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Tips & lessons learned in my RV10's 1st year

rvanstory

Well Known Member
Took 1st flight on August 21st, 2020. It's been a little over a year and 225 flight hours since then. There have been a few "AHA moments" in that year that I wish I knew before taking 1st flight. Wanted to share some of those items with others in case it can help them.

My setup: IO-540 built by AeroSport Motors. SureFly EI on left, Slick magneto on right. 2 blade Hartzell prop. Precision Airmotive fuel and injector system.

#1) Cold start tip... Struggled for most of the year to figure out how long to prime the engine before 1st start. It seems no matter how long I primed, sometimes it'd fire right up and run and sometimes it start, then die. Then found a tip in the Precision Airmotive manual. Quit using time to run boost pump and now use Fuel Flow (GPH) on engine monitor. Now I prime till fuel flow reads 5-6 GPH. Sometimes that takes 4 seconds, sometimes 6. Fires quick and stays running every time now!

#2) Spark plug gaps with EI... For over 9 months I have been trying to figure out why my engine just wasn't as smooth at LOP ops as it was with ROP ops. Could never find the culprit. Then decided to change to fine wire plugs (VERY expensive). I used the gap from the factory out of the box. The problem was much worse! After talking to tech support from Tempest and SureFly, found out that standard .017 to .022 gap is not enough for Electronic Ignitions. Electroair even used .032" gap! So, reset gap wider. Gapped SureFly plugs at .026" and Slick mag gap at .020". Now engine runs just as smooth LOP as it is ROP.

#3) Hartzell 2 blade prop vibration... Many folks with IO-540 and standard 2 blade Hartzell prop (like mine) had a vibration problem that could not be solved with balancing. They solved the problem by re-indexing the prop on the hub. See thread here on subject... https://vansairforce.net/community/showthread.php?t=145195&page=4
I was debating about doing this before 1st flight, but decided it wasn't good to solve a problem I wasn't having yet. So did not do it before 1st flight. As it turns out, I did have the same vibration as others. Once I re-indexed the prop, it "RAN LIKE A TURBINE"! Made a HUGE difference in smoothness. If I were doing it again, I'd re-index the prop on initial installation.

#4) Excessive RPM drop with mag checks.... I would always get a large RPM drop on my mag checks. Sometimes up to 200 RPM. Then I read in Lycoming manual, to lean the mixture if that happens. After getting plugs gapped properly (see item #2) and leaning mixture on ground, RPM drops are now down to 80.

#5) My wifes headset.... My wife has NEVER liked her headsets. Top of the line Bose, Lighspeeds, etc... didn't matter. She never liked the band on her hair or the pressure on her ears. I bought her some Clarity Aloft years ago, and she wasn't crazy about those either. THEN, at OshKosh this year we visited the Quiet Technologies booth. Phil showed her how she could wear the headset around her neck, not her head. The 1st time she flew with them she called them a "game changer"!!! Happy wife, happy life!
http://www.quiettechnologies.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=66_59&product_id=51

I realize many reading this may think I'm talking about things everyone knows, but for some reason, these little things took me a while to figure out. Hopefully someone else out there will benefit from at least one of these tips learned in the 1st year of flying a RV10.
 
Just want to say 225 hours in the first year-ish is the way one should fly these planes. You've found issues some would take ten years to find. Well done!
 
Thanks, Randy. Have to try the fuel flow method next start up.
I learn something everyday.
 
I don't have a -10 and I haven't even started on my -14 yet, but I'm glad I found this post. There's SO MUCH I don't know that I don't know.
 
Nice list

Thanks Randy,
Using your start prime recommendation and the spark plug gap on an RV9 w/ similar setup. And your prop vibration for my buddies Mooney where he has been struggling w/ a vibration for a long time.
Great forum
Dave
 
Been flying dual light speed ignitions for a few years now and while getting fuel flow info for flow matching was always disappointed with lop operations until finding out also through experimenting with plug gaps and that was the key for smooth lop operations along with turning injector holder relief holes to rear of engine. Will be trying gph method for startup now.
 
Been flying dual light speed ignitions for a few years now and while getting fuel flow info for flow matching was always disappointed with lop operations until finding out also through experimenting with plug gaps and that was the key for smooth lop operations along with turning injector holder relief holes to rear of engine. Will be trying gph method for startup now.

Dave, can you expound more on the "turning the injector holder relief holes to rear of engine" comment. Are you saying that improved your LOP ops? I've never heard that tip before. Would like to understand more.

The reason I ask, is that I MAY have spoke too soon about gaps making my LOP ops as smooth as ROP. Last flight I took, I experienced some small "burbles" while running LOP. I think I still have some tweaking to do. (with spark plug gaps or something else).
 
Density altitude has a big effect on LOP ops. If you were at a higher altitude that may have accounted for the burble.
G
 
Thanks Randy,
Using your start prime recommendation and the spark plug gap on an RV9 w/ similar setup. And your prop vibration for my buddies Mooney where he has been struggling w/ a vibration for a long time.
Great forum
Dave

Though I don't know where to find the document, I heard from others that Mooney actually issued a service instruction on this very subject. Evidently, the same 1/2 order vibration issue exists in IO-360, IO-390, and IO-540 using the Hartzell 2 blade prop. I'd love to hear if it fixes your friends vibration in the Mooney. Report back if you can once completed. Thx.
 
Dave, can you expound more on the "turning the injector holder relief holes to rear of engine" comment. Are you saying that improved your LOP ops? I've never heard that tip before. Would like to understand more.

The reason I ask, is that I MAY have spoke too soon about gaps making my LOP ops as smooth as ROP. Last flight I took, I experienced some small "burbles" while running LOP. I think I still have some tweaking to do. (with spark plug gaps or something else).

I have airflow performance injectors and while tuning I always had a problem lop with lowest fuel settings while some would say they could lean smoothly to lowest settings smoothly to idle cutoff. While I wasn’t expecting that smooth I knew it could be better. I went through many different brands and gaps of plugs to no avail. Then and I honestly don’t remember how I came across this, but the housing for the injector has a hole for bleed down I think after shutdown. The instructions say that it should be positioned a certain direction from the + or A stamped on the housing relative to the lowest point I believe. It made sense to me if that hole made a difference at shutdown could it make a difference while injecting fuel to the cylinder? Could fuel/air mixture via ram air be slightly affected while running lop? Anyway I set them to the rear, it helped my lop operations, that’s my story and stickin to it.lol
 
Injector position

I posted this on the Matronics forum. Another poster said that Airflow recommends 40 in lb. Someone else quoted GAMI saying the letter code flat must be within one flat of the bottom of the engine with max torque of 60 in lb:

From Lycoming Service Instruction No. 1275C "Cleaning Fuel Injector Nozzles":

In normally aspirated engines where the nozzles, P/N LW*18265 (see Figure 2), are installed horizontally, particular attention must be paid to the identification marks stamped on one of the hex flats on the nozzle body. This mark is located 180° from the air bleed hole and must appear in the lower side of the nozzle to assure that the air*bleed hole is on top in order to reduce fuel bleeding from this opening just after shutdown. To ensure nozzle is correctly torqued, tighten the nozzle to 60 in.*lbs. torque. Then continue to tighten until the letter or number stamped on the hex of the nozzle body points downward.
 
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