REFLECTOR: Franklin Paranoia?

[Andy Millin]

Hiroo,
 
Did I miss a post.  You're flying!!! Congratulations!!!!
 
Please post a picture!!!
 
Andy

-----Original Message-----
From: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org] On
Behalf Of Hiroo Umeno
Sent: Sunday, September 03, 2006 1:46 AM
To: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list
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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