The plane is ready
I stopped by the hangar again today. I pulled the plane out, fired it up, ran it up to about 1700 RPM, and tested the left and right ignition. There was about a 50 RPM drop, which is good. I also cycled the prop a few times. Everything is working very well. Idle was about 900 RPM. The engine is really running like a champ.
After shutting down and putting the plane back in the hangar, I was thinking there should be at least one minor issue on the engine. I was checking the engine over very carefully for leaks. Didn’t see anything at all. And then I noticed one drip near the firewall. Took quite a while for the next drip. Traced it down to the fuel pressure sensor. I tightened it down another 1/2 turn, and it stopped. Now I’m happy. I found the one issue.
I vacuumed and cleaned out the interior. I secured a few wires and a few other minor things left on the list. I removed the spinner and wing tips to prep for the inspection. When I removed the spinner, I found a little bit of grease was flung out of the prop. Totally normal.
I then spent about 2 hours doing a mini annual condition inspection. I used Dan C’s list. It went pretty fast as all the covers are already off and will remain off. And nothing needs lubrication and nothing should be cracked at this point. I went over all the controls, wiring, plumbing, etc. I found a couple of jam nuts on the engine control ends that were torqued but not marked with torque seal. I also didn’t correctly mark a couple push tubes on the ailerons. I left one side of the jam nut unmarked, so I took care of that. They were already torqued. Very, very minor issues. She’s ready.
I finished out the day by renting a Cessna for hopefully the last time. After the transition training in Mike Seager’s RV-6A, the 172SP was like driving a bus. It has the same 180hp engine as my RV, but weighs much more and is not nearly as aerodynamic. Still, it was good to do a few landings, including one at my new home field, Renton.