It's alive

We started the day looking for the right sized alternator belts and Tim luckily found two at Boeing Field.  We had them installed by 10:00am so there was a good chance that we could get a start and test runs in before the end of the day.

The extra alternator belt was securely strapped on with many high grade wire ties.  We absolutely didn't want this thing to accidentally come loose.

The belt was secured to the propeller governor.  The plug is for the oil sump heater.

The alternator belt needed to be tensioned.

The propeller went on.

There are a series of nuts attached to specialized bolts (6) that needed to be tighten simultaneously.

The spinner went back on and there were still many checks to do including filling with oil.

After timing the spark plugs went back in.

The new remote oil filter in place and secured with safety wire.  The filter was pre-filled with oil.  The goal was to get oil circulating as quickly as possible for the first start.

The last checks and double checks were done to make sure everything looked right.  It was amazing how three sets of eyes could catch little details that could have been overlooked. The next day we decided that the fittings on the hoses to the oil cooler needed to be reversed to give better clearance for the fresh air vent slide.

All of the control cables had to be reset and adjusted.

We finally agreed it was ready.

We rolled the plane out of the hangar and placed the chocks.

I cranked the engine over with the starter with the magnetos off until the oil pressure came up, meaning we had oil in the galleys.  And the time had come to hit the fuel boost pump and turn on the mags...

Engine Overhaul First Start http://vimeo.com/80241275 About this video "Video of the first start after an engine overhaul of a Lycoming IO 540 aircraft engine."

We did about 45 minutes of running time on the ground in 5-6 minute increments and watched the vitals on the JPI engine monitor.  We had to limit the run time because without the cowling on the engine could overheat rather quickly.  Fortunately, we had color outside temperatures to do the test runs.  The next day I test flew it and so far so good.  Wow did it felt good to get back into the air again.

Now for the break-in period.