Total Build Time: 1150 Hours.
This post marks a huge milestone in my build… the Aerovee engine kit which I assembled earlier this year actually started! I’ll post some videos and pictures of the event here, then follow up with my experience and lessons learned at the end of the post below.
Video of first start and taxi:
My family was in town for the first start. For the first taxi I held a hangar party, which consisted of a very nice crowd of folks/family who were in town for my wedding the day before.
Here are some more pics of the event:
First fuel-up
My brother helping me strap the plane down for first startup.
Cranking the engine for the first time.
It’s alive!
Hangar party
My new mother-in-law’s husband was kind enough to bring his historic Cadillac show car to both the wedding and our hangar party. We took numerous fantastic photos with this car. Rob even has a website for his car at the following address: http://www.classicconvertiblecarriages.com/
Many thanks to my many helpers during this awesome day!
Now for things I learned during the first engine start.
-My secondary ignition timing (set per the manual during the build) was way off and will need adjustment. The engine started fine on primary magnetrons alone. Since I couldn’t shut off the primary mags (details below) we disconnected the primary spark plug leads and tested the secondary ignition, but they would only occasionally pop and would not run the engine (yet.)
-The initial setup (per the manual) of the aeroinjector 2.5 mixture needle was too rich and will need adjustment (easy enough following the manual.) I had to pull the mixture halfway out to get the engine to run smoothly at any power setting. Initial idle setting was also too low, but is easily adjusted.
-My primary magnetrons could not be grounded/killed using my installed switch. After much troubleshooting, it was determined that the magnetrons are defective. Replacements are being sent to me from Aeroconversions.
-I ran my engine for very short periods, especially at high power settings. Caution must be used to not run the engine too much on the ground without the cowling/baffles installed to prevent overheating of the cylinders. Additionally, the engine should be run a minimum amount of time prior to first flight in order to properly break in the engine during the first flights.
-I had no oil leaks, however at one point I had the mixture partially open with the fuel shutoff open. With the Aeroinjector, gravity fed fuel will continue to run through the carb and leak through the air filter onto the ground even if the engine is off. Good practice is to shut off the fuel at the tank at engine shutdown. I verified my fuel shutoff by killing the engine with both mixture and fuel shutoff on separate engine runs.
-I verified my alternator worked and could be turned on/off with the 3rd toggle position of my alternator/battery switch.
-Engine RPM display was intermittent and will need troubleshooting.
-I was able to power up to 40″ manifold pressure (10″ of turbo boost) with no issues, there was a change in engine sound above 30″ that was quite thrilling and tended to overwhelm the microphones on the cameras recording my engine runs.
-My swing-back canopy (and I imagine the stock canopy as well) wanted to float up with engine speeds above idle, I had to lock it down before going to higher RPM settings.