Y

Yukon

Well Known Member
I ran my RV-9 today, without wings. A wonderful experience with no problems or issues. CHT was 220 when I shut her down after about 4 minutes of fast idling. I preheated with a Reiff electric crankcase heater, both before and after the run to evaporate condensation. 80 PSI oil pressure at 1100 RPM. Tied the tail and chocked the wheels.

Great motivation! Can't wait to start the canopy tomorrow! See attached video and photos.
http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/9363/march12007001bo2.jpg
 
Running the engine

Congrats, John!

It's a great feeling to hear the engine run for the first time, that's for sure.
 
Didn't want to at least cleco the top skin on? What was keeping the gas can from blowing over? What's dangling toward the back between the exhaust stacks, the breather hose?

Glad everything worked out uneventfully!
 
No, Dan, I didn't consider it necessary to cleco on the forward skin, nor the aft turtledeck skin. The fuselage appears to me to be quite rigid without them. Remember, the engine is producing 5 or 10 hp at idle. Notice how smoothly it started and stopped?

The appendage between the pipes is the temporary location of the Reiff preheater cord. I had the oil at about 140 degrees prior to start, and it is still on now to remove any condensation.

The gas can is tied to the airplane with a nylon rope, as well as grounded with a ground wire.
 
Sorry if this is a dumb question, but how do you ensure that some curious neighbor kid doesn't walk straight into that prop? I mean, if it happens on a ramp somewhere, you could defend yourself by saying that that's what airports are for, but in your yard??
 
Glad everything went your way!!

But, now that it's done, what have you accomplished, really?? What would have happened if the engine had backfired, with that open gas can right there? Was the can full, half full? I hope you had a fire extinguisher handy, one's not visible in the video! All in all, didn't look very well thought out too me.
JMHO! Providing more info for those considering such in the future!
 
It's a free country and you can do what you want, but another point to consider is the effect your decision might have on the rest of us:

You may know every one of your neighbors and they might all be o.k. with your running your engine in your front yard, but we have places in this great country (Jacksonville!) where the neighbors aren't so friendly to people building airplanes in their garage. Regardless of whether we think it's safe or not (and it appears some may not think so), it will probably appear even less safe to those who don't routinely interact with airplanes. I think that running an airplane engine in a residential neighborhood would be pretty hard to defend in front of the city council when they overreact and pass an ordinance that says you can't build airplanes in a residential neighborhood.

And I don't even want to think about what the effect on our sport might be if something went terribly wrong while test running an airplane engine in your front yard.

PJ Seipel
RV-10 #40032
 
Congratulations John. I told my bride after I started the engine on the -6A that I knew what a new mother must feel like when she heard her newborn cry for the first time. It absolutely brought tears of joy to these old eyes.

What configuration? Looks like FI?

Wes
 
Thanks Wes, it was a lot of fun. To the rest of you......the gas can was made of steel, it was vented and grounded, and tied to the aircraft. The tail was tied with a 1/2 nylon rope. My friend was standing by as a fire guard, with two fire extinguishers, and to shoo away the neighbor kids (none showed up). My neighbors thought it was great! They have been watching with amazement over the last 30 months, and were happy to finally see something work (so was I). If your neighbors don't like you, maybe you should save this for the airport!

For all of you who perceive this as such great danger........flying a homebuilt is where the personal danger is, not ground-running in your front yard. I think your fears are mis-placed. When you strap in for the first time, that's when you should be fearful. My ground runs not only lubricate my long-sitting engine, but should make that first flight less of a risk due to a well-tested fuel system.

The biggest factor, at least for me, was motivational. After 2 1/2 years and a huge pile of cash, a little adreneline rush of a ground run is just what the doctor ordered! It kind of let's me see the light at the end of a long and expensive tunnel.
 
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Great to see another -9 come to life! You will absolutely love flying your plane. After 60+ hours it just keeps getting better for "Catalina" and I. We have bonded and flying with her is sweet satisfaction. (I know, sounds kind of creepy but that is how I feel)
Congrats!
 
sweet

loved watching this, it gave me an rv grin ;) . and the time space continuum didnt unravel :rolleyes: looks like a tail dragger gets a pretty good amount of damping from the landing gear configuration. thanks for sharing.
 
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Good job and congrats! ..............can't wait till mine comes to life and I guarantee you I will start mine at home too :D
 
Despite all the horror stories, it worked

John: At the end of March, our EMS should arrive and as soon it's connected I was thinking of doing the same thing. Testing the O-360, seeing one thing actually work after almost a year of working on the **** thing. In the video you seemed to limit revs to 1100. YES? Did you experience torsional loads which might have flipped it over? We were thinking of anchoring the 9A to tie downs. Any other advice would be appreciated.

Congrats!
 
Barry,

I didn't see anything even remotely resembling torsional loads. The videos (I have more) show absolutely no torquing or stress of any kind, even on the first run when I had 2 preservation oil fowled plugs on one cylinder. It was missing badly, but the fuselage didn't even shake. True, I have the 0-235, but
I can't believe the 0-360 would be much different. I limited rpms to about 1100 because of cooling issues with no baffles and cowling (and noise).

Tie the tail, secure the gas can, and keep everyone clear of the prop and I think you will have a good time.
 
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