---------------------------------------------------------- Glasair-List Digest Archive --- Total Messages Posted Fri 06/09/06: 4 ---------------------------------------------------------- Today's Message Index: ---------------------- 1. 09:21 AM - Re: Re: 70% power (Craymondw@aol.com) 2. 09:23 AM - Re: Re: 70% power (Craymondw@aol.com) 3. 12:01 PM - On Return To Service Flights (MPPalmer@aol.com) 4. 02:20 PM - Re: On Return To Service Flights (Craymondw@aol.com) ________________________________ Message 1 _____________________________________ Time: 09:21:29 AM PST US From: Craymondw@aol.com Subject: Re: Glasair-List: Re: 70% power Hi, Thanks for your suggestions. I guess I wasn't very clear. The very beginning of the problem started on the take off roll just before lift off and became worse as we gained altitude. My homebase airport is 750 feet above sea level. The highest altitude we obtained was less than 1,000 feet or 250 feet above ground. It was at this point the power out put dropped to what I would guess was 30% power. I stopped using the washers on the filter elements years ago. After installing the new filter I pressure tested the fuel filter assembly for leaks. I thought about the possibility of a flap in a fuel line. I haven't replaced them since 1997. I have a fuel injected engine and my fuel flow is normally 18 gallons per hour under full rich and full throttle. I took note that it had dropped to a little over 14 gallons/hour. After the loss of power, I cleaned the injectors with Hoppes #9, reinstalled them and test flew the plane. On that test flight the full power fuel flow went back to 18 gallons per hour. I talked to the man that sold me the engine and he said he remember something like this years ago on a Super Cub. He went on to say that after inspecting everything it was determined that a piece of carbon may have broken way and temporarily messed up a valve seat. I had something like this happen in a Decathlon back in the 1980s. But that plane back fired and mine didn't. We landed the plane and ran the engine at full power and leaned the heck out of the engine until we burned away the problem. Another thing I forgot to mention was that I noticed a soft cylinder on a cold pull through. I removed the plugs from that cylinder and sprayed in WD40 and hit the valves with a rubber mallet. A few mechanics think the WD40 may have loosened carbon. I followed through with a hot engine compression test and all cylinders were 80/80. One mechanic feels that I may have worn valve guides and carbon has infiltrated the guides and may be jamming a valve on the cold cylinder. I added AVBLEND to the gas and will add Marvel Mystery oil to the header tank. I have 960 hours on this set of cylinders with the hope that if it is a valve jamming in a guide, it will loosen up. I used Champion Spark Plug thread Lube and some think I may have shorted some of the plugs and that when it burned off, the engine regained power. I broke my own maintenance rule by performing a multitude of tasks. I only like doing one task at a time because if something goes wrong that task becomes suspicious. I recently returned from two long flights out west, One to Utah and One to El Paso Texas, then up to Durango Colorado. I had an up coming trip Fort Walton Beach Florida and knew that I was behind on several engine services and decided to do them all at once. Thanks for your suggestions Chuck Raymond ________________________________ Message 2 _____________________________________ Time: 09:23:20 AM PST US From: Craymondw@aol.com Subject: Re: Glasair-List: Re: 70% power Hi, When you say Spider Finger screen, do you mean the finger screen in the injector throttle body? ________________________________ Message 3 _____________________________________ Time: 12:01:08 PM PST US From: MPPalmer@aol.com Subject: Glasair-List: On Return To Service Flights Just a general thought, spawned from yesterday's discussion: Do you know what the most dangerous flight is? It's the "return to service" flight. That's when the Concord caught on fire.... they had just done maintenance on an afterburner. (But are trying to claim tire debris caused the problem.) In general, you've just changed something on an otherwise fine working airplane. We ought to treat these flights as "first flights." Even for something as simple as an oil change. We had a guy here answer a cell call while screwing on an oil filter. He's dead now. He forgot to tighten it fully after his telephone call, took off for a return to service flight. He lost oil pressure and crashed on final trying to return to the airport. Inspectors found a trail of oil from his hangar to the runup area. Hope this helps, Mike Palmer <>< ________________________________ Message 4 _____________________________________ Time: 02:20:56 PM PST US From: Craymondw@aol.com Subject: Re: Glasair-List: On Return To Service Flights Now I can see why some owners say; "If it ain't broke don't fix it!!" I started flying in small planes in 1955 and was sitting right seat in two separate landing crashes. Another time I was sitting right seat when the plane we were flying went into a spin in the middle of the night while in a blinding snow storm. And one other time I had an oil cooler hose blow while over a huge lake on a return flight from Oshkosh. I once had a Pitts Special lose an aileron bolt on final and when I landed and got out I found that all the new self locking nuts for the aileron bolts were about to fall off. I replaced all of the bolts with castle nuts and carter pins. I had just replaced the self locking nuts and later found out they were bogus. When I first completed my Glasair I had a right brake fire that set the wheel pant on fire. I have also lost vacuum pumps, alternator belts and radios at the worse time. Flying is dangerous and over the years I have lost several good acquaintances in crashes. I am often mocked for "Over Maintaining" my plane.