MT Prop Test Run 1

I got our building buddy Jerry Brainard to come by the hangar this afternoon to check the operation of the new MT with me, just to make sure the prop cycled properly and didn’t leak or do anything untoward. My first impression was it feels bigger than the Catto, though I haven’t checked and don’t […]

MT Propeller installed

We got our MT prop and governor mounted on the fox this week with the help of Jason at the airport maintenance shop. Its spinner mounts a little closer to the cowling than our Catto, so I need to clean the cowling just a bit before reinstalling it and running the engine to check the […]

MT Propeller Arrives

I covered this on the blog, but we’re going to be installing a new MT hydraulically-actuated propeller this weekend with help from the airport’s maintenance shop. The constant-speed propeller will allow us a lot of utility that we didn’t have with the Catto, though the plane performed pretty well on the fixed-pitch Catto. We have a […]

Improved Cooling Part II

I’m almost done with my modifications to my plenum to improve the cooling air seal. I’m adding silicone everywhere, it seems. Along the way, I decided to see what the SE manual said in this regard, and I have to say, this is a picture that definitely should be in the XL manual. Aside from […]

Improved cooling part I

So, although we’ve never had issues with our engine really running hot, it’s not been cool either. I’ve been a bit worried about it since our constant-speed prop will be shipping soon. With it, a much higher RPM will be available to us for climb-out, and with higher RPM comes higher engine horsepower. That’s all great, in […]

Pressure Sensors

My buddy Andy noticed that I didn’t have good pictures of my oil and fuel pressure sensors (he’s at this stage right now), so here they are. Note that the oil pressure sensor outlet is right next to the temperature outlet. I’ve remotely mounted my sensors, and I have a switch as well as the […]