Escapade #37 Running

[dauckjl]

Hey guys,

 We got our engine running on Labor Day, September 4.
 We had a little bit of a problem with our header tank as we did not check it for leaks before we put it in.  On Sunday, we planned on starting it and as we were putting the gas in, we noticed that the header tank was wet.  So, we drained the gas and called a guy we know that welds aluminum.  It seemed as if it was leaking around the top tab where the adel clamp hooks it to the fuselage.  On Monday Leo took it home, added a bead all the way around the tab and brought it back for us to try.  We put it back in and then started filling it with gas again.
 When we went back and checked the header tank, there was still fuel seaping down from the top.  This time, we figured it must have been leaking from the top seam all along.  So, we once again drained the gas, took it out and brought it over to Leo's house.  We used some soapy water around the top seal and also around the top tab and found out it was still leaking around that top tab.  He ended up adding even more weld and finally we tested it and we didn't get any bubbles from the soapy water.
 Finally, we were able to take the tank back to the airport, install it, add gas and it DIDN'T leak!!!!!!  Now, we were able to pull out the Escapade and hear it run.  It starts up real quick and it really has some snort to it.
 We ran it a couple times and did some checks in between.  It was running a little rich so we changed needles in the Aero-Carb and it got quite a bit better.  There is still some tweaking to do but overall it is pretty close.
 Our paperwork is sent in to the DAR at EAA and we are awaiting word from the FAA to schedule our airworthiness inspection.

 Well, enough of this long winded story.  The bottom line, check your header tank by putting soapy water on all the seams, plugging all but one hole and blowing in the open one.

Justin

[utpa001]

Great to hear you guys are up and running!  I hope you can get it inspected and flying soon!  :D

Tim