REFLECTOR: Franklin Paranoia?

Sun Sep 3 12:04:53 CDT 2006

Unless both of your Mags are retard mags you should only start on the retarded mag to prevent kickback. Only activate the non-retard mag after the engine is running.

Jim

James F. Agnew
Jim_Agnew_2 at Yahoo.Com
Tampa, FL
Velocity 173 Elite Aircraft Completed & Flying 

----- Original Message ----
From: Laurence Coen <lwcoen at hotmail.com>
To: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list <reflector at tvbf.org>
Sent: Sunday, September 3, 2006 12:50:15 PM
Subject: Re: REFLECTOR: Franklin Paranoia?

Hiroo,

I have found my Franklin to be the easiest to start of anything I have had experience with.  It starts with one turn or less.  It almost always fires on the second compression.  I have a primer system that uses a solenoid valve to inject fuel into the center primer ports on the intake manifold.  The first start of the day I use a 2 second prime at summer temp.  Below 50 F it's about 5 seconds.  Then it's throttle cracked, mixture rich, mags on both and crank.  With a hot engine, no prime.  I have strong feelings about pumping an up-draft carburetor to prime an engine.  I think it's a fire waiting to happen.  From the rest of your email, I definitely think you have fouled plugs.  I have found that the Franklin will load up the plugs at idle very quickly.  Once I get start I run the engine at 1100 RPM and lean for max RPM.  I leave it this way for ground operations and go rich for run-up and take-off.  I also lean on landing after I turn off the runway.  I also lean in cruise
 (75% or less) at all altitudes.  My engine is not a rebuilt but factory new and runs strong and smooth.  I have no idea of what a 220 HP sewing machine should sound like.  On the issue of oil from the breather I would suggest that you run your oil level halfway between the max and minimum marks + 1 quart.  Any higher than that and it starts blowing out the breather.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Hiroo Umeno 
To: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list 
Sent: Sunday, September 03, 2006 12:46 AM
Subject: REFLECTOR: Franklin Paranoia?

Between the last weekend and today, so far, N21HV has about 7 hours flight time.  In these hours, I have come to a few "headscratchers" I wanted to get the forum's opinions on concerning the operation of the Franklin engine.

1.  Difficulty starting in the morning.  It seems to me that compared to the Lycomings I have flown in the past, my plane is much harder to start cold.  Steven Murphree gave me a few tips in doing this but I am not quite doing it right.  The procedure I use is the following.
Mixture - Rich 
Mags - Both 
Boost pump - On 
Throttle - Pump 2 strokes, then open 1/4" 
Starter - Crank
Well, this morning, I just about ran the battery dead before I finally got it started.  I suppose I need a bit more practice.  I would appreciate any tips you may have.

2.  In flight, sometimes, it feels like the engine "skips a beat" sometime.  As far as the parameters go (RPMs, temps, pressures, etc) it does not seem to indicate any issues but it does not have the "well oiled sewing machine" feel I would like from an airplane engine.  The engine is fresh overhaul and literally has the same number of hours as the airframe (7 hours).  Is this something I should expect from a fresh engine?  This also seems to happen on ground ops as well.  One of my to-do is to pull the plugs and check for signs of fouling.

3.  When I am flying with the speed brake down (approaches), the carburator temp goes up fairly rapidly.  I have seen temps as high as 128 degrees and above (that is where the instrument "pegs").  Is this to be expected?  I am thinking that when Carb-Heat is ON, it picks up hot air around exhaust that is probably much hotter but still, thought of carb fire does scare me a bit.

4.  The engine "weeps" oil from the main seal aft of crank shaft in front of the prop.  It is not a significant amout (the engine holds oil fairly well) but after an hour or so of flight, we see some blackish splatter marks on the cowl surrounding the area and a small amount of blackish oil smear near the seal.  The breather is not blocked as we get a lot of splatter from there (greasy props!) so I don't think the case is over-pressured.

I am new to the plane and the powerplant so perhaps I am more paranoid than I should be but I spend much of today's flight watching the engine monitor looking for first signs of trouble staying low and close to the airport.

Hiroo

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