A Long story... October 2008 a shiny new Mattituck TMXIO 540 "Red Gold" engine arrives at a friend's game farm (Ranch) in Botswana; Southern Africa. May 2010 I do the initial test flights (5 hours total) which are limited to about 1 hour each, due to very high CHT's. These are attributed to new engine and high OAT. Owner's son continues testing for another 20 hours, then owner passes due to a virulent form of cancer.
Two years later I purchase the RV-10 from the estate of late friend. Son assures me engine is running fine, during delivery I experience same high CHT's. 13 months and 1500 hours labour invested in RV-10 to complete aircraft to my liking.
At about 90 hours TT I notice that No 3 cylinder is now the hottest. (It used to be No 5 or 6) at about 120 hours I notice that No 1 and 2 are now the hottest, so injector nozzles are cleaned for second time. At 150 hours, No 1 cylinder EGT and CHT are off-scale low at idle. Ahaa! Got it! Inlet manifolds are leaking.
So all manifolds were removed and gasket migration found on 5 of the 6.
And here is the cause of the gasket migration...
To say I am not at all impressed with the fellow at Mattituck who assembled this engine, would be an understatement. 2 bolts were the correct length 1 1/4 inch. The other 10 were 1 1/2 inch long and were bottomed out in the threads in the head; as a result the bolts were correctly torqued, but the manifolds were not clamped tight to the cylinderheads.
CHT's and EGT's now fine and mag drop less than previously
Two years later I purchase the RV-10 from the estate of late friend. Son assures me engine is running fine, during delivery I experience same high CHT's. 13 months and 1500 hours labour invested in RV-10 to complete aircraft to my liking.
At about 90 hours TT I notice that No 3 cylinder is now the hottest. (It used to be No 5 or 6) at about 120 hours I notice that No 1 and 2 are now the hottest, so injector nozzles are cleaned for second time. At 150 hours, No 1 cylinder EGT and CHT are off-scale low at idle. Ahaa! Got it! Inlet manifolds are leaking.
So all manifolds were removed and gasket migration found on 5 of the 6.
And here is the cause of the gasket migration...
To say I am not at all impressed with the fellow at Mattituck who assembled this engine, would be an understatement. 2 bolts were the correct length 1 1/4 inch. The other 10 were 1 1/2 inch long and were bottomed out in the threads in the head; as a result the bolts were correctly torqued, but the manifolds were not clamped tight to the cylinderheads.
CHT's and EGT's now fine and mag drop less than previously
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