Cross wind out of the east and it had the wind sock level and full of air. To fly or not to fly is the question? Maybe I can work out my engine problems and get this baby purring. Or, maybe I can solve the mystery of operator errors :stupid:
The good news is that the Megatron starter came in Friday afternoon. Oh boy! This should do it. I rigged up two12 volt battery's Friday night and tested out the starter. There are starters and then there are starters. The Sullivan Megatron starter will turn over anything in it's path......
Saturday came, so I hooked up the trailer and went to the field ready to get this done. After assembling the Pitts did a range check, without power. No problem. Filled the gas can with Amoco white high octane gas and mixed Sthil 2 cycle oil at 40-1 ratio. Did this after having roughly one hour run time on the engine with a 25-1 mix ratio.
Put the Megatron starter on the spinner and no joy. *#@^ Now whats wrong? Engine would not start. Pulled the new plug and and it was wet. tried quick start spray. No joy! Ok, pull the cowling and try to find a spark. Bypassed the kill switch, had spark. Ok, let's start her up with the cowling off to adjust the carb after starting. Bam. started ! Put the cowling back on and connected the kill switch. No joy. &*%^ what is going on ???? Enter Chuck, my trusted and true knowledgeable friend.
We tried again only this time Chuck stated the obvious. No spark! Are you sure the kill switch is on. Sure it is, I said, in the back position. Chuck said try moving to the off position. Bam ! Started. You have to be kidding me. How could this be? Red wire on the Automatic timing device and black on the ground. Maybe the switch is inverted? But how could the engine have started previously, only on an intermittent basis? Maybe I had it in the on postion by accident when the engine would start, and I just didn't realize it> *7^%
Yep! there you have it. The engine starts perfectly in the off position because I had the switch inverted and didn't realize it. Boy do I feel stupid :stupid:
Ok, now that we have that behind us let's fine tune the carb. Was set rich form the manufacturer on high and low end for engine brake-in. No problem, 1/8turn, leaned her out high and low and bam, three hand flips and she started without the starter. Now that I have bashed this easy to start magneto spark generated engine, let's try the hand flip again. bam! started. Engine ran great..... Fuji, I am a believer and hope I have restored faith in the engine after my ranking of 4 out of 10
My engine problems were pure operator related and had nothing to do with the engine.
Down to business and I can't wait to fly the Pitts the first time myself. Practiced taxiing and the crosswind was just to much for comfort on my first flight attempt. The Pitts would weather-vane hard with the nose into the wind, but well short of take-off speed. Try and try again, but even with full rudder, opposite the wind the nose would turn hard into the wind. Sorry folks, not today. My pals at the field were disappointed and so was I, but after cleaning the Pitts up and heading for the house I was glad I hadn't pushed it due to peer pressure. Tomorrow is another day, and my Pitts is still in one beautiful piece.
Engine problems behind me after investing over 200.00 in a great starter that will always be there for back-up, but I am confident I won't need it now that I have the carb set right, and know the difference in the on and off position for the kill switch. Man, do I feel silly. Oh well, as I said, I'm still learning.
