I have 13 hours of flight now on 124BJ. Just s few notes on a couple items.
1. after the maiden flight I took the cowling off to look things over . All looked good. Then a few more hours and pulled the cowling off agian top and bottom. Sure glad I did. I found the oil line that runs from the pump to the cooler had moved some how and was up against exhaust pipe . I was just sure when I put the lower cowling on and attached the oil cooler it was good. Well it wasnt and it was my fault . I had misrouted that line. After looking closer at the drawings I could see my mistake. The line looked like it really got hot . It had melted into the the outside sleeve. I took no changes and ordered a new one from Vans . I replaced it and made sure of my routing and clearances on all the lines one more time.
IT pays to check and double check in the testing phase.
2. On 2 occasions when I would startup and taxi out I would get low fuel pressure reading and warning . It would only last for a short time then return to normal. At full static run up it would hold in the normal ranges . I could not make it drop agian. Also it never dropped in flight. Well on my last fly I taxied out and low fuel came on again. This time it dropped to 1.2 PSI . When I did the static run up it would drop .When I would idle back down it would come up agian but still not in the normanl range. SO OK thats tells me we have a problem. As the engine reguire more fuel the pressure dropped. Restricted flow some place. My first thought was what if the vent was plugged. I shut it down on my runway and took the fuel cap off . Then restarted and the problem was gone. I stayed on the ground and did several long run ups the pressure stayed steady in the normal range. OK I took the cap back to my hangar and drilled 2 additonal holes for venting. I have not had any problems since and have flown 3 hours since adding the vent holes. I am not sure what I fixed because I looked close to see if the vent hole was plugged It did not appear to be and I could get air to pass thru the hole. May be a bug was in there?? At any rate when I added the holes my problem went away. The only other cause I can think of is an intermittent obstuction in the fuel line its self that just happen to free its self when I shut down and pulled the cap off to vent the tank. I might do some more checking on the fuel system. Just something you guys might want to be aware of.
Well now the good news . My wife helped a lot on this project and she was ready for the first ride . Well she got it on Sunday She loved it. Also got my son up for a spin.
Brad Stiefvater
Salem SD
1. after the maiden flight I took the cowling off to look things over . All looked good. Then a few more hours and pulled the cowling off agian top and bottom. Sure glad I did. I found the oil line that runs from the pump to the cooler had moved some how and was up against exhaust pipe . I was just sure when I put the lower cowling on and attached the oil cooler it was good. Well it wasnt and it was my fault . I had misrouted that line. After looking closer at the drawings I could see my mistake. The line looked like it really got hot . It had melted into the the outside sleeve. I took no changes and ordered a new one from Vans . I replaced it and made sure of my routing and clearances on all the lines one more time.
IT pays to check and double check in the testing phase.
2. On 2 occasions when I would startup and taxi out I would get low fuel pressure reading and warning . It would only last for a short time then return to normal. At full static run up it would hold in the normal ranges . I could not make it drop agian. Also it never dropped in flight. Well on my last fly I taxied out and low fuel came on again. This time it dropped to 1.2 PSI . When I did the static run up it would drop .When I would idle back down it would come up agian but still not in the normanl range. SO OK thats tells me we have a problem. As the engine reguire more fuel the pressure dropped. Restricted flow some place. My first thought was what if the vent was plugged. I shut it down on my runway and took the fuel cap off . Then restarted and the problem was gone. I stayed on the ground and did several long run ups the pressure stayed steady in the normal range. OK I took the cap back to my hangar and drilled 2 additonal holes for venting. I have not had any problems since and have flown 3 hours since adding the vent holes. I am not sure what I fixed because I looked close to see if the vent hole was plugged It did not appear to be and I could get air to pass thru the hole. May be a bug was in there?? At any rate when I added the holes my problem went away. The only other cause I can think of is an intermittent obstuction in the fuel line its self that just happen to free its self when I shut down and pulled the cap off to vent the tank. I might do some more checking on the fuel system. Just something you guys might want to be aware of.
Well now the good news . My wife helped a lot on this project and she was ready for the first ride . Well she got it on Sunday She loved it. Also got my son up for a spin.
Brad Stiefvater
Salem SD