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Flying our 210 HP Stinson After installing the wings we discovered that the wing tip strobes failed to fire. We could hear the power supply charging but that was all that happened. After completing the new weight and balance we checked the wiring several times and finally removed the power supply and bulbs from the plane. I bench tested the entire system with the same results, so we shipped the whole damn thing back to Whelen. They found the power supply was working properly; However, both bulbs were void of xenon gas. Whelen informed me they would replace the bulbs at no charge. I hope within a couple of weeks I'll have the strobes installed and the plane in the air. At that time I'll update this page and let you know how she performs.
Well, after all our
hard work it was time to face the scales! Even with the power upgrade, 165 hp to
210 hp, we would still have to abide by the type certificate gross weight
limits. The Transport Canada Enforcement branch is really cracking down on
violators of the Regs and I didn't want an upgraded aircraft that I'd have to
fly illegally on floats. The new numbers were, initially, okay... but after
reflecting on them a while, they're actually quite good.
After weighing the aircraft we towed it to the pumps and calibrated our fuel dipstick. Unfortunately, by the time we got the aircraft to our parking spot, quite a fuel leak had developed somewhere in the cabin. We quickly tracked the problem down and discovered that the Tyee STC had been delivered with an improperly matched fuel drain for the header tank. The thread size was correct but the pipe fitting would not tighten adequately before the drain shoulder bottomed out.
After addressing our fuel leak problems and priming the oil system, it was time to start the engine. The engine started easily and we ran it a couple of times to check for fuel/oil leaks etc then performed a high power run-up and high-speed taxi run to burn in the new brakes. The engine was running very rich and it took about 3 weeks to get the fuel system tuned properly. At that point we performed our final inspection we buttoned everything back up and prepped for our test flight. Our test flight only lasted 10 minutes. I found the high rpm fuel mixture still a bit rich and some aileron trimming was required. The second flight was much better. We were still a little rich at high rpm, but only slightly and we were only able to get the rpm up to around 2600. Rate of climb was up to 2000 fps. I flew around for about 30 minutes making notes on engine/fuel readings and performed a couple of stalls to verify the airspeed indicator. Other than our inability to achieve red line rpm - things were pretty much in the green so I returned to the Courtenay Airpark to perform a number of touch and go's.
We spent a number of weeks fiddling with the various systems in an attempt to get rated RPM out of the aircraft. This problem made it impossible to exactly calibrate the high-power fuel flow which is set at the redline 2800 rpm. I tried leaning the mixture at full throttle - but this had no positive effect. We adjusted the governor and found that it was not engaging/holding back the rpm. Finally I called McCauley Tech Support and told them of my problems. When the Prop Shop built up our 80 inch propeller they used the specifications for a Cessna 172 seaplane equipped with a 195 hp version of Continental IO-360 redlined at 2600 rpm. The helpful folks at McCauley told me that I would be unable to get more than 2600-2700 rpm out of the prop even in flight... that means the governor and fuel system are likely okay. They suggested around 10 degrees fine pitch for our application. After having the high rpm spacer reworked we took the plane up for another run. Holy - crap! What a difference. With the blades unloaded and the engine turning near full rpm we could really feel a surge in takeoff thrust. On this solo flight - the plane jumped off the runway in around 200 feet and instantly started to climb... this is what I was hoping for. With this kind of performance we should never again be concerned about getting on the step or clearing trees at the end of a lake. For performance on floats see
our "Float Performance" link on the menu bar. Dave Miller
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