John Henry
08-07-2005, 07:47 PM
MAN AM I PUMPED! :D After out monthly EAA meeting out at Butler County Airport a couple of guys helped me do my first engine start up. After taking off the altitude compensating carbs. (We just didn't want to complicate the day adjusting them) We pu on the extra standard carbs I got with the kit. Priming the oil injection system was a pain but we had the pre-mix of 80:1 in the tank. The manual calls for 100:1 but we decided that the extra oil wouldn't hurt. As it turned out it was better because the oil injection took a while to kick in. Four pulls and it sputtered and died. Primed it again, and next pull it ran!!! What a rush. The beast lives! It smoothed out at 1800prm and we started to advance the throttle to the recomended break in scale. At 3500rpm the beast just purred. at 4000rpm the cht in cyl 1 began to get near 250deg at 275deg I shut it back to idle. :eek: The next couple of tries the cht again went back to 280deg. :eek: We shut down and checked everything. We let it cool down and tried again and it still got hot so we decided to shut down and let it cool off. After an hour, two diet Cokes and more rooting around in the engine compartment we decided to try again. Each time it started first pull. We decided to just let it idle at the smoothest setting at around 2000rpm and monitor the temps. It was suggested that mabe the heat and the lack of air flow between the hangers may be part of the problem so we decided to try taxiing around in the open area where there was some breeze. I got in, unhooked from the truck, and just let it mosey on. WHAT A RUSH! :D It taxi's just great! Mind you it was slow but the cht's were 235deg and holding. I just did little turns and zig zag'n on the huge apron we have here. Increases in throttle caused instantaneous response in speed. It's very stable and shows no tendancy to swap ends or ground loop. As a matter of fact it is a lot more docile than the Champ or CUB. I've limited the travel of the wheel so its turns with enough of a small radius to taxi in all but the tightest of spots. It wont spin within it's own length like a breakaway wheel will. Since I don't have brakes yet I kept it docile. On the grass it's a ***** cat rolling well and steering just fine. I don't know what other people had in the way of problems with their Pittbull, but I like the way it taxi's. :) An hour of taxi test and I noticed that the cht's were at 240deg and the smoke was greater. I guess the oil injection just needed to have some running time. Tomorrow I'll restart the break-in checklist. :)
Observations: The rudder will initiate a turn with throttle if the wheel is in grass and straight.
Brakes will be definately nice. Forward visability, although not near as good as a pusher, is good. Better than the Piet. Having the fan up front feels great in this heat. (It'll be different in the winter for sure.) At 2000rpm it scoots right along. The wind screen needs to be installed. June bugs taste terrible :eek:
I had someone taking pictures but it was a throwaway camera so pictures will be posted later this week when I get them developed. :( The wife won't let me get a digital camera. She says one toy is enough for now. :(
Observations: The rudder will initiate a turn with throttle if the wheel is in grass and straight.
Brakes will be definately nice. Forward visability, although not near as good as a pusher, is good. Better than the Piet. Having the fan up front feels great in this heat. (It'll be different in the winter for sure.) At 2000rpm it scoots right along. The wind screen needs to be installed. June bugs taste terrible :eek:
I had someone taking pictures but it was a throwaway camera so pictures will be posted later this week when I get them developed. :( The wife won't let me get a digital camera. She says one toy is enough for now. :(