oil change
Time for an oil change. I’ve been changing the oil every 25hrs. This is the 100hr oil change. So, with my new whiz-bang ignition setup, I went out after work and launched into the darkness. A few laps around the practice area, played shoot-down-the-bogie with the TIS on the 430W. This equates to finding an unsuspecting target and maneuvering for closure from behind. Don’t worry, I’m talking no closer than about 8mi. before breaking off… Then I headed down toward town for a couple of passes over the neighborhood while in contact with Austin Approach. Then I headed back to GTU to start that oil change. Not too bad for 35min of warming up the oil.
Back at the hangar, I quickly pulled the cowl and began the oil drain and left it that way until the next day.
The following day I went out to finish the oil change. I had the oil filter changed, re safetied, and new oil added in about 8 minutes. No mess. I have this down pat now. The key is a ziploc freezer bag under the filter angle adapter to catch the mess. With the new engine, I’ve been having to stay on top of keeping hose clamps tight. The clamps don’t loosen but the hoses compress a little and the clamp needs to be tightened up. I’m mainly talking about the oil return tubes where they attach to the case and the intake tubes. They were all in need of another turn or so.
I’ve also noticed a little fuel staining around the #2 intake tube at the cylinder manifold. I’ve been checking engine bolt torque on the manifolds and various other parts as things wear in, so the bolts were tight. I decided to pull the intake tube and see what was up. What I found was that some of the inside edge of the gasket had begun to deteriorate. It had also picked up some of the paint that was on the intake tube which looked like it effected the seal. A new gasket will be ordered for proper resolution. Until then, I reassembled with a little “extra” gasket dressing per advise by Mahlon. When I went to reinstall the intake bolts, they were very tight after 4-5 threads. Enough for concern and further analysis. I concluded that there was some kind of aggregate from the manufacturing process in the cylinder threads. Almost like silver sand. I very carefully used a tap to clean out the threads and all was well.
Finally, on our last flight, Tanya said we HAD to have more heat, so I opened up the heat duct on the rear baffle a little more. I had it about 85% blocked by foil tape so I removed some of that so it is about half open. I also put a little more tape over the oil cooler while I was in there. Note that these two operations required removing the plenum top. Kind of a pain with so many screws.
I’m ready to cowl it up and giddyup again!