We had a heat wave in MI today, upper 40s, sunshine, no wind. So I went out to check the exhaust system adjustment prior to putting the cowl back on. Black tape on one strut showed some bumping on the strut, so I dropped the exhaust pipe a bit to stop that. Put lower cowl on and no clearance to the pipe.
It seems I can either have the exhaust pipe hit the strut or cowl. I don't think either is good, though the strut shows where the paint from both exhaust pipes have rubbed against it in the past. My A&P in DC adjusted it a year or two ago and I believe it was probably doing it even then, but I'm not sure.
Finally, the question is do most exhaust systems bump the struts, maybe only at lower RPMs on taxi when it may run a bit rougher on idle jets? The tape showed bumping on it but I don't know if it's at lower RPMs or a broader range. I'll be getting it dynamically balanced soon so maybe that will help? If I had a little more clearance on the cowl for one pipe, I'd probably be ok.
The guy I bought it from five years ago said it's always important to minimize vibration, stress cracks can occur, etc.. So I'm trying to see how to do that.
I haven't had a chance to fly more than 2 hours the past four months other than warming her up on the taxiway, and today sure gave me the itch. My workload is easing a bit so I'm trying to get back in the air.
Thanks,
Tim
It seems I can either have the exhaust pipe hit the strut or cowl. I don't think either is good, though the strut shows where the paint from both exhaust pipes have rubbed against it in the past. My A&P in DC adjusted it a year or two ago and I believe it was probably doing it even then, but I'm not sure.
Finally, the question is do most exhaust systems bump the struts, maybe only at lower RPMs on taxi when it may run a bit rougher on idle jets? The tape showed bumping on it but I don't know if it's at lower RPMs or a broader range. I'll be getting it dynamically balanced soon so maybe that will help? If I had a little more clearance on the cowl for one pipe, I'd probably be ok.
The guy I bought it from five years ago said it's always important to minimize vibration, stress cracks can occur, etc.. So I'm trying to see how to do that.
I haven't had a chance to fly more than 2 hours the past four months other than warming her up on the taxiway, and today sure gave me the itch. My workload is easing a bit so I'm trying to get back in the air.
Thanks,
Tim