Everybody's lying!
I've been reading these forums for over 5 years and I frequently hear the reference to the "RV Grin". I'm here to tell you that it doesn't necessarily come with the first flight. I did my first engine start today. After all of the necessary prep work I gave her a shot of fuel, and turned the key. While cranking I pumped the throttle twice more and she was alive! No more than 2 seconds and maybe 5 to 6 blades. Kept the idle low until I saw oil pressure and then brought her up to about a grand. After a half minute or so I increased the RPM to 1700 and did a mag check. All good. No bad signals from my ground crew (Fire, etc) I ran 'er up to max and saw about 2350-2400 RPM (Lyc O-360, Ed Sterba wood prop) and everything was in the green. Brought it back down to idle and pulled the mixture to lean cut-off and noted the RPM rise. A slight mixture adjustment from the A&P/IA who did my overhaul and back into the noise. This time I fired up the JPI 700 and the EGTs were running 1275 to 1325 and the CHTs at 280 to 320. (Cowling was not installed at this time). Checked the oil pressure, oil temp, manifold press, ammeter, voltmeter and EVERYTHING was happy! None more so than me!! (Wired it all from scratch by myself!) What a great day. Lots of milestones along the way but the only one that will beat this is first flight. Anyway, the whole point is that, if you're paying attention, the "Grin" starts before you take to the air. Thanx for reading my rambling.
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--Hawk Pierce
RV-7A Flying as of Sep 7, 2008
Phase One complete as of Nov 16, 2008
Finally painted!
600+ hours and lovin' every minute of it!
N728E
SE AZ
"I fly because it frees my mind from the tyranny of petty things."
--Antoine de Saint Exupery
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That's gotta be hugely exciting.
Linear Mode
