rvanstory
Well Known Member
Took 1st flight on August 21st, 2020. It's been a little over a year and 225 flight hours since then. There have been a few "AHA moments" in that year that I wish I knew before taking 1st flight. Wanted to share some of those items with others in case it can help them.
My setup: IO-540 built by AeroSport Motors. SureFly EI on left, Slick magneto on right. 2 blade Hartzell prop. Precision Airmotive fuel and injector system.
#1) Cold start tip... Struggled for most of the year to figure out how long to prime the engine before 1st start. It seems no matter how long I primed, sometimes it'd fire right up and run and sometimes it start, then die. Then found a tip in the Precision Airmotive manual. Quit using time to run boost pump and now use Fuel Flow (GPH) on engine monitor. Now I prime till fuel flow reads 5-6 GPH. Sometimes that takes 4 seconds, sometimes 6. Fires quick and stays running every time now!
#2) Spark plug gaps with EI... For over 9 months I have been trying to figure out why my engine just wasn't as smooth at LOP ops as it was with ROP ops. Could never find the culprit. Then decided to change to fine wire plugs (VERY expensive). I used the gap from the factory out of the box. The problem was much worse! After talking to tech support from Tempest and SureFly, found out that standard .017 to .022 gap is not enough for Electronic Ignitions. Electroair even used .032" gap! So, reset gap wider. Gapped SureFly plugs at .026" and Slick mag gap at .020". Now engine runs just as smooth LOP as it is ROP.
#3) Hartzell 2 blade prop vibration... Many folks with IO-540 and standard 2 blade Hartzell prop (like mine) had a vibration problem that could not be solved with balancing. They solved the problem by re-indexing the prop on the hub. See thread here on subject... https://vansairforce.net/community/showthread.php?t=145195&page=4
I was debating about doing this before 1st flight, but decided it wasn't good to solve a problem I wasn't having yet. So did not do it before 1st flight. As it turns out, I did have the same vibration as others. Once I re-indexed the prop, it "RAN LIKE A TURBINE"! Made a HUGE difference in smoothness. If I were doing it again, I'd re-index the prop on initial installation.
#4) Excessive RPM drop with mag checks.... I would always get a large RPM drop on my mag checks. Sometimes up to 200 RPM. Then I read in Lycoming manual, to lean the mixture if that happens. After getting plugs gapped properly (see item #2) and leaning mixture on ground, RPM drops are now down to 80.
#5) My wifes headset.... My wife has NEVER liked her headsets. Top of the line Bose, Lighspeeds, etc... didn't matter. She never liked the band on her hair or the pressure on her ears. I bought her some Clarity Aloft years ago, and she wasn't crazy about those either. THEN, at OshKosh this year we visited the Quiet Technologies booth. Phil showed her how she could wear the headset around her neck, not her head. The 1st time she flew with them she called them a "game changer"!!! Happy wife, happy life!
http://www.quiettechnologies.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=66_59&product_id=51
I realize many reading this may think I'm talking about things everyone knows, but for some reason, these little things took me a while to figure out. Hopefully someone else out there will benefit from at least one of these tips learned in the 1st year of flying a RV10.
My setup: IO-540 built by AeroSport Motors. SureFly EI on left, Slick magneto on right. 2 blade Hartzell prop. Precision Airmotive fuel and injector system.
#1) Cold start tip... Struggled for most of the year to figure out how long to prime the engine before 1st start. It seems no matter how long I primed, sometimes it'd fire right up and run and sometimes it start, then die. Then found a tip in the Precision Airmotive manual. Quit using time to run boost pump and now use Fuel Flow (GPH) on engine monitor. Now I prime till fuel flow reads 5-6 GPH. Sometimes that takes 4 seconds, sometimes 6. Fires quick and stays running every time now!
#2) Spark plug gaps with EI... For over 9 months I have been trying to figure out why my engine just wasn't as smooth at LOP ops as it was with ROP ops. Could never find the culprit. Then decided to change to fine wire plugs (VERY expensive). I used the gap from the factory out of the box. The problem was much worse! After talking to tech support from Tempest and SureFly, found out that standard .017 to .022 gap is not enough for Electronic Ignitions. Electroair even used .032" gap! So, reset gap wider. Gapped SureFly plugs at .026" and Slick mag gap at .020". Now engine runs just as smooth LOP as it is ROP.
#3) Hartzell 2 blade prop vibration... Many folks with IO-540 and standard 2 blade Hartzell prop (like mine) had a vibration problem that could not be solved with balancing. They solved the problem by re-indexing the prop on the hub. See thread here on subject... https://vansairforce.net/community/showthread.php?t=145195&page=4
I was debating about doing this before 1st flight, but decided it wasn't good to solve a problem I wasn't having yet. So did not do it before 1st flight. As it turns out, I did have the same vibration as others. Once I re-indexed the prop, it "RAN LIKE A TURBINE"! Made a HUGE difference in smoothness. If I were doing it again, I'd re-index the prop on initial installation.
#4) Excessive RPM drop with mag checks.... I would always get a large RPM drop on my mag checks. Sometimes up to 200 RPM. Then I read in Lycoming manual, to lean the mixture if that happens. After getting plugs gapped properly (see item #2) and leaning mixture on ground, RPM drops are now down to 80.
#5) My wifes headset.... My wife has NEVER liked her headsets. Top of the line Bose, Lighspeeds, etc... didn't matter. She never liked the band on her hair or the pressure on her ears. I bought her some Clarity Aloft years ago, and she wasn't crazy about those either. THEN, at OshKosh this year we visited the Quiet Technologies booth. Phil showed her how she could wear the headset around her neck, not her head. The 1st time she flew with them she called them a "game changer"!!! Happy wife, happy life!
http://www.quiettechnologies.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=66_59&product_id=51
I realize many reading this may think I'm talking about things everyone knows, but for some reason, these little things took me a while to figure out. Hopefully someone else out there will benefit from at least one of these tips learned in the 1st year of flying a RV10.