Annual Inspection update
Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 8:58 pm
Well still knocking along on the inspection(at a snails pace as stuff keeps coming in to work on interfering with the fun stuff-i.e. the Brantly!). We've changed the fluids-went with Aeroshell 100w plus on the engine oil, same for the tail rotor drive shaft gear boxes, and Mobil 1 75w90 synthetic for the tranny. Removed the sparkplugs, squirted a little oil in each cylinder, and cranked it with the starter until oil pressure came up. Everything is looking good thus far. Put a new Brackett air filter in but didn't like it and bought a new FAA/PMA paper filter for 40 bucks. Probably will go with the Challenger(K&N) at some point but for now the OEM paper filter I like better than the Brackett. Gotta clean the injector nozzles and replace the RBC gaskets with the red rubber silicone jobs next. Put a new AGM Concorde xc battery in there for motivation. Boost pump worked a few seconds and died. Checked voltage at the pump and nada. Nav lights also inop as was the fuselage beacon/strobe. Turned out the combination switch/circuit breakers needed the covers popped off and lubricated with acf50/wd40 and Wa La we have power thru the switches and now we have boost pump and nav lights out the ying yang lol. NO joy on the beacon/strobe as the Whelen SADF self contained strobe which looked new (but had been installed in 1992) was bad. Called Whelen but they no longer repair the SADF only the SACF(comet flash vs dual flash). A new one is 400 bucks-ouch!
At least I got to see the engine turn over at a good clip. Starting should be a big boost to enthusiasm (providing I don't wrinkle the blades or shear the short shaft lol).
At least I got to see the engine turn over at a good clip. Starting should be a big boost to enthusiasm (providing I don't wrinkle the blades or shear the short shaft lol).