The VeeCU

[Bryan Cotton]

Are you flying the Sonerai or will you just be ground running? You could turn the pipes around backwards.

Or just build some mild steel pipes.

[WesRagle]

Hey Bryan,

Just ground runs. That's an interesting idea. I'll go check prop clearance (I do have to load the engine). Back in a flash.

Wes

[WesRagle]

Good thought, but the same problem.

Wes

[WesRagle]

Hi Bryan,

Or just build some mild steel pipes.

The guys at the exhaust shop can't do anything with 1 3/8" except weld it. I went through an pretty exhaustive search of shops in the past and nobody has the equipment for anything smaller than 1 1/2". I would have to find pre-bent pieces that could be welded together. I'll see what I can find.

Wes

[Bryan Cotton]

https://www.greatplainsas.com/0286-/-u- ... t-kit.aspx

[WesRagle]

Hi Bryan,

https://www.greatplainsas.com/0286-/-u-build-exhaust-kit.aspx

Thanks. I'm looking. I do have to say though, I'm a little gun shy.

I haven't been happy with my Zenith carb. It's not going to let me down but I have to set it slobbery rich to keep my right rear cylinder from over temping in both EGT and CHT during takeoff/climb. Then in cruise I have no way to dial it back. So ..., I want to switch to an AeroInjector. Just like my exhaust situation, it's not as easy as it looks. I need to change my "intake tubes". I ordered a part from GPAS. The pic of the part on their web site showed this:



That's not what I received. What I got I already had. I haven't been able to contact them. Their phone mail box is full and they won't answer my emails. For the time being I have a $200 paper weight. I think there have been some health problems that led to this situation. I don't know. But until I can get some response from them I'm hesitant to place any more orders.

We'll See,

Wes

[WesRagle]

So here is a pic of the "stub" pipe I pulled off the engine slid over the forward part of the Sonex exhaust.



If I could get a bent piece of that I think the problem would be solved.

Wes

[WesRagle]

Hi Guys,

I made the trip to KONY yesterday and picked up a "Build Table". I mounted the fuel tank to the table this morning. I should have some pipes later today with 1 3/8" I.D. that I can use to cobble together some exhaust that will be good enough for development work.



BTW, at KONY they train pilots to fly militarized crop dusters. It's fun to count the number of times new students touch down each landing :-) Cool looking planes, and much larger than the pictures make them look.



If you look closely at the steps it gives you an idea of the size.

Wes

[WesRagle]

Hi Guys,

Ok, turns out you can get 1.5" mild steel with 0.0625 wall thickness which makes for a perfect slip fit onto the 1 3/8" Sonex pipe. Pretty cheap too.



I won't even have to sacrifice my Sonex pipes. I'll just slip it on, apply a couple of SS pops (as close to the end of the Sonex pipe as practical), and seal the joint with aluminum tape. This will actually be better than using the Sonex end pipes because I can get farther from both the exhaust valve and the exhaust exit with the O2 sensor.

Forever Forward,

Wes

[WesRagle]

HI Guys,

The pipes are now at the muffler shop to have the O2 bungs welded in.

While waiting on the pipes I needed to make sure the engine would run. The goal is to take this one step at a time. First step is to start the engine without changing anything. So, the first engine run will be with 100LL.

Hooked up the new battery and charged it.
Changed the oil and added some cam guard (better late than never).
Torqued the prop.
Checked the timing.
Checked the valve lash.
Pulled the plugs.
Crank until I had oil pressure + 10 seconds.
Replaced the plugs.
Ran fuel from the bench to the Sonerai and checked for and fix leaks.
Master on, Mag Hot, Throttle cracked, Mixture full rich, count 1 2 3, and Start.

After two years, the engine roared to life immediately. It scared me :-) I had the throttle a little bit too "cracked" and the canopy hit me in the head. So, I took the canopy off. That took all of 30 seconds. 15 of that was figuring out how to take it off.

I shut the engine down and started wiring. Since there is nothing more frustrating than fighting grounding problems, I started there.
I ran a ground from the engine block to the negative terminal of the battery. Then I ran a 12 gauge ground from the negative terminal of the battery over to the work bench. I have a handy little widget that plugs into a three prong outlet and provides two connections to safety ground. The entire setup will be grounded to the safety ground. Maybe I won't blow up any test equipment.

I made it as far as wiring the two secondary ignition leads and the P-Lead before I ran out of steam.



Oh yea, I also got an inexpensive 13.6 V (I think), 10 A power supply to power everything except the starter.

All of the signals will eventually get wired to terminal strips but I couldn't resist having a look at the P-Lead and low tension side of the secondary ignition. I've been thinking about those signals a long time. It was nice to finally meet them.

P-Lead pics:





Looks like about 150 Volts peak. Easy to see when the plug fires, and for how long.

Secondary Ign. pics:





I turned the peak picker on for the first pic of the secondary. The scope measured a peak voltage of 468 V. You can also see two distinct steps in the wave form. It's like one plug burned a lot longer than the other. Wonder if the wasted spark or the "real" spark burned longer.

There are a lot of questions that can be answered with a running engine. Like: How high would the voltages go if the plug never fired? The list is long but now I can start getting some answers. Great fun.

Forever Forward,

Wes