A New Dawn

Ok, so after today I have to admit I'm getting a fair bit excited about this plane. I am now trying to put all the negative behind me and focus on the future and I have to admit it looks good. I flew today  for 2.1 hours and started to do some general testing with speeds and fuel flow.  I started out flying over the airfield for 40 mins then, after it performed flawlessly, I ventured out of the proximity of the airfield and set sail.

Some very basic figures so far, that's if I can rely on the accuracy of the fuel flow metre, but here they are:
- 100kts @ 12.5 Lp/h
- 110kts @  15 Lp/h
- 130kts @  22 Lp/h
These figures were at about 4000 to 5000ft for reference.

I have noticed that on take off it is very easy to boost the heck out of this motor. I was a little bit tardy noticing today on take off when I saw 44" hg in the climb . It wasn't for long and I had only just gotten  airborne so backed off to about 36" and continued the climb out. It was a short runway and gusty so settled for 36" and climbed out at about 800 fpm. Temps have been fantastic since the addition of the Rotec tbi and the enlarged cooling outlet. Max temp on climb today I saw was about 380f on the hottest cylinder. Happy days for sure.

According to whatever you read the Aerovee is supposed to be broken in hard. Treat it mean keep it keen I believe. Well today that just wasn't going to happen. The turbulence was a huge limiting factor and mostly I was really only flying at around 2600rpm @ 24" map.  It was averaging about 110kts and that was about the top speed I was comfortable with. I'd like to think it will still be run in ok and upon landing the compressions felt really good turning the prop over so we will see.

I tried in vain to set the compass module for the discovery lite. It seems I got to 99.3% done but landed so will have to do it again I guess, I'm not sure why it wouldn't finalise but will read the instructions again and try next flight.

I have also today set the dial a trim correctly. I'm not sure why I didn't read the manual correctly but in doing so today I found it works perfectly and now flys very close to hands off. I also cut the trim tab down by half on the aileron but need again to trim some more off. It should be perfect after the next adjustment. In regard to the elevator trim I think I just erred on the side of caution in regard to the initial setting. I didn't want to find myself with a huge amount of up trim on the first flight so was a tad too cautious. After the adjustment today though all is good.

So for future flights now that the temps and engine seems under control I best start documenting the SAAA cards for the phase 2 registration. I have about 36 hours to go so need to get cracking. There seems to be a large number of them so time to start. They basically help you determine best glide speeds and climb stats so should be fun and also something to do to help pass the time for the test hours.

Some pics of today's flight

Ok who has a smile from ear to ear?

Well as it turns out ME !!!!!!!

I flew the plane today for a nice 0.7 flight and a now 2.1 hours in total. With a nice Carb fitted and good mixtures it climbed out with temps all in the green. The CHT's never exceeded 400f and it climbed out great. I took it up to about 5000 ft and circled the airfield before a quick fly over the house to wave to the wife and daughter as a sort of victory lap. I have to tell you I was very happy upon landing as the whole flight was perfect. Dodging a few low clouds here and there saw me level out and start to see some good numbers on the panel.

The 3rd pic is a bit hard to see but straight and level at about 29-30 " I was TAS about 129 kts. Sweeeeeet.   The first two screens I was on a gradual climb out of about 200-300 fpm.

I'm so far really happy about the performance. Hopefully after 20-30 hours the engine will cool down some more like they usually do. I have a good positive feeling about it all now and looking forward to seeing these 40 test hours behind me.

I added an aileron trim tab that seems to be a bit large now. At the faster cruise I was at today, now temps are under control, the wing wants to go the other way funnily. I will reduce the size of the tab next time I'm out at the field and that should sort that out. I believe I will also need to add some more spring tension to the elevator "dial a trim". I just can't seem to get enough up trim for any flight operation so far. I have been flying with full up trim for the whole flight so need to get onto that asap. It will be nice when it flies hands-free after being all set up properly. Now the engine is running like it should I can start to concentrate on those sorts of things.

So I only flew the 0.7 today but I think I will just do the first oil change after the engine rebuild now. This will see me able to fly off the next 5 hours before it's due again as part of the break in procedure.

 Happy days.

Fuel system makeover and engine rebuild.

Well its been a fair amount of work to get the plane back running again. I have been busy adapting the new Rotec tbi to the aircraft and doing a new fuel line system.  I have basically copied the fuel system off my other plane and fitted a one way valve and a fuel pump in parallel. Essentially it runs on gravity most of the time and the fuel pump can be used for takeoff and landing if desired and perhaps one day aerobatics.

There seems to be adequate clearance between my foot on the rudder pedals and all the components so hopefully all will be good. Obviously I still need to wire up the pump but I thankfully put all the wiring in place just in case long term I had to fit a pump. I honestly didn't think I would need to be fitting one at 1.4 hours but that's how it goes. 

I've had to make up all new controls, cable brackets and air cleaner spigots as well in the drawn out process of changing the carby over.  The new tbi also requires a primer so a 3rd cable was also required to be fitted to the aircraft. The controls were all ordered from Spruce and were here in a very short time after ordering. 

My dash looks a little like this now. Conventional throttle and mixture controls with an added 3rd cable for the primer. 

So it turns out I forgot to take photos of the brackets and spigot I had to make up to adapt this carb to the aerovee. You can see the TBI all fitted but the details of the brackets are a bit hard to see properly.   It all seems to work fine so a test flight I think won't be too far off.  I carried out a flight attitude gravity only fuel flow test after all the work was done just to be sure. Results were fine so not much to hold me back now. 

Let's hope this is the end of all the major issues and from now on it's all smooth sailing.  I'm really after that big grin after a successful flight.