N2652W will have a new home!

[hammdo]

Well, everything is back together, just waiting for the weather to break. 2 days of rain and low ceilings (icing yesterday). Anxiously waiting….

-Don

[hammdo]

A&P said startup and initial run looks great! I’ll plan on going out in the next day and run her hard to break in the cylinder…

Cant wait!

-Don

[hammdo]

1400 foot ceilings today — not much of a chance to go fly…

[gwav8or]

Looks like I'll have about 800ft ceilings up in my area tomorrow.  I haven't flown my bird in 3 weeks.  This weather stinks! lol

[hammdo]

Yea, not since Jan 2nd for me. Great IFR days though, wish I could go up…

-Don

[hammdo]

She’s back! Flew great, broke in the cylinder fast (less than an hour). Flew 2.4 hours and temps came down and inline. #1 now is a bit hotter but that could be baffles. 

The new controls are like butter with the new heims.. huge difference..

I’ll fly her for about 8 more hours then change the oil again with XC and run that until I get about 50 hours on the IRAN cylinder…

The new updates for G5 and GNC355 will need tweaking but nice updates.

A&P said it’s one smooth running engine…

PTT works great… and ahhhhh, the leather yokes…

-Don

 

[hammdo]

I did want to note: @ 3500 ft MSL today, 26 manifold, 25 RPM , she was doing 183 mph true or 159 knots true… ground speed was 167 - 170 knots with 8-11 knot tail wind - smooth air though…

temps were 50°

I kid you not - level flight…

was very surprised. Leaned to 11 gallons an hour - did that for 3 loops around the airport…

-Don

 

[hammdo]

Did a post checkout today. Took the cheeks off again to review everything was looking good. No oil leaks, everything nice and tight, baffles look good. Nice to see the new hardware on the cylinder, exhaust, and intake for the IRAN cylinder. Right now the oil is above 6 quarts and exhaust does not show any dark streaks. Oil still looks clean but it’s still a bit early in the break-in process.  Flights later this week will be longer runs just to make sure. I’m going to clean the belly before next flight so I can gauge how much oil I see on the belly and which side is pushing it…

-Don

[hammdo]

Another flight test today, 5000 ft, 25 square, fuel flow @ 11, she did great. Calm day, no wind to speak of (max 52 gallons too…)

pic of the flight TRUE at 178 mph…

 

[hammdo]

All cleaned up, belly now clear of oil, did another check out, oil is in great shape, don’t see any leaks. Next flight will be normal ops - hopefully I’ll be able to get some actual IMC while this weather is in the area.

Still have left tank patch to do, control tubes to the elevators could use a cleanup and paint, replace the mechanical pump, then do the Boeshield treatment. Catching up on some items that should be addressed.

After those are done, then save up for autopilot. 
 

-Don

 

[hammdo]

Oil report- still looks good and based on pics of the engine, pretty happy:

-Don

[hammdo]

Normal flight ops today, did great, temps and oil stable so time for a cross country! Oil still looks new (not black from blow-by) so l’ll go a few more hours then change it. Pleased how well she broke in…

-Don

[hammdo]

Nice cross country flight to Hot Springs with the wife today. Plane did great there and back. On the way back, Winds @ 6000 ft were 45-50 knots! Asked for 4000, got 20 knots. Crazy. 

On the lake is a restaurant called Fishermans Wharf - great place to eat - wife loved it and ate too much!

Oil use so far is what I expected (1/2 quart in 7 hours so far). Still have a few fuel ‘seeps’ to locate - seems I need to decide between living with those and get an auto pilot or, do the tanks ‘right’. Seeps aren’t bad but it does annoy me a bit…

So far overall, she’s flying great…

-Don

[hammdo]

Approach practice this morning! Had to get up early before the ceilings lifted. Got 3 at least. Plane is doing great - almost 10 tach hours since cylinder done. Just barely under 6 qts now. Temps great, engine is running great. Need to plan another trip soon!

-Don

[00-Negative]

  On 3/3/2024 at 7:15 PM, hammdo said:

Approach practice this morning! Had to get up early before the ceilings lifted. Got 3 at least. Plane is doing great - almost 10 tach hours since cylinder done. Just barely under 6 qts now. Temps great, engine is running great. Need to plan another trip soon!

-Don

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Yep. Had to scrap my flight out of KADS this morning d/t low ceilings. Glad someone enjoyed all that IMC.

[hammdo]

Started clearing up by around 9:30. If I got to Mesquite 30 minutes earlier, I could have shot 2 or 3 more. Clouds were about 5-600 ft thick..

Fun to cloud surf!

-Don

[hammdo]

First rather long cross country to Branson MO (KPLK) today. Wanted to see how she would do. The flight out had strange temp ranges for all 4 cylinders and leaning was a bit different (the overhauled cylinder was the coolest by far). Got to Branson fine, nice little airport with Avis right there. Drove to Bob Evan’s to eat ( they have staffing issues like most places) but the food was just like back home in Kentucky. Drove around a bit, stopped at some of the overlooks and enjoyed some of the Ozarks. 
 

Flght back was much better, Ranges were much closer together (CHT/EGT) like other flights before the cylinder OH. Got enough hours on the oil to do a change and see how that is.

Was a fun smooth air flight, got an instrument approach flying in to Clark Downtown Airport. 
 

Will need to do more flights just to make sure everything is still good…

-Don

[hammdo]

Oil change this past weekend, oil filter had 4 or 5 very small specs/flakes (non-magnetic) - to be expected for break in. 13+ hours on oil - still sent to Blackstone for a check.

Didn’t fly this past weekend but have plans to this week and next. 

-Don

[DCarlton]

  On 10/9/2023 at 2:45 AM, hammdo said:

Well, fuel sender came in today from FedEx!  Didn't know they delivered on Sundays -- anyway, got the sender installed (using AN3-4 bolts instead of the screws), ran a ground, added a 'hand-shake' or knife connector per the updated instructions from Air Parts, verified the gauge then had the fuel truck fill it up while I inspected the gauge and sender -- no leaks and the gauge works as expected!.

I did torque the bolts to 20in lbs per instructions -- not a fan of the way the rubber gasket expanded but followed the instructions  Did put tite-seal on the gasket (thin layer both sides).  Buttoned up and gonna take it for a maintenance flight in the next couple of days before my next trip.

BTW $275 to overhaul now…

NOTE the new part number 610242-001

Fuel Sender Pics below:

 

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Curious.  Where did you run your ground wire?  Wish I had a neat ground block of some sort on both sides of the plane with extra capacity.  Ground wires seem to be randomly all over the place.  

[hammdo]

I ran mine to a sheet that had other grounds. When I took off the lower panel, there was an aluminum sheet/plate on the roll cage, I just used that. Had a bolt and nut there so did the ground.

-Don

[Sabremech]

Hi Don,

I find the ground situation completely different now that I have a wood wing Mooney. 
David

[hammdo]

I bet you do!

-Don

[hammdo]

Breakin oil report - what I expected - want to watch trends to get an idea of how the cylinder is doing…

new piston/plugs etc not bad…

not sure where they got the engine hours - those are clearly tach time not engine…

-Don

 

[hammdo]

IFR approaches today! Got 2 of them in. Flew in the ‘angry’ clouds (light to medium gray) - you know the typical ones that bounce you around. It amazes me how these clouds force you to keep altitude and heading without autopilot. Gotta keep up with actual… you get rusty pretty fast…

-Don

[hammdo]

Noticed some ‘labored’ starts the last couple of flights (cold and hot). Gill has 4 years on it so, I’m going with the Concord RG35 AXC (picked up today). Better to be ahead of the game.

New starter etc and battery minder alway on when not flying so, playing it safe — nothing has been left on except the clock in the yoke.

-Don