- Joined
- Jan 1, 2008
- Messages
- 1,990
- Reaction score
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After three days of trying we got the Ven running on my plane. We tried hand propping it on Wednesday, but couldn't spin it fast enough. Maybe with time and after the break-in we'll be able to do that. Yesterday I got my start bottle pressurized and we gave it a try. It fired right off several times, but as soon as the prime was burned it quit, and then we ran out of air pressure. I got the bottle refilled today, and wondered if the carburetor was getting fuel. The engine has been asleep for fifteen years. So I turned on the electric boost pump and wobbled the throttle. Each time I opened the throttle the boost pump would speed up. Soon I had gas coming out of the carb, so I knew I had fuel to that point. When we took the plane out today I pulled the prop through twelve blades to make sure we had no hydraulic lock, then primed it a few times with the manual primer and turned on the boost pump till the gauge showed 4 PSI, then pulled the prop through nine blades. When I hit the starter the engine started immediately but didn't keep running. One more shot of prime and one wobble on the throttle and it started right up and kept running. My brother came over and said the prop looked like it was in high pitch, so I pulled the control back and the RPM went up. Backwards! I've been looking at the governor hook-ups on 2wings, and they all have the control below the pivot. Apparently they have reversers in the cockpit, and I have a straight push-pull control. With the prop on low pitch the engine smoothed out and ran great. Back to idle it sat firmly at 740 RPM, almost perfect.It must have made a racket because I had visitors from 300 yards away come to see what the noise was. One of these days I'll get to fly the darned thing!
