First Flight --

As RV-4 Chase plane pilot and EAA Tech counselor Jack Hill said. "It ain't no Cessna".  When the power was added for takeoff it was quite a ride.  Acceleration was VERY fast and liftoff occurred in just a few seconds.  Climb was like an elevator!  I did not look down to see what the vertical speed was.

There was lots of noise from the canopy vibrating against the fuselage.  This will have to be dealt with. 
 

2/25/01 -- Observations after three flights: 

The canopy noise was tamed by attaching foam weather stripping inside the rear canopy skirt at a point where it seals without pushing the skirt away from the turtledeck.  I will try some felt along the sides later.

Gauges, Gauges, Gauges..... EGT, CHT and OAT gauges from Westach all seem to be terribly inaccurate.  Seems you get what you pay for.  I should have bought better quality gauges as they will be a bear to change now. I am also having some trouble with the "Vans" gauges.  The tachometer failed on the third flight and the fuel pressure indication can be changed substantially by tapping on its transducer (not good...). Other problems with the "Vans" units are bad parallax caused by their deep indentation for lighting and internal fogging when the temperature changes.

The baffle mounted Positech oil cooler for the 0-360 seems to be keeping the oil at a happy 190-195 degrees.  I am going to calibrate the gauge and sender to see if it is true....

The Navaid autopilot works great right out of the box.  It tracks the localizer brilliantly.

The right wing is heavy, but can be trimmed out with the aileron trim.  I suspect it is the slight misalignment of the right wing tip.  As other builders have reported, the airplane is nose heavy when flying solo.  This is only noticeable on landing and should prove to a benefit when it is all loaded with a passenger and heavy gear behind the pilot someday.

2/28/01 -- 6.3 hours 

Landing:  It is an easy airplane to land. I find wheel landings easier because it is hard to get the nose up enough for a good full stall at the solo forward C.G.  Much more runway is required, though.

Preliminary Data:  power off stall clean 55 KIAS, dirty 50 KIAS.  Top speed without wheel fairings at 6500' 166kts TAS. There is a good buffet before the stall and a definite break at the stall.  It has very little tendency to drop a wing at the stall, however.

3/10/01 -- 15.1 hours

Added wheel fairings, gear leg fairings and lower intersection fairings and gained 10kts making the top speed at 6500' 176 knots TAS.  The upper intersection fairings will hopefully add a knot or two bringing the speed up to what Van advertises.

The airplane does rolls effortlessly and beautifully...

The OAT probe will need to be relocated from the pilot's NACA duct on the front left side of the fuselage.  It reads high there from engine heat swirling up to it.  The passenger NACA duct under the right wing will be tried next.

4/10/01 -- 42.0 hours

Completed the test period and received the final Airworthiness certificate.  Celebrated by flying and visiting friends in lovely San Luis Obispo, CA.

Was able to cure the heavy right wing by pinching the trailing edge of the aileron on the left wing. This is a very delicate operation as a little pinch goes a long way.  I may have overdone it a little....

Fabricated upper intersection fairings using the clay mold method.  Speed gain was 2 knots bringing top seed at 8000' to 178 kts or 205 MPH. 

The Van's gauges seem to be working out OK.  The tach returned to service miraculously and has been working fine since.  Oil temp was calibrated with boiling water and a candy thermometer and was very accurate.  As other builders have said, CHT spark plug ring type probes are inaccurate.  I calibrated my CHT probes with a better screw in type probe and found the following:   Two were in error +40°F and two were +15°.   They were consistent in their errors, however.

Cruise temperatures are as follows Oil temp - 180-190 at 70 PSI,  CHT runs 350-360, EGT peaks at 1525-1575 (not calibrated).

4/23/01 -- 52.8 Hours

Full stall landings are easier with passengers as the C.G. is moved aft of the forward edge of the envelope.  The Oil temp got up to 225° F after landing and a lengthy taxi in Palm Springs, CA. The ambient was over 90°F. Fuel consumption seems to be around 9 GPH running at about 70%.

8/8/01 -- 120 Hours

The plane is operating mostly trouble free.  Flew to Seattle, Reno, Denver, Los Angeles and Many other shorter trips in the last hours. 

Squawks:
 

• The UMA mechanical Manifold Pressure Gauge is slowly filling with fuel. It is being replaced with a "dual diaphragm" type gauge which separates the indicator from the inlet line and aneroid. 
• The Van's oil pressure gauge is acting flaky.  Could not find a loose connection so I might have to replace the gauge or sender.  I hate buying things twice.
• The fuel sender cover plates were leaking slightly around the attach screws, I was able to re-seal them with Fuelube.
• The flap motor stopped working.  Taking the two screws out of the top of the motor made the brushes and armature accessible for cleaning.  Both were pretty gummed up with grease.  Seems to be working for now.
• I still have to find a way to reduce the amount of oil running down the belly....
• 
  

8/30/01 -- 140 Hours

Pictures "Around" Mount Shasta
Re-crimped a good quality terminal on the oil temperature sender wire and routed the wire away from the spark plug leads.  Seems to have solved the oil temperature indication problem....for now...

The new hinge pin above.  A nutplate is riveted behind the flange to accept the screw.	11/10/01 -- 164 hours I discovered something that should have been obvious. The Stewart Warner engine gauge sending units must be grounded, duh!  Mine are mounted on the engine mount with cushioned clamps and attached to the engine with flexible -4  lines.  The flexible lines were providing a flaky ground at best,  adding some nice white teflon sealant on the pipe thread fittings turned a bad ground into no connection at all. There is no place to properly attach a grounding wire to the sender.  The Fix: The end of the ground wire was stripped and a hose clamp was used to secure it to the case of each sending unit and provide a proper ground. The oil and fuel pressure gauges are working perfectly now.  I retract all my negative comments about the operation and reliability Van's gauges.  Ground each and every sending unit including the tachometer transducer and be happy. Service Difficulties --  Both of the rivets on the inboard edges of the bottom cowl attach hinges failed.  They have been drilled out and replaced with -4 rivets now.  I believe the cause of this is the tension put on the hinge by the somewhat spring loaded retaining method used for these short 6" hinge pins.  To remedy this new pins were made that have a loop for a screw to attach them into the short vertical flange instead of flexing them and popping then into a hole on the flange. Another good method might be to avoid using hinge in this area.  Instead, use screws into nutplates on an extended fixed flange attached to the bottom of the firewall.
Carb Airbox Mounting Plate Cracking (above) Mounting Plate Rev. 3 with doubler	9/22/03 -- 526 hours During routine maintenance I found severe cracking on the carb airbox mounting plate.  The aft attach area was completely separated and the forward two holes each had large cracks (marked below).  A new plate was fabricated larger washers were used to distribute the load.  Also, a support bracket (see picture below) was added from the carb attach bolts to the most forward bolt on the airbox.  We'll see if this helps.... 12/26/09 -- 1535 hours The second airbox mounting plate has also cracked again to point of needing replacement.  The cracking was not as severe as before, but I have fabricated and installed a new part.  I guess this part has a 1000 hour lifespan.  I extended the life from 500 to 1000 hours by using wide area washers on the attach bolts, the support bracket shown below and a partial doubler plate. I think the next solution may be a full doubler plate over the entire attach area.
The new Vetterman 2" exhaust system	I also added the new Vetterman 2" exhaust system.  The pipes are 2" in diameter from the ball joint aft on both sides.  The plane was one of the test platforms for the new system.  It seems to add a knot or two to the top speed by allowing the engine to produce slightly more horsepower to a higher altitude.  It is recommended given the choice between my original Vetterman system and this one.   Also visible in this picture is the brace added to support the carb air box.
Bypass Door Installation Bypass Door riveted Closed Note the Microswitch used to monitor the status of the Door	7/1/04 -- 651 Hours Van's FAB Filtered Airbox Filter Bypass Kit After reading about the induction ice accident experienced by an RV-6 it seemed installing the FAB bypass kit from Vans was a great idea.  It is basically a flap in the bottom of the airbox that is held closed by a strong magnet.  If enough suction is developed in the airbox the flap will open allowing air into the carburetor without passing through the filter, i.e.; an ice or bird covered filter element. A phone call to Vans had the free FAB bypass kit in the mail. Part I: The bypass kit was installed per Van's instructions and after the first test flight I suspected problems.  There was no longer a manifold pressure drop when the carb heat was applied as before and the manifold pressure seemed lower for a given altitude than before.  To verify these observations a switch from Radio Shack was added to the door and wires run into the cockpit to sense the position of the door.  As suspected the door was opening during  high air demand situations such as takeoff and turning the carb heat on.   Part II: To solve the problem I adjusted the position of the magnet to better hold the door closed.  Another flight test revealed the same problem just at slightly higher power settings than before.  Off the cowling comes again for another magnet adjustment.  This time Two magnets were used instead of one which doubled the pulling strength.  The next flight test showed some improvement but the door still opens at manifold pressures above 26" and at high altitude open throttle situations.  Each time the cowling goes on and off paint is lost.  This is starting to anger (and other choice words) me.   Part III:  I have decided a magnet is not the proper way to control the operation of the door.  I suspect that a strong enough magnet to prevent the door from opening when it is not supposed to would also prevent the door from opening when it is supposed to.  This left three other options- 1) A cable controlled door like the carb heat door. 2) An electric Solenoid pulling a pin to allow the door to open. 3) Riveting the door closed and being damn sure to get carb heat on as soon as any contamination could enter the intake and hoping never to ingest a bird.   Option one and two were ruled out because they add too much weight and complexity for a "maybe situation".  So, the cowling goes on and off one more time and the FAB bypass door was riveted closed.   Conclusion: What a waste of time!!  DO NOT install!!
6/17/05 Auto Fuel To try to save a few bucks I have started burning auto fuel.  This is an idea I have been considering for a long time that has been jumpstarted by expensive gas prices.  I was on the verge of buying an expensive  transfer tank and pump to move 50 gallons of gas from the local "cheap" gas station to the airport when I decided to call Van's to get their opinion.  After a lengthy and valuable discussion with one of the "High Up" folks at Van's Aircraft, I was told Van's does not condone the use of auto gas, but, personally he does use autogas. He told me about the real potential of vapor lock with autogas on a hot day and a harrowing personal experience to back it up.  The solution he uses is to fill only one tank with autofuel, and only use this tank at low power settings in cruise flight.   All takeoffs and climbs are made on 100LL.   My procedure:  Purchase three 5 gallon containers of autogas on the way to the airport and top off the car from the same pump.  Use the lowest (87) octane available since detonation is unlikely at low (65% or less) power settings. Strain the fuel from the gas cans into the left tank.   Taxi, takeoff and climb to altitude on the right (100LL) tank.  Switch to the left (Autogas) tank at cruise altitude.  To ensure the next takeoff will be using only 100LL, switch to the right tank twenty miles from the destination to allow about a gallon of 100LL to flow through the system prior to landing.  I am hoping this is enough fuel to purge the system, including the carburetor bowl, of Autogas. Observations:  So far, all I have noticed is some extra money in my wallet.  In Northern California Autogas is 80-90 cents per gallon cheaper than Avgas.  The fancy EGT gauge and other engine instruments show no difference when burning the Autogas.  I have not yet checked the spark plugs, but expect a reduced amount of lead deposits. Update 2/4/06 This procedure has been working great!  Roughly 65% of fuel burned is now 87 Octane autogas resulting in a savings of $5/hour!  The only observable change is the EGT's peak (maybe) 10-15 degrees higher with the autogas than the 100LL.  There is no measurable performance change. Update 11/10/06 After another summer of flying on autogas here are a few notes: 1) CHT's also run roughly 10-15 degrees F hotter on the autogas. 2) Spark plugs have much less lead in them when cleaning time comes. Update 5/4/07 The ethanol finally took its toll.  The sump drain started leaking on the tank with autogas.  It seems that the Safair sump valve o-rings are not compatible with the ethanol in car gas.  A call to Safair confirmed this and they kindly mailed me two "Viton" o-rings which seem to do the trick so far.   Removal of the old rubber o-ring yielded a cracked and dried up mess of an old ring.  Note: servicing sump valves in tanks full of stinky car gas is no fun!  If you have ever done this you already know.... Per advise from Exhaust Master Larry Vetterman, 1 oz. two-stroke engine oil will be added to each five gallons of autogas to improve valve lubrication from now on. Update 4/27/08 Now three years and several hundred flight hours have past since starting to use the ethanol laced autofuel here in California.  So far so good!  With Avgas at $5/gallon and Auto fuel nearing the $4/gallon mark, this is a big deal. Funny autogas story:   Last winter there was a very strong north west wind aloft while heading down the coast to visit friends in San Luis Obispo.  At 17,500' there was a 75 knot tail wind yielding a 225 knot groundspeed.  ATC was contacted for flight following.  ATC: "What kind of engine have you got in there, a turbine?" Me: "Nope,  an O-360 out of a 1962 Mooney burning car gas." ATC: "Oh, premium?" Me: "Actually its the low octane stuff from the cheap station, I'm only making 49% power up here so there's no chance of detonation.  I'm seeing 40 Miles Per Gallon right now" ATC: "I learn something at this job every day." Continental flight Crew: "So cool." This is only possible in a homebuilt, I thought.  Home made Oxygen system, non-certified electronic ignition, ethanol laced car gas, and most importantly a light and efficient plane not encumbered with FAA requirements.  "So Cool!" Update 5/31/09 A huge learning experience occurred recently with autogas.... After doing some formation training with the West Coast Ravens, I departed WVI heading north for Petaluma.  As usual, I switched from 100LL (in the right tank) to autofuel (in the left tank) at the top of climb at 8500'.   Shortly afterward the engine lost all power.  I was completely surprised as nothing like this had ever happened in 1400 hours of flying this plane.  Located over the Santa Cruz Mountains, I was not in gliding distance of anything pretty.  I turned back toward the airport and switched back to the 100LL and power quickly returned.  I circled over the airport and tried the autogas again.  The engine ran perfectly.  I decided that I had missed the tank detent and had starved the engine of fuel and  proceeded to Petaluma normally on the autogas. Upon arrival the cowl was removed and the fuel line disconnected.  I used the electric fuel pump to time the filling of a container from each tank.  Both the the 100LL and the autofuel tank filled the tank at an equal rate.  Additionally the fuel tank vents were confirmed clear.  This confirmed no blockage in the fuel system.  Fast forward to a hot day a few weeks later.... In the same scenario and a hot 90+ degree day, I departed TCY after more formation training and switched from 100LL to autogas at the top of climb.  Just as before the engine lost all power.  Unlike the last event, the element of surprise was gone and I was in gliding distance from an nice airport.  I checked to see that the tank was selected correctly.  It was.  I looked at the fuel pressure, it was zero, and the addition of the electric fuel pump was no help.  Power was restored promptly by switching back to the 100LL tank.  Still in gliding distance from a nice airport, I reselected autogas, watched the fuel pressure drop to zero (with the electric boost pump on) and subsequently the engine quit running again.   Power was again restored by selecting the 100LL tank.   I continued home on 100LL.   Fifteen minutes of cruise flight later, I was over another nice airport at 4500'.   Autogas was again selected, but this time the engine ran perfectly.  I had new theory what was happening........ As soon as I was home I Googled "Vapor lock" and found this excellent Wiki article: Vapor Lock I feel 99.9% sure that introducing autogas to a hot engine caused vapor lock and was the reason for all the problems.   Why had it taken four years to discover this?  Because I had never introduced autogas to a HOT engine.   I had either done a single leg and the engine was not too hot, or had waited until the engine temperature had stabilized in cruise to introduce autogas.	Gasoline Prices Enter your state's letters to see what excessive car gas price you will enjoy paying next time you fill up. To be overjoyed click and see your local AVgas prices.
11/10/06 - 1025 hours I learned about homebuilding from that It all came to a head last week when flying on an IFR flight on an airway that runs just off the west coast to avoid the SFO terminal airspace.  A routine scan of the gauges showed the oil pressure around 40 PSI.  My stomach tightened as I thought, "Not here, not now....".  I was seven miles offshore from the rocky coastline at 6000' above a solid overcast. Now my eyes were glued to the gauge and instinct started banking the plane toward the shoreline. I was about to declare the "E" word when the oil pressure climbed back to ~60 PSI.  All other indications sounds and smells were normal.  It must be an indication problem, I decided.  I continued the flight another twenty minutes to the destination with a visual approach.  After landing, no loose connections were found at the transducer or the gauge. Hmmmm??? Electronics 101.  As noted in the entry dated 11/10/01 (exactly five years ago), I solved some oil pressure indication problems by properly grounding the pressure transducer.  Since that time the indication has fluctuated.  Initially the fluctuation was only a few PSI, but this has gradually increased to a 15 PSI fluctuation recently. At 3:52AM that night I woke up, my mind racing through the scenario and possible causes.  How and why?  Then I remembered I had wired both power and ground to all five of the Van's Engine Instrument gauges in series.   In my electronic ignorance, I had "daisy chained" them together.  Seemed a neat and tidy way to go at the time.   NOT GOOD.  When a ground is not really a ground, AKA wiring in series.  Before the next flight, I connected the oil pressure gauge ground in parallel and saw the most solid oil pressure indication since the plane was new.	What I imagined the would be found at the bottom the Pacific with me still strapped to the seat.  (Note this is a file photo from the internet)
12/6/06 - 1035 hours The tailwheel was getting pretty worn out and I happened to notice the cool new 6" pneumatic tailwheel available from Matco -  http://www.matcomfg.com/.  The tailwheel chains were replaced about two years ago with the Rock Steering Link which has performed great so far.  Now, the old Van's wheel and tire were ruining the neighborhood and I must have had sixty (extra) bucks burning a hole in my pocket.  With spacers and axle sleeve it cost $95 plus $10 shipping to the door.  Installation: The only tricky part is it uses a 1/2" axle instead of the 3/8" axle use with the Van's wheel.  I did not want to drill out the fork to 1/2" for two reasons.  1) In case the Matco wheel did not work out, 2) So the towbar would still fit over the old end and nut.  To solve this problem, some 3/8 ID - 1/2" OD bushing material was purchased from Aircraft Spruce (P/N 03-16900). A bit of work is required on the bushing to get the axle through it and to get it to fit in the sleeve supplied by Matco.  Also, some AN960-8 regular and light washers were needed to get the width to match the fork because the spacers provided were not quite wide enough.  The Van's wheel has a diameter of about 5-5/8" while the Matco wheel is 6".  The Matco tire BARELY fits in the fork.  But is does fit.  I have done five landings with no rubbing so far....... Observations: Looks Cooler About One pound Lighter Has high quality sealed bearings Tire and tube can be replaced for $16 + shipping Update 5/4/07 - 1087 hours The Good----- The new tailwheel is working out well.  It rides and handles better that the Vans unit.  The Bad----- I suspect, however, the tire life will not be nearly as good as the solid Vans tailwheel.  If this one last more than 250 hours it will be a shock.  The Vans tire lasted over 1000!  The new wheel does seem a bit light duty for the task, especially when the plane is heavily loaded.  Matco publishes a spec. of 660lbs static load and a 1980lb load limit.  Hope not to pinch the tube and have a flat somewhere out in the sticks...... The Ugly---- In the tailwheel there is a little pin that comes out to keep the tailwheel engaged with the rudder.  It seems to have worn out allowing the tailwheel to caster during landing and takeoff.  This can make for some exciting ground handling characteristics!  This was discovered at the rather windy and gusty Lee Vining California (O24).  As a temporary field fix, the pin was flipped inverted until a new one arrives.  New pins can be had from Vans for $6.51.  Part number WD-102C. Update 4/27/08 - 1223 hours My suspicions about the durability of the little tire came to fruition.  After a landing in Yearington Nevada (the middle of nowhere) enroute to a vacation in Steamboat Colorado, I discovered a flat tailwheel.  The tube had been pinched.  I chocked this up carrying a heavy load and perhaps to a slightly under inflated tire.  It was Friday morning, what to do..... I decided to fly with the flat.  It would require two landings until we could repair the tube.  As fortune would have it,  Matco is located in Salt Lake City, Utah so we could stop by on the way home and buy (and install) a new tube.  They were very helpful and accommodating and even gave us the factory tour.  The tire was destroyed by the two landings but the wheel was fine.  All fixed up with an extra tube in had, all was well again, for now.... Fast forward to our trip to Baja.  We were returning and encountered a VERY strong crosswind at San Felipe, a required stop to depart Mexico.  The landing and departure went ok, but on arrival at Calexico to clear US customs, there it was again, a flat tailwheel tire.  That sealed the deal, back to the industrial caster supplied with the kit. It's too bad because the little tire handled much better than the solid tire and looked great too.  Further research revealed the tire is only rated to 250lbs.  No wonder!	Matco 6" Pneumatic Tailwheel View on the way down to Baja
Update 12/26/09 - 1535 hours Ignition System Failures: The life of this RV-8 has now seen two ignition failures.  Both of these were failures of Slick Magnetos purchased brand new when the plane was constructed. Note that my RV has been equipped with one Lightspeed ignition and one Slick magneto for the last 1400 hours.  The first failure occurred at around 1000 hours in the form of a magneto coil failure.  Of course one discovers this during a magneto check and away from one's home airport.  This was resolved by installing the mag I had removed for the Lightspeed installation and replacing the failed magneto.  The next failure was the a condenser failure.  This happened on the magneto that had only 500 hours since new.  I was able to repair this by stealing the condenser from the mag with the dead coil.  At this point, I was so distrustful of Slick mags that I flew around with a spare slick mag with the proper gear bolted on.  I also carried a magneto timer and appropriate tools for a field repair.  One only has to look at the parts prices for Slick mag parts to see that the failure of a coil ($278) is nearly half the price of a new magneto and a condenser at $108 is outrageous.  Further research reveals that Bendix magneto parts are priced at roughly 1/3 of Slick prices (Coil $98, Condenser $21). After more discussion, I decided to switch to a Bendix magneto for three reasons. 1) Cheaper parts 2) More reliable (Hopefully) 3) Hotter Spark Bendix mag's can be obtained from aircraft savage yards for very reasonable prices.  One nifty option I also employed is conversion to an automotive ignition harness and plugs using guidance from G3i's website:  Magneto Ignition Harness Conversion to 8.5mm Super Conductor Automotive Spark Plug Ignition Wires:      Bendix Series 4 & 6cyl. Magnetos      Slick Series 4 & 6cyl. Magnetos	Slick = Expensive and Unreliable Bendix = Less Expensive and Reliable?