We installed our new prop, which is a three bladed carbon-fiber propeller with a diameter of 190cm, made by a French company called E-Props. Hopefully it performs as good as it looks.
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| Prop installed on engine. |
After double checking all the oil connections, we added oil to the engine (it's a dry sump system), and purged the air from the system by following Rotax's procedure.
We've been chasing some leaks in both the fuel and coolant systems. Original debug was done by pressurizing the system and spraying the connections with soapy water, but this just wasn't good enough as we couldn't identify any of the leaks. We then bought a stethoscope (with an air leak adapter), an ultrasonic leak tester, and some super-bubbly fluid from Rectorseal (all fairly cheap from Amazon). All three were used and help find the leaks in the fuel system which were from connections directly beneath the header tank. One of the fittings under the header tank needed to tightened (a standard pipe thread fitting), and two hose clamps needed to be tightened. We still had an issue with one of the hoses beneath the header tank, so I replaced a 6" hose section and reclamped. This time it worked and the fuel system now holds pressure without leaks.
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| These hose connections were leaking |
We also identified a leak on the coolant system, and tracked it down to a bypass valve on the cabin heater line. The valve itself felt a bit loose and likely defective, so a new valve was ordered and installed. This new valve has a better, smooth feel to it, so we feel better about its quality. Other coolant hose clamps were also tightened a bit to help ensure the system was sealed. Hours: 17
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| Replacement Bypass valve installed |
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