Hangar Completion #3 (oil, throttle, mixture)

Total build time: 1140 Hours.

One of my last tasks before cranking my engine for the first time was to install the oil lines to the turbocharger.  This consisted of several lines of metal tubing along with some flexible hose lines.

Once the oil lines were run, I filled the oil sump with oil and marked the dipstick per the Aerovee manual. I removed a spark plug from each cylinder and cranked the starter to verify oil pressure. It ended up taking a bit of cranking before the oil pressure registered. At one point I took the cover off the oil pump to verify oil was moving through the pump. The white lithium grease I had used to pack the pump 6 months prior had firmed up a bit and had to be displaced, but before long I had full oil pressure. In the turbo, the end path of the oil through the lines ends up in the right side valve cover. Once I verified oil was traveling to the valve cover, it was just a matter of cranking until everything was full of oil. It probably took about 30 total seconds of cranking time spaced out over several tries before I had a good oil pressure reading. I verified my electrical oil pressure sensor with a mechanical sensor attached at the same fitting.

Next came attachment of the mixture and throttle cables. These were relatively straightforward, however the mixture connection at the aeroinjector was limited to a single screw. I decided to attach some stop-nuts on either side of the connection both to keep the cable from pulling out, and to ensure I could always push the mixture full rich, both in case the main screw were to fail.

I had ordered the Aeroconversions air filter to go with the Aeroinjector. However the fitment between the 2 proved to be too snug, and I had to do some filing/sanding in order to make them fit together.

Finally, the prop. In these pics I used some 4″ long by 5/16″ bolts from the hardware store to attach the prop, which I later replaced with AN5-42A bolts. I used a total of 3 washers per bolt, so a slightly shorter bolt would have also worked.

The engine is ready to run!