One thing we did spot on initial testing was very slight seepage from the oil cooler pipes. I put these together with Aeroquip parts and braided cable with jubilee clips tying it all in. Nothing wrong with any of the equipment but probably me being timid about cranking down a chunky jubilee on the nice looking but not too strong alloy Aeroquip fittings.

Found a local guy at the harbour who puts together hoses for all sorts of things … Martin … What a brilliant bloke .. So helpful and diligent

I took my whole setup off the ‘plane in about 10 minutes … Went down to him to discuss and I now have a fantastic pair of braided professionally swaged pipes with the benefit of 45’ fittings for the cooler matrix to allow it to mount flush in its housing.

martin also pressure tested the fittings by filling each tube with oil, blocking the end off and then pumping up to around 500 psi !!  Amazing stuff and the swaging machine looked like something off Thunderbirds !! beats my hand held nico press

Having rigged and de rigged so any times it’s now time to lock down !

Graham kindly loaned me some engineering ‘bibles’ which are timeless in the information they hold .. If only you could instantly absorb all this stuff !

They are laid out so easily with sections on every build or repair that you may ever come across.

The section on how to wire a turnbuckle is really helpful and sounds like it will make a really neat solution

Having had three successful but short engine runs it was disappointing to see that the small smear of oil I noticed just near the base of the oil filler hadn’t disappeared after I had thoroughly cleaned all around it.
This means it can’t just down to a careless dribble whilst topping up ;(

Contacted Jabiru in Australia as, although this is around 6 years old it’s brand new out of the box ! A chap called Michael got back to me and suggested undoing the grub screw that holds the dipstick / fill tube in place and checking it was seated ok …

Oh dear ….

Tube duly removed and yes I can just see the O ring indent about 2mm down from the nicely machined face on the lower sump …. The inlet pipes are just above this so it’s tricky to see too closely but my nail could fit nicely into the machine groove ….. Which of course it SHOULDN’T ! … A rubber O ring should prevent that ! But it’s missing !

That leaves me with the challenge of

A) it’s missing and was never put in … Not good practice .. But better for me … 95p from SkyCraft or

B) it WAS put in but was pushed inside by the tube when fitted ! … So it’s in the sump somewhere

I have mixed feelings ….

I suddenly feel a little more like an engineer as I have looked into a problem and found the actual issue but angry that this is slowing the critical engine testing now ….

Graham from CIAS has a couple of scopes that we will try to see if we can see anything … Have asked SkyCraft if they stock sump gaskets and looking how easy it is to drop the sump … Looks like all the exhaust and inlet manifolds off and then a rectangle of Allen bolts …. May be safer in the long run

The second engine run .. Of about 5 mins was a much more controlled and pleasant affair !!

explored a bit more of the range .. Very small movement invoked the most amazing amount of thrust … Boy this hung is going to go ….

I ran her up to about 60% .. Once I had some warmth in ….

I could then hear the zing of the prop as the sound echoed around of the hangar walls .. She sounded just like a REAL aeroplane … Just absolutely purred …. Back to slow running which was clearly ‘hunting’ .. That is the choke not closing properly .. Part now ordered from Sky Craft to peg this properly

I could then see that the multi engine monitor unit I had indicated that a warning in the Port CHT .. No reading so looks like maybe a bad connection … RPM was varying between -300 and plus +800 … This was located to my incorrect initial setting of the RPM defaults … Spotted I had left the default of 6 pulses per revolution when the Jab only has two nuts that pass the tacho ! Now reset will check on next run

Wired up prop ahead of planned engine test ..

Pre torqued up as per Hercules spec … Nice clear instructions they provide with each prop

Although i intend to put a double Trig set in i am starting off with an Icom unit. The ariel that comes with the Icom should be fine for testing but def not mid channel crossings !

So i have a top of cabane mounted comant ariel which i have made an under tray for with rivnuts so that i have blind access. Three long countersunk allen headed bolts complete the fitting.

I sourced two RG58 co ax plugs from RS and these will be fitted to the base today ready for covering the centre top cabane (Olive Green). The Green contrasts to the Cub Yellow wings but carries in the top cowl, upper body colour scheme before it changes to Yellow behind the pilots head.

I intend to curl some slack ariel cable in the top cabane so that i have ‘working’ cable should i need to service the ariel.

I am now looking for suitable trunking rubber to secure down the back of one of the supports struts so that the ariel cable routes neatly to the cockpit.