Category: Maintenance

2021 Annual Condition Inspection

Hobbs: 824.1, Tach: 735.4

Annual Condition Inspection started 2/27/21.

Compression check: 79/78/7878

Removed all wheel pants. Need to replace the right wheel. Left wheel and nose wheel were tires and tubes were replaced last year.

Lubricated aileron hinges, aileron external pushrod rod end bearing, flap lower (external) linkages. Lubricated prop, mixture, throttle, cabin heat, and alternate air push/pull controls both inside the cabin and outside in the engine compartment.

Removed spinner. Greased prop with 6 pumps of grease each side. Inspected bolts and safety wire. Reinstalled spinner.

Removed all baggage items from aircraft. Vacuumed carpet, removed interior carpet. Determined both magnetos had been previously IRAN’ed at 398.7 (left) and 525 (right) Tach times respectively. Current tach 735.4.

Removed 8 spark plugs.

Inspected and took pictures internal to each cylinder of intake and exhaust valves. Replaced all spark plugs with new.

RV7A Maintenance Work

3/3/17 Tach 162.6, Total Time 182.5

  • Fixed screen over fuel vents
  • Checked engine timing, good
  • Oil weep @ oil cooler hose fittings, upper & lower – tightened
  • Fixed air filter pop out from starting backfire
  • Fixed alternator wire chafing

3/26/17 Tach 170.3, Total Time 191.1

  • Changed oil; took oil sample; changed oil filter. Did not inspect oil suction screen.

4/12/17 Tach 172.5, Total Time 193.8

  • Changed 4 bottom spark plugs for new
  • Gapped 4 upper spark plugs
  • Installed lower cowl heat shield material

6/27/17 Tach 202.3, Total Time 227.9

  • Removed wheel pants
  • Removed wheels
  • Changed tires to new Dresser retreads, Goodyear Flight Custom III, & new tubes
  • Replaced both brake pads L & R
  • Repacked main wheel bearings L & R
  • Re-installed new tires & wheels
  • Re-installed wheel pants
  • Flew test flight to Winchester & back with John A.

7/1/17 Tach 203.9, Total Time 229.7

  • Larger retreads cracked wheel pants again on landing, so wheel pants were cutout more, and re-fiberglassed
  • Added white vinyl to nose gear leg fairing
  • Changed oil, filter, and checked oil suction screen

7/8/17 – 7/9/17 Tach 203.9, Total Time 229.7

  • Removed empennage fairing, painted with gloss white spray paint
  • Re-installed wheel pants
  • Oiled the exhaust stacks with mouse milk
  • Re-glued screen over L & R fuel vents

Miscellaneous ongoing maintenance

3/3/17

Replaced and re-glued the screens over both left and right fuel vent intakes.

There was a small weep of oil at the oil cooler / oil hose connections. I used steel fitting in the oil cooler (instead of aluminum) and did not get the oil lines tightened enough. I tried tightening them just a bit more while holding the steel fittings with another wrench. This seems to have stopped the slow weep.

I re-installed the engine air filter which had popped up from a small engine backfire during a previous start.

The alternator wire was chafing a bit. Fixed.

4/1/17

Changed oil. Took oil sample (was from end instead of middle of draining by accident). Changed oil filter. Did not change or check suction screen during this oil change.

4/12/17

Removed all 8 spark plugs. Determined 3 of 4 bottom spark plugs had lead build ups and decided to replace them (200 hours). Gapped the 4 upper plugs to < 0.020 and > 0.015 quickly but not very precisely.

Installed lower cowl heat shield material from Vans on the inside of the lower cowl to protect the fiberglass from the exhaust areas where it was starting to discolor.

First Annual

Aileron travel limits: section 15, page 15-2

Max Up/Down= 32/17
Minimum Up/Down= 25/15

Elevator  travel limits:

Max Up/Down= 30/25
Minimum Up/Down= 25/20

Measured 2016-12-10:

Ailerons: LU: 30, LD: 17, RU 32, RD 17

Elevator travel: 29 Up, 23 Down

max end of the range. i.e. 30* up and 25* down

Changed Oil

SB 14-02-05 Elevator Spar Cracks – Inspected – None found

SB 14-01-31 HS Front Spar Bend Cracks – Inspected – None found

 

http://www.precisionairmotive.com/servpubs.htm

 

Found wet B-Nut on rear side of fuel pump
Found loose spare AN365 nut under passenger seat pan
Found rivet junk in footwell area
Found plastic cap in footwell area
Removed passenger stick, cut zip ties
Removed left and right gear tower carpet covers
Found cracked engine baffle near oil cooler mount on #4 cylinder, added reinforcement
Each aileron trailing edge droops 3/16 when opposite aileron/flap/tip are in alignment
Routed GDL cable to dash top through hole
Added pin #15 on roll servo via spare white wire (CWS Disc) and spliced it into green CWS Disc wires for sticks under right passenger seat pan
Added prop leading edge tape
COMPRESSION TEST

/80        HOT_______COLD__Y__1._76__2._78__3.__78__4.__78__

 
SERVICE OR REPLACE SPARK PLUGS, GAP 0.016 TO 0.021

1B: 0.018 (Original)  1T: 0.018 (Newer Tempest)

2B: 0.018 (Original)  2T: 0.018 (Newer Tempest)

3B: 0.019 (Original)  3T: 0.018 (Newer Tempest)

4B: 0.018 (Original)  4T: 0.018 (Newer Tempest)

Install bottom plugs to 360-420 inch lbs torque (30-35 foot lbs)

Current TODO List

Update checklist & laminate

Add toolkit to plane

Make a POH

Install upper cowl air ramps

Install co-pilot stick

Do best glide speed test

Do max speed test

Install spare fuses

Calibrate AoA Probe

Block some of the heater air inlet to slow the heater air and keep more pressure in upper cowl

 

Wire fuses or fuseible link for ammeter shunt

Install prop leading edge tape

Get repariman certificate

Repair passenger side canopy air seal weatherproofing

Install IFR GPS Databases

Block more of the oil cooler

Download flight 6 data

Tape over the holes in the belly that may let fumes in

Get G3X Lean assist mode working/enabled

Install nutplates for 2 extra screws for upper landing gear fairing

Prime the spinner to protect from UV

Mount 1.3 lb. halon fire extinguisher

Mount the PLB

Register the PLB

Check EFIS V-speeds

Add checklist to phone

Test GoPro ships power

Test GoPro aviation radio audio

Get Iphone mount

Install wire booties to protect magneto P-leads

Order & install aileron pushrod boots (to prevent cold air infiltration)

Install autopilot roll servo

Connect autopilot pitch servo actuator arm

Glue canopy fiberglass front lip split

Install dynon d6 compass

Buy tire air filler extension

Left front cylinder, 1 engine bolt weeping oil (1 drop per hour)

Organize flight logs/receipts

Caulk or firedip the firesleeve ends

Buy Hoppe #9 Gun Cleaning Solvent for cleaning the injectors

Buy ultrasonic cleaner

Fold safety wire & cut clamp tangs

Make gaskets for outside front dash access panels

Get the EAA prop balancer and perform dynamic prop balance

Install main gear fairings

Positively retain the pins on main gear fairings

Seal lower antennas with caulk (Comm #2 & Transponder)

Order sandpaper

Order sanding blocks

Get aircraft polished

Record control surface deflections

Compute W&B for flights

Record serial numbers of all avionics

Record service bulletins on here

Document we swung the compass

Safety wire G3x harnesses

Document engine limits / color bands on here

Document fuel calibrations on here

Document fuel flow testing on here

Take screen shots of each EFIS screen and document on here

Get XM radio working

Trial Install GDL39

Link to or attach Bob’s first flight test info

Buy triple-A batteries

Buy power strip

Buy an instrument cover for behind the panel

Buy Cowl Plugs

Buy fuel tank drain plugs

Install forward floor carpet

 

 

 

Flight #9 – Oil Pressure Gauge – Offscale high

On March 12, 2016, I went to the airport with the intention of doing 3 takeoffs and landings to warm the oil for the engine’s first oil change. Taxi out and runup went fine. Oil pressure in the 50’s during idle and in the 70’s during fast taxi. The first takeoff and landing went fine with oil pressure in the 70’s and 80’s. But during taxi back for the 2nd takeoff, the oil pressure sensor went off scale high very rapidly. I considered shutting down in the runup block, but all other parameters seemed normal so I thought it would be safe to taxi back to the hangar for diagnosis.

During the taxi back to the hangar, the gauge continued to read off scale high. At the hangar, I shut down the engine, and didn’t think to check the gauge before powering off the avionics. I then reapplied power to the avionics with the engine off and noted the gauge had returned to zero.

The Kavlico oil pressure gauge, is a 3-wire device with red, black, and green wires. The red wire is +5V supply from the avionics, the black wire is ground, and the green wire is sensor output. I learned from reading that 0.5 volts out is likely 0 PSI, and 4.5 volts out is likely 150 PSI. Downloading the data showed that when it went off scale high it was reading 154 PSI. This might be an indication the output wire was getting shorted to the +5V.

I disconnected the wiring to the sensor on the firewall forward side and checked all connections for security and/or damage.

0.5 Engine Time, 1.0 Total Time (11.6/13.5 Cumulative)