Print
Hits: 2410
Saturday 07 Mar 2009
2.6 air time
2.5 flt time

Inter-flight activities:

  1. The oil pressure adjuster was turned one turn clockwise.
  2. Two quarts of oil were added to bring the quantity up to about 9.5 USG.
  3. The wheel pants were installed.
  4. The forward baggage bay door was successfully opened using the original key, which was much thicker than the locally cut key I had been using. The door latching pins were lubricated with Boelube, on the advice of another builder who had suffered a similar key breakage (thanks Dan). Additional key blanks were roder
  5. The EFIS power on snag was troubleshot. I had hoped that the problem was caused by a high resistance in a power or ground line, which would limit the current that could be supplied. Or maybe a connector pin that was partially pushed out. However, all pins were found to be fully inserted. The resistance between the ground pin and ground was extremely low, as was the resistance between the power pin and the main bus. A temporary wire harness was fabricated to bypass the existing wiring, but the EFIS still showed the same 1 Hz power on cycling. The EFIS connector was removed, and this flight was flown with the EFIS unpowered.
  6. Additional weather stripping was installed at the lower left side of the canopy bow.
  7. Reviewed data recording of fuel pressure.

Events:

  1. Engine break-in. One hour at 75% power at 7500 ft, followed by one hour with power alternating between 65% and 75%. This was followed by 30 minutes at max power at 2500 ft.
  2. Air leak check. No air appears to leaking at the canopy bow.
  3. Oil pressure check. The oil pressure is now about 81 to 82 psi if the oil temperature is around 185 deg F to 195 deg F.
  4. Fuel pressure data recording check. The fuel pressure appears to be recorded correctly on EIS channel AUX3.

Existing Snags:

  1. RPM still low in level flight with max rpm selected.
  2. EFIS does not power up. It is in a continual reboot cycle at about 1 Hz. Thus no EFIS data is recorded.
  3. SD-8 Alternator does not seem to be working. Will defer troubleshooting until engine break-in is completed, as it would be useful to check for AC output from alternator during an engine ground run.
  4. Loud buzz at high speed from aft part of canopy skirt. Try some stick-on Velcro or felt.
  5. Turn needle in turn and bank not working. The OFF flag is removed when power is applied, so power is getting to the instrument.