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N1017H First Engine Start

majuro15

Well Known Member
It was a chilly evening, but my RV-10 cranked to life on Sunday with the help of some friends. I was a bit nervous but it all worked out pretty successfully.

It's an Aero Sport IO-540 with SDS dual ecu injection and ignition, 9:1 pistons, BPE cold air induction, and Whirl Wind Aviation 375HRT prop.

A few take aways: Use your checklist! I had mine at home but decided I didn't need it. That resulted in me starting on only one coil and one ecu! It was a trooper and started/ran but didn't run smoothly.

Check torque on everything! I safety wired my oil filter perfectly. I just didn't torque it before hand! So we had a pretty good oil leak after a few minutes of running.

The oil filter was fixed and rewired, the throttle cable was adjusted to get lower idle RPMs (put the throttle body on the stop), ECUs adjusted a bit for next start, and everything cleaned and checked over.

The second and third starts were perfect and she ran smooth. I didn't cycle the prop since I didn't get oil temps up (it was in the 40's OAT) so I'll do that on the next run while setting prop pitch.

Inspection and first flight on Tuesday (maybe next, maybe the following ;).

https://youtu.be/CcYHAP_f3e8
 
Light

What is happening with the timing light? Is that the procedure that Ross says he is making no longer necessary?

Congrats!
 
Awesome. I was just there end of September with the first motor run. DAR inspection was 10/11/2019 and first flight was on 10/23/2019. The weather was perfect for a few days after inspection but I didn't have insurance lined up and then when I did it was a week+ for another good weather window.

I find the thing I skip the most if I don't use the checklist is "fuel selector to the fuller tank". She starts great but then quickly stutters to a stop when the fuel valve is in the off position! The next restart always seems to be a cranker! I haven't yet mastered the art of re-starting. I suspect I need to re-prime more but not sure yet.

Tim O's site has a decent read or two about first flights. https://www.myrv10.com/tips/flight_testing/index.html. I liked this better than the EAA's more recent flight test manual.
 
Congrats, a great milestone but boy, I was nervous even watching it as the guy was getting close to the turning prop and at night.

Glad all has worked out well.
 
congrats. Can't wait to hear about the first flight. I expect mine in early December.

Larry
 
Any reason it shouldn't run smoothly on just one EI?

My experience is limited to O-320 on one v. two P-Mags, but it's not rough.
 
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