I woke up this morning to fog with a visibility of about 200 feet, with showers predicted (and they showed up about noon!) - a miserable day in the Houston area, but it's hard to complain - I've hardly had a "weather day" since I started flying the -8 in October.
Anyway, I decided it was a good day to pull the cowling, which hadn't been off since the 50-hour oil change, and take a peek around. I am still utterly amazed at the lack of trouble I have had with the airplane - I had expected hours of tinkering with little problems, but in fact I have had virtually nothing to work on!
Under the hood today, I found one spot where the metal certification tab on the oil cooler supply line had vibrated on the engine mount, and scuffed the powder-coat. I found a very thin film of oil on the top of the throttle cable bracket - looks like there might be a very tiny drip from the oil cooler return line fitting in the accessory case. (That's a pipe-thread fitting, and I am sure I won't get another 360 degrees out of it, so might be tough to fix.) No cracks or wear spots on the baffles, no leaks from the rocker box covers (silicone gaskets). The exhaust pipes are "seasoning" as expected (changing color), and there was a little baked-on oil from where the crankcase breather drains on to the left pipe - but that is what it is supposed to do! No oil on the belly, which is a nice thing...All-in-all, the engine compartment looks like it did on the day of the first flight.
Looking over the rest of the airframe, the only squawks I could find were a missing nut on a circuit breaker (spotted by an alert Forum reader who was looking at the pictures Doug posted!) - must have been some vibration. I also had an intermittant audio problem with my passenger yesterday - we tracked that down to the phone jack - the plug was very loose - didn't seem like it was "clicking" into place. Sure enough, the little contact up under the side-wall was bent, and not making a positive connection - I bent it back, and all is fine.
I don't know WHY I was expecting porblems...just figured that would be the norm with anything custom built. But I think it says a lot about the reliable nature of Van's kits - a solid airplane with robust components. What a machine!
Paul
Anyway, I decided it was a good day to pull the cowling, which hadn't been off since the 50-hour oil change, and take a peek around. I am still utterly amazed at the lack of trouble I have had with the airplane - I had expected hours of tinkering with little problems, but in fact I have had virtually nothing to work on!
Under the hood today, I found one spot where the metal certification tab on the oil cooler supply line had vibrated on the engine mount, and scuffed the powder-coat. I found a very thin film of oil on the top of the throttle cable bracket - looks like there might be a very tiny drip from the oil cooler return line fitting in the accessory case. (That's a pipe-thread fitting, and I am sure I won't get another 360 degrees out of it, so might be tough to fix.) No cracks or wear spots on the baffles, no leaks from the rocker box covers (silicone gaskets). The exhaust pipes are "seasoning" as expected (changing color), and there was a little baked-on oil from where the crankcase breather drains on to the left pipe - but that is what it is supposed to do! No oil on the belly, which is a nice thing...All-in-all, the engine compartment looks like it did on the day of the first flight.
Looking over the rest of the airframe, the only squawks I could find were a missing nut on a circuit breaker (spotted by an alert Forum reader who was looking at the pictures Doug posted!) - must have been some vibration. I also had an intermittant audio problem with my passenger yesterday - we tracked that down to the phone jack - the plug was very loose - didn't seem like it was "clicking" into place. Sure enough, the little contact up under the side-wall was bent, and not making a positive connection - I bent it back, and all is fine.
I don't know WHY I was expecting porblems...just figured that would be the norm with anything custom built. But I think it says a lot about the reliable nature of Van's kits - a solid airplane with robust components. What a machine!
Paul
