As y'all likely remember I had to redo my strakes following finding my
Jeffco fuel tank sealant had failed a few months ago. A few days ago I applied
some micro on my hopefully now repaired strakes. I still have to smooth and
pretty up the micro, but to get away from the fiberglass work for a bit I
decided to add fuel to my new strake tanks and calibrate my newly installed
Atkinson fuel gages.
I had about 25 gallons that I added one gallon at a time, 1/2 gallon to each
side. The Velocity has a center sump tank that the two strake tanks dump into.
So I added fuel to each side in approximately equal amounts to allow everything
to equalize better. I filled the sump tank first and it took just under five
gallons. Nothing seemed to leak confirming my air pressure test with balloons a
while back.
Ok, here is the good part. On a wild hair I turned power on to the plane to see
if the rotary engine would turn over after sitting dormant for the last few
months with only an occasional hand rotation of the prop. Not only did it turn
over, it started. Wahoo. I shut it down right away as I was not in a position
to play.....uh, ummm, work on it. But I was tickled it started almost
immediately. After having to redo my strakes, this was a nice little experience
for me.
I am off work tomorrow and I hope to get out to the hangar to clean it up after
a lot of fiberglass work. Maybe I will "play" with the engine a bit
too. <g>
All the best,
Chris