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Ground test sucessfull!

bret

bret

Well Known Member
So, took a tour around the hangars today, running the brakes in, watching temps, first time with a castor wheel plane, no problem here. Taxied out to the clear and ran her up a little, no luck holding this thing back, lots of power, wants to skid forward, looked at the runway and turned back to the hangar, still need to perform other tests, static, transponder, W&B, A/W, and the transition training before I take to the air, BIG smiles today :D

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sbal0906 said:
That must have been so tempting!

Looking good! :)

Cheers,
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For a second....or two, I thought about cruising down the runway, but after all the things I've read on here about high speed taxi tests gone bad, I rejected that temptation and went home. I did do full throttle for .75 of a second, and was very impressed how fast this CS prop accelerated this thing, this is definitely not a 172, I look forward to and WILL do transition training :D
 
Way to go, Bret!!! I agree wholeheartedly about not doing high-speed taxi tests. Just continue with low-speed tests to bed the brakes in a bit.

The free-castoring nosewheel is pretty intuitive, huh?

I found that getting used to the rudder authority was the biggest difference between the 9A and my trainer (DA-20). The effort is higher, yet it takes only a tiny bit of pedal travel to keep it tracking down the centerline.

Good luck with your transition training and first flight!! :):)
 
Congratulations!! If you will be around in the next couple of days, we would like to swing by and check out your beautiful bird.
 
climberrn said:
Congratulations!! If you will be around in the next couple of days, we would like to swing by and check out your beautiful bird.
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Hey how's your 7a doing, I won't be back out there till Saturday, funny, they want me to show up at that work thing during the week to get paid.....
 
Pickle Meadows here you come!

Your plane is really looking nice and it is pi$$ing me off you are finishing before me!!!!
 
rightrudder said:
Me too...my 5.7-liter LS1-powered Porsche 914 paid for most of my Lycoming. But I don't regret it for a second!
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That is crazy! did you build it? I did several V8 pinto projects in HS but yours must have been crazy fast! what trans - diff combo? any Pics?
 
Raymo said:
I recently sold my 2011 Harley Iron 883 to fund the Catto prop and interior. The 84 Corvette is safe for now.
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Got the backup hot rod vet also, but the true hotrod is the daily driver Nitrous Ducati Diavel :D
 
First Engine Start

Bret
Interesting. Do you have a brand new engine? Assuming yes, how do you figure starting the engine and running it arount bit but not hard for break in? Is this okay to do? I'll be here in a year or 2.

I've had one new engine in my flying life and A&P told me to take off as soon as I started it, with very little idling and fly it full power at 1000 feet for 45 minutes for the initial break in.

So I'm intrigued by your write up. I'm wondering how will I test stuff with a new engine and not ruin the break-in. Will I have to go from completed build to flying without much ground testing of engine? I can test the systems from battery. But seems like running the engine on the ground and looking for leaks would be nice to do, but will that screw up break in?

Thanks
 
sglynn said:
I'm wondering how will I test stuff with a new engine and not ruin the break-in. Will I have to go from completed build to flying without much ground testing of engine? I can test the systems from battery. But seems like running the engine on the ground and looking for leaks would be nice to do, but will that screw up break in?

Thanks
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Hence the advantage of starting off with a mid time (proven) engine. Test all the systems before getting airborne. After a few years of flying, you may have saved up some cash for the overhaul when needed.

Bevan
 
Awesome. So envious. I still need engine and avionics for my -10. Feels like I'm only 25% done.
 
Hey Bret,

Yeah, I built it with a conversion kit from Renegade Hybrids out of Las Vegas. The adapter plate allows the LS1 to mate up to the Porsche 901 transaxle (standard 914 issue), which was re-geared in 4th and 5th to lower freeway cruising rpm. A Kevlar clutch disc was used. The 901 is stouter than you might think, and I was running a stock LS1 with 310 bhp and peak torque of 340 lb-ft. The car weighed just 2380 lb with the conversion, so it was brutally quick!!! The standard 5-speed pattern had a dogleg 1st gear, which is annoying, but with so much torque you'd use 2nd as 1st and effectively have a 4-speed with the standard H-pattern.

Pretty cool that you can pull the whole gear stack out of the transaxle without removing it from the car!! If you want to see the whole album of pictures, click on any image and it should take you there.










On the new Lycoming thing, I did about four or five test runs on the ground, for a few minutes each, and never let CHTs exceed 325 F. Once airborne, fly it like you stole it...75 percent power, whenever possible, for at least the first 20 hours or until you see consumption stabilize. These things love lots of cylinder pressure to seat the rings. Mine is great at 83 hours, burning about a quart every 25 hours.

The new engine's CHTs will be higher than a broken-in engine, so shallow out your climb if they get too hot.
 
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Nice sleeper, I bet you got a lot of strange looks when they heard that thing drive by! TOO Cool! switching gears, my engine came out of a Mooney, 260 Hrs SMOH. Rings should be set......we'll see.
 
bret said:
Nice sleeper, I bet you got a lot of strange looks when they heard that thing drive by! TOO Cool! switching gears, my engine came out of a Mooney, 260 Hrs SMOH. Rings should be set......we'll see.
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Yeah, you should be just fine. You can ground-test at will!! Looking forward to more updates.

One last thing on the 914...I wanted a real sleeper, so it was totally muffled down. It had dual exhaust but appeared stock, as it had a single tip in the stock location and a hidden dump pipe.

It was amusing to troll around and really surprise Mustangs, etc. late at night, but I have to say, the real fun was in building the thing.
 
sglynn said:
Bret
Interesting. Do you have a brand new engine? Assuming yes, how do you figure starting the engine and running it arount bit but not hard for break in? Is this okay to do? I'll be here in a year or 2.

I've had one new engine in my flying life and A&P told me to take off as soon as I started it, with very little idling and fly it full power at 1000 feet for 45 minutes for the initial break in.

So I'm intrigued by your write up. I'm wondering how will I test stuff with a new engine and not ruin the break-in. Will I have to go from completed build to flying without much ground testing of engine? I can test the systems from battery. But seems like running the engine on the ground and looking for leaks would be nice to do, but will that screw up break in?

Thanks
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Hi Steve, I am no expert but what I have learned on here, is, Yes! be very carful with the new engine, it is going to be extremely important to get the rings seated as soon as possible without glazing the cylinders. somewhere on here is a ground pre break in procedure, start and idle run for 2 min, check for leaks shut down, face into wind, let cool, start and bring RPMs to (?) and let cool. and so on ,this is not the procedure but something like this I think it is a Lycoming procedure? some folks have even towed the plane to the runway to eliminate the possibility of extended idle time damaging the engine during these fragile first few minutes. My hot rod building days I would fill fluids, start, set timing, run up till thermostat purged, shut down, prep for the road. third gear 3/4 throttle for 3 sec, decell for 10 sec, a few times, full throttle 3 sec, decell 10 sec a few times, Done, go home change oil. This gets the combustion pressures behind the rings to push hard against cylinder walls to seat and then cool them during decell. the first ten - twenty minutes is most sensitive to ring break in. a dyno or engine stand is a preferred method also.
 
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