Sep 25, 2020     Removed the float bowl again for a careful recheck - (4 hours)       Category: Engine

After not being able to shut down the engine with the mixture control, Dee and Doug worked with Stratford to carefully remove the float bowl and, check the mixture spring/barrel assembly, and the needle valve assembly. Dee had purchased the new composite float and needle valve assembly and two bowl gaskets. Everything looked OK...no discrepancies we could see at all in the carburetor since Stratford had not loosened or removed anything else. We had the Marvel Schebler parts manual, service manual, and overhaul manual plus the float and needle valve assembly were shipped with multi-page instruction sheets printed in color!

  Sep 13, 2020     First engine start - (4 hours)       Category: Engine

After proving the fuel flow to be adequate, we pulled the Sportsman back from the road, up Brutus and Nancy's driveway pulling it with Barry Toole's tractor, we tied the plane to the tractor, Stratford got in the pilot's seat, Dee in the co-pilot's seat, and with Doug manning two fire extinguishers, we went through the detailed engine start checklist. When Stratford pushed the START button, it took only one revolution of the prop and the eMags had our O-360-A1A running!.

We ran the engine only at idle and up to 1000rpm. for a couple of minutes. We tried cycling the Hartzell Constant Speed propeller. Nothing! And pulled a second time...no response from the prop. Then Stratford pulled the mixture control full out to Idle Cutoff...and, nothing! That is the engine did not stop running! As you might imagine, we were shocked! So Dee tried pulling the mixture again...and again, nothing. So Stratford switched the power off to the eMags and the engine stopped. (eMags don't produce enough power at under about 900rpm to keep the engine running..)

We started the engine again, and again repeated the same process of cycling the prop and pulling the mixture to idle cutoff. Still nothing. So we folded the wings and pushed the Sportsman back into Brutus's three-bay garage. After swinging the wings back out we left for the day.

  Jun 16, 2019     Plenum for oil cooler - (15 hours)       Category: Engine

This carbon fiber 45-degree plenum for our Airflow Systems 7000X oil cooler was designed and built by Zach Chase. It was an amazing creative effort. It is fed by 4" SCAT ducting from Zach's custom-designed inlet on the right lower front of our cowl about the place a right-hand landing light is often installed by some builders.

  Feb 07, 2019     ADC Oil Filter - (3 hours)       Category: Engine

Our 850-hour engine came with ADC remote oil filter bracket. We located it on the right side of the firewall which allowed us to use the excellent quality oil hoses provided. After the initial engine start and checkout, we will switch to a higher quality Tempest oil filter,

  Oct 18, 2018     Installing Airflow Systems 2007X oil cooler - (10 hours)       Category: Engine

We choose an Airflow Systems oil cooler that we were told would give us better oil cooling and lighter weight. We chose the model 2007X oil cooler on the advice of the owner of Airflow Systems. This cooler was somewhat smaller than we probably would have selected (e.g., a Niagra) but he advised us that with a proper feed from the right front of the cowl and through 4" SCAT into a 45-degree. plenum, we should have less drag and more efficient cooling. The problematic part of this choice was that Airflow Systems did not have a computer-designed, 45-degree plenum we could buy for this cooler. Much later we paid Zach Chase to design and build a beautiful plenum from carbon fiber. We'll see about the cooling performance once we fly.

  Jul 16, 2011     Subaru 3.6L by Eggenfellner - later removed for reliability reasons - (100 hours)       Category: Engine

Because of the hype from Jan Eggenfellner, and the hope that we would have a reliable, modern electronically controlled engine, we chose his at that time the latest offering of a 3.6L Subaru with a Quinti/Sensenic electric constant speed propeller. We found out, unfortunately, a step at a time, that the engine had many problems. Almost all of those we fixed (lots of time and $$), with the guidance of members of the online Subenews Yahoo Group. But not soon enough to stop us from spending a huge amount of money and time trying to make the engine work reliably. We were about to hire a local professional racing engine builder to install a set of new, forged pistons from a racing shop in California, when I received a call fro another Sportsman builder who lives in Alberta, Canada. He and I had corresponded before about our two Sportsman projects, both of us using a 3.6L Eggenfellner Subaru. Unfortunately, he waited until two years after his engine burned three pistons and quit on him at 900 feet during takeoff to call me about the failure. He had removed the failed engine and immediately purchased a Lycoming IO-540, installed it, and continued flying.

So, after his belated phone call, we four had a serious discussion and decided that this report, and some other we knew of where various failures had occurred, we decided to cut our losses, sell the Subaru, and buy a Lycoming. Very luckily Brutus found a local RV-10 builder who had his Lycoming O-360-A1A with Hartzel prop for sale. It had 850 hours, had been maintained absolutely by the book, and was upgraded in many ways. It took us no time to purchase this engine.