Twisted: Week 217 - Throttle, Wheel Spats and First Engine run

Hours to date: 2032.75

So happy to report that I was able to start the engine for the first time! See video at the bottom.

Longer video of the second run here: https://youtu.be/bclv6NybbnE

More about that later - but first the wheel spats and throttle.

I've finished fitting the anchor nuts to the brackets (M6) and the spats (M4) and also body filled the edges around the brake protrusion mod and the edges of the cover where they don't quite lie flush with the spat. Overall it is a good fit although there will be quite a bit of fitting to do with the Starboard spat to the gear leg as it does not fit nearly as nicely as the Port one does.

I've fitted the throttle and it works really nicely - especially from an ergonomic point of view - much more comfortable for my long arms in the cockpit.

The bracket holding it in place in the cockpit has been over engineered - it's like a brick outhouse. Although I am happy to say it will never fail. This being a primary control I like to make sure it is structurally very sound.

I even used a P-clip on the end of the outer structure in the cockpit to take any strain away from the main fixing, not that it really needs it.

Just got to paint all that and make up a cover for it now.

At the engine end I've made up a 6 layers of carbon bracket which holds the throttle control in place and keeps it clear of the engine.

Onto the engine run.

All went well and as you will see from the video it fires up after a very short crank on the starter.

I warmed it up at slightly higher revs than is usual as this was the first start and we don't want to glaze the bores. So I warmed it up at 1,500rpm rather than the usual 1,200rpm.

Oil pressure is within the green arc, All EGTs are very similar except one which is about 12 degrees different - not sure why at this stage. CHT's were similar till I did a higher power run - up to 2,300rpm where the front two stayed at 90 degrees and the back two went up to 100 degrees. I think this is mainly due to their not being any cowling in place so there is no pressure difference going on to help stabilise the CHTs. Hopefully they will be more even when we have the cowl in place.

With the Oil temp - it took a long time to come up - so I ended up ripping off the cardboard wedge I'd made and taped in front of the oil cooler exit to produce a low pressure for the outlet. The highest the temp got to was 70 degrees. Normal operating should be between 80 and 100. So it looks like my oil cooler is working too well at the moment. Again hopefully these things will settle down once all the cowling and fuse bottom panel are in place. BTW having a oil temp that is too low is a good problem to have and easier to fix than one that is too high.

The idle is about 20rpm too high at the moment so will need a little tweak.

Need to finish off the spats and sort out a few other little things then I think I will be moving onto the building of the cowling.