|
|
It was an interesting weekend working on the plane in between rain showers.
I'd no sooner starting doing something and it would start raining again.
Needless to say, I didn't get the rest of my stripes painted, but I did
replace the water pump. mount the engine cowlings, buff them out, and do
some more tuning on the engine, The engine was really running rough, and
getting worse each time I ran it. I finally discovered that putting fuel in
the tanks was not just a one time event. I looked in the fuel tank and it
was bone dry. I had just added 5 gallons only 4 or 5 months before.
Needless to say, it runs much better on gasoline than air. (too bad, air is
much cheaper)
I ran it a fair amount with the engine cowlings on for the first time, and
the temps don't seem too bad. I didn't want to run it too long or too hot
for the first run, so as soon as the thermostat opened up, I shut it down,
about a minute later. It was maybe a 5 minute run, but the engine had
already been run several time earlier, so it was warm when I started the
run. A storm is knocking on the door, so I doubt that I'll get any more
runs in today.
I have a pretty good sized furnace fan that I'm going to put in front of the
scoop a few feet, and see if I can cool it sufficiently to do some higher
RPM tuning. It is running really good up to 3500, which is as far as I have
tuned it so far. above 3500, it feels like it's going to leap off of the
ground. I did have it to 4000 a couple of times, but I thing that I had
better do that tuning at the airport, where I have more room to get it
stopped in case the brakes don't hold it back.
Attached are some photos from today.
Steve Brooks
Cozy MKIV 13BT
|
|