Flight 12.[8D]
Well guys, after having a real time of it I eventually have the big 'Dozen' up.
After working on the Spitty and installing the new ignition battery and testing it all OK I discovered that my choke servo had given up the ghost (failed/died) so I had to remove the servo/tank tray to replace that and then off to the back yard to start it up.
What??? still no go.[:@] Remember that I tested the new ignition battery with having spark at the plug?? Well, no spark this time.[:'(] Pulled it apart and back to the shed and I am getting an intermittent fault. After checking the switch and pulling and prodding I finally find a dry and very loose solder joint for the new battery I installed. Oh man!
at least I found it.
So down to the field today and after three flicks the big 3W fired and after two more flicks with choke off it was just ticking over perfectly. It ran up great and every thing looked good with another range check so off I go. It was very wind with gusts but no big deal it climbed out strongly with gear coming up and away it went. Things were going great for about seven minutes with big passes and some aeros but then I noticed that the engine seemed to be running lean (like late in the flight of a lean methanol burner). Half throttle was ok but advancing to full made no difference and it was 'burbling' a bit and not happy. It was still making power but it was time to come home so I throttled back a bit more to gear down speed and put em' down. The wind was strong enough that I did not need flaps so they stayed up. A decent landing in the conditions and there was flight twelve.
One of the guys there noticed that the head of the engine was still very warm after it had sat for a good few minutes so we both said it was lean. After about ten more minutes we started it up again after richening the top end but could not get good power. Nothing like the initial start and warm up run before the flight. Even tweeking while running did not improve things. So, not really sure what is going on. I'll need to pull the engine and check everything again including tank etc. Such a spin that it ran up really well at the settings the first time and then after it had cool down for a while after the run it could not do it again. The fuel is a couple of months old but this does not explain things.
The big plus for the day was another flight added to the log and back home in one piece. And man it looked so good on some of those passes. Initially the engine was running the best it ever has and if it always ran like that I would be very happy.
I'll check everything and report back.
Cheers,
Brad