Finally and Wow!

Everything connected and ready to run!

 

There are some minor details that will be done later but today I took my bird down to the field to test the engine for the first time.

I had charged my battery over night but it didn’t stand a chance. The compression in the Simonini has nothing to do with my old and tired 532. Luckily we always have a fully charged regular car battery at the club and with that the engine fired as soon as the fuel reached the carburettors. A few seconds of choke and she was running smoothly. Maybe a tendency to vibrations at low rev but I run with the cowling open due to the external battery so that will have to be confirmed. However, steady as a rock at higher revolutions. Unfortunately my old Tiny Tach was not compatible with the new ignition (bailed out at 9999 rev/min...) so I could not safely test the full potential. I’m expecting that I have to adjust my prop (or replace it) so I was afraid of exceeding maximum RPM (6200). A new Tiny Tach should be arriving later this week...

First impression was really “Wow - this is more power than I expected”. I was impressed and so was the crowd that had gathered. There is no question that I have more, much more, power than before.

The sound is exciting, not too loud and not to high pitch. Appears lower from inside the plane than my 532.