Ragsf15e

So the SF install manual required connection to either the battery or master relay. In my 68F those are located next to each other in the “tail” behind the large access panel, so not all the way in the tail... but yeah, you gotta run a wire from there, through the cabin, through the firewall, to the mag. I do not recall what gage wire, but they didn’t supply the wire. you may be thinking of the large wire running from the battery to the starter solenoid?

Yeah that’s about right. We have another thread about the increases this year. We have an insurance guy on here that explains what’s going on in the market in that thread. My $80k hull value did exactly what yours did. I switched from Global to Republic and saved a few $$.

I have a SF on an F with advanced timing and have not had a problem rich or lean of peak. I live in wa state and commonly cruise at 10-12,000’. It does improve performance more LOP than ROP, but other than slightly warmer chts, I haven’t seen anything adverse. In either case, the performance improvement is minimal. I wouldn’t get one just to cruise 2kts faster LOP at 10k, but maint free for TBO is nice. Yes, you’ll pull some interior and feed the power wire through the cockpit alongside your other wire bundles. That was the hardest part of the installation.

Yep the F is fuel injected. It’s just an older version of the J. I can get my FF down that far as well, LOP, maybe around 9,000’ wide open throttle and 2500ish rpm. It’s smooth but it’s not real speedy there. Maybe 135ish kts. I bet you could get the J you fly down that low.

I have a 68F with most of the mods you mentioned. I do like my 201 windshield but since you don’t want that (and it probably doesn’t get you much anyway)... I’d do the Surefly next time a mag needs 500 hour inspection, not before. The SF will then (supposedly) last the rest of your engine life. It won’t add much in the way of speed, maybe a knot or two when LOP at 10,000, but it makes LOP smoother and it may cost less than several 500 hour mag inspections. Additionally, I’d add another G5 which you didn’t mention, but if you’ve got one, definitely go with two. Gives you immediate backup ADI, and provides nice electronic ADI/HSI depending on which one you still have. Also remove the vac pump if you haven’t already. Personally, I’d keep your autopilot as is until it really fails in an expensive way.

You should use an escrow service. It’s common, not expensive and will ensure the deposit is handled appropriately. Id consider using the Saavy pre-buy service, especially as a first time buyer. They will likely save you more than it costs and you’ll have confidence in your new airplane (although never a guarantee). Saavy will help you pick a good shop for the prebuy, coordinate it and advise you through the process.

Nicely done. I hope I remember my early flying adventures with my dad as well as you have!

Pull back the power?! Never!

So you’re gonna rewire the key to not ground the right mag during start? There’s another thread where someone else went that way too, but rewiring the switch seemed a lot to me. I just replaced the left mag. For your airplane can you use the advance or just the fixed timing? I have the advance on and noticed a smoother LOP operation and very slightly more power (Seen as airspeed) when LOP beginning around 8,000’ and up. I have also noticed higher chts. Not terribly, but noticeable.

Can’t wait to see what you figure out! I also have some oil that comes out the sniffle with my fuel drips. I have replaced 3 cylinders and the last one is pretty tired so I assume it’s from that one but not sure. I use more oil than you, maybe 1qt/4 but I think most of it is getting push past the rings. Your plane is newer than mine and some of the drains moved, but just confirm that you’re sure it’s the sniffle drain and not the mech fuel pump drain because oil can definitely come out there. My drains are right next to each other, like attached.

If it’s running 200+ during a Michigan winter, that’s pretty hot! Actually, it’s still probably normal, I was sort of joking because it’s probably pretty cold oat... my F runs around 185 in cruise during winter (Washington state). As @Marauder said though, it’s a noticeable increase in the summer. I see about 200 depending on power setting, altitude, temp, etc. Have you checked your Vernatherm?

Interesting, you still have a chain? Many of the early ones were removed... AD I think about the chain tangling the float?

Interesting. Seemed like a good deal assuming (which is dangerous) you could overhaul the engine without new cam/crank. UL was a bit lower than id like. I may be stuck waiting for an eagle with tks to get 1000ul+.

Yeah, I saw it too... a tks Ovation priced to move. Someday I’ll have tks... I would’ve valued that engine as totally runout as well, but I thought price reflected that, no?

My thought is that fine wires are great and will probably help cover whatever is actually causing the problem... for now.