EricJ

Well, you're getting good at in-flight issues. Nicely done in all cases. I hope you've gotten your quota and fly drama-free from here. FWIW, we call my airplane the Drama Queen because of issues early in my history with her, which even pre-dated purchase. Knock on wood, though, once past the initial adventures she's turned into a very nice, reliable little airplane, so here's hoping the same or better luck to you.

I happened to look today and mine is flowing 17.9 gal/hour at takeoff and early climbout. Apparently that's within the typical range, but is another data point.

At idle there's so little fuel flowing that not much will make it out the exhaust by momentarily switching the mags off. At runup rpm there's a lot more, and a backfire (and potential muffler damage) is more likely. At idle it's pretty much a non-issue and you can still easily tell that the ignition is being turned off.

Almost forgot about this thread. A couple weeks ago I had to move the airplane back to the avionics shop for a few weeks for some warranty work and an attempted completion of the job (still not done). I took the current track car, which is street legal, to leave in the hangar since it rarely gets driven other than to track events.

Exactly. Tight emissions control was not practical without better thermal stability than what air cooling could provide. If/when GA airplanes get strict emissions standards, we'll probably have liquid-cooling as well. Or electric propulsion. Or fuel cells. Or something.

The main advantage of the rotary is few moving parts, so some increased reliability from that perspective. They don't weigh a lot, either, depending. They generally have some special needs for oiling to keep the apex seals happy. You pay a high price for the "advantages", though, in that they don't make much torque (which is easy to understand), and torque is what you need to turn a propeller. Hence large displacement reciprocating engines with huge pistons and strokes to match are typical in GA. I raced an RX-7 for a few years. Not a lot of fond memories of that car. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrowL4p_WoQ

I have this one. It seems nice, I've only used a few times, but it stays handy in my flight bag. http://www.sportys.com/pilotshop/yaesu-fta-550aa-airband-transceiver.html

I'd say that much at a bare minimum. Cheap airplanes are not an inexpensive proposition given the risks of all the different areas where they may need attention. This one has a couple of decades of deferred maintenance and ADs to catch up on, and that's just the expected stuff. I bought a cheap airplane with the plan going in that it was going to take a lot of time and attention and $$. Doing sufficient homework ahead of time to buy the right cheap airplane that minimizes the risk can make it fun, but if you don't go in with sufficient $$ to clear whatever hurdles come up it can turn into an albatross in a hurry. In my case it's worked out nicely but not without some adventures along the way. All that said, this one could potentially be polished into a gem. It's been in a hangar, which is a plus, and might be a fun project for the right person if inspections indicate it's basically solid. The risks just have to be weighed and if the worst- or bad-case scenarios are not palatable then it should be passed over. If one just wants an inexpensive airplane to fly around with, then something that has been flown and maintained is likely a much better bet.

They don't have to be. Any new design will use newer parts, e.g., unless they specifically went out of their way to design in a ten-year-old processor, they'll get the benefit of newer generation parts.

It's probably just that it's a newer processor, which means smaller geometries so lower power consumption. The trend in microelectronics has been lower power and faster speeds for the last fifty years (Moore's law), so it's not anything surprising or unexpected. Since the new design updates a ten-year-old system, one would expect it to be a lot faster, smaller, cheaper, better, and use less power.

At a minimum you'd want a thorough inspection, which will be a bit of an investment in itself. Fill it with fuel and see if it leaks anywhere. Have the engine checked thoroughly, etc., etc. Expect lots of problems with electronics (capacitors dried out from sitting, corrosion on connectors), replace all tires and tubes, etc., etc. Price sounds high considering what it'll need for certain, and very high considering the potential risk.

Wow. Is there an STC for that?

There are hard-surface runways that are no bueno, too. I've been to a few that are on my "don't go back there" list. I'd like to have a taildragger Maule as a 2nd airplane to go to all the cool places.

One option on the J is to delete the ram air entirely. Mine was kind of janky so rather than spend any money on repairs I got the delete kit and got rid of it. No regrets. Cleans up the space inside the cowl a bit, too, and there's one less cable running through there.

Just look around at what's out there and see what appeals to you, but I'd think a decent J model would be a good target.

Carburetors don't need much pressure, just flow, but 2 psi sounds a little low even for a carb.

Pull a breaker?

No, it may be turning the motor off at the up limit, so if it is turning it off prematurely it won't allow the gear to go up. i.e., it behaves like it is already at the up limit.

Mine cycles through stuff I wouldn't see otherwise, like mpg estimate, etc. That's not displayed anywhere else. I've only had it a couple of months and haven't sorted out everything it is doing or why yet.

There's an up stop limit switch that might be bad as well.

I * think* my 900 cycles through time of day in the rolling display, and I know it knows what time it is because the datalogs show time of day for the samples. I think mine gets time information from the GPS (IFD).

I wouldn't assume it's the mechanical pump just yet, as has been alluded to above. If engaging the electric pump didn't fix it before, it's unlikely it's what's broken now. The most likely issues will be around what just got changed, i.e., the servo installation, lines etc.

Might be another reason to buy an IFD.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Trig+T22

Installing a used GNS530w or 430w also gives you a potential long-term upgrade path as the IFD540/440 are owner-install slide-in replacements. By the time you wanted to upgrade you could probably get one of those used as well.