legs. Trimmed 1 inch off the length and removed top area and reglassed. Trimmed about 5/8 off the height of the lower gear leg fairings. Shooting for 1/8 clearance on the upper fairings and .040 on the lowers.
Started and ran engine for 3 minutes. Engine idle is way off on the low side, will have to tweak and run again. No fire and no leaks! Had a couple of very experienced guys volunteer to keep eyes on the engine, much appreciated.
Riveted new flange to forward baggage floor. Ran boost pumps from both tanks and checked fuel return lines for leaks. Updated G3X, edited electronic checklist, configured W&B.
The hanger water line burst with the hard freeze, was welcomed by a small pool Saturday. Instead of working on the plane ended up on water removal detail, dry now.
Installed snorkel, copper intake gaskets, drained preserving oil from cylinders. Rotated prop by hand until oil flowed from sender line. Continued rotating prop until oil flowing to oil filter.
The big moment, pressed the starter button and cranked twice for 10 seconds. Good oil pressure and no electrical fire. Installed bottom spark plugs and spinner screws, ran boost pumps and checked for firewall forward leaks. Double checked everything, ready for engine run.
Aeromotive 