Tipsy Nipper

Afternoon all,

Being the new owner of G-CCFE fitted with an early JAB 2200 S/N 104 (TT 457hrs) I have a few questions...

- Looking back through the logs I can see that the oil and filter are generally changed every 12 months or 50hours (which she never gets to!). I was however thinking that 6 months and 25hours would probably be a more sensible timescale given the age of the engine and that oil is pretty cheap, has anyone any advice to offer?

- How oftern should I be changing the plugs and air filters? They dont cost very much but 25hrs is probably too often, is 50 or 100hrs / annual more appropriate?

- I also have an idle problem with the engine when warm, she starts first time when cold using the choke and idles fine when warm when the throttle is cracked slightly open. I'm thinking the idle just needs set properly as at the moment it can be set as low as 600-700 RPM using the throttle and I believe its supposed to sit at 900 RPM with the thottle closed? Is this just a case of adjusting the idle screw or will there be some cable adjustments required?

- Any other tips for looking after an early JAB? She's had quite a bit of work done with new rear cylinders + heads + piston rings all round + bigger oil pump etc about 40 hours ago so I'm hoping with a good maintenance schedule I should get plenty of trouble free hours.

Any advice greatly appreciated, I'm pretty handy with maintaining cars but am feeling somewhat 'green' when it comes to aircraft with this being the first I've owned outright!

Regards

Des

Des,
I dont have the Jab fitted to mine,but for what its worth here is my maintenance schedule for my 1834 VW.
Every 10 hours: Cowlings off, good look around and clean up.
Every 25 hours: As above plus plugs removed and cleaned, regapped.
plus oil change. (not filter though)
Tappets checked and regapped to 0.006''
Every 50 hours: As above plus oil and filter change.
plugs changed for new ones (B6HS)

The Leburg system really takes away some of the ball ache of having to retime the mags every 25 hours or worse! It really is fit and forget.

This seems to work well for me, I am trying to achieve 100 hours per year, but normally
achieve 50-70 in reality.

What do the rest of you do for engine maintenance?

Paul.
G-NIPR.

Des

As you know I have a VW like Paul.

My maint is:

Top Cowling off before first flight - good look as I have found bird nesting bits before in another type. 25 hrs check as per ASM/ESM + Oil and Filter change. 50hr as per ASM + 100 HR checks on engine - Barry Smith wrote the Engine ESM so I follow his instructions. I think he has a rough idea of what is required.
I also remove the top cowling after last flight - JIC saves finding on pre flt.

As it only costs a few pence, along with the Oil filter, I also change the fuel filter at 25 hrs.

Cheers

JAB

Des,
My nipper has a Jabiru, S/n 257.
It has been fitted withe the L3 barrels and has had the larger valves fitted, 72 hrs
ago. My maintenance sched' is as follows
Oil (Aeroshell 15/50) and filter , Change every 25 hrs, or 6 months, Regardless.
Tappets; Up to you , but I do mine every 10 hrs (5-8 thou-cold) Give them a manual
oilingand general squirt as the oil supply to these is a little marginal. I had a rocker shaft
stanchion failure at 400 ft after takeoff due to oil starvation to this item. (old
engine S/n 17 !!) But I did get 870 hour out of it which is 370 more than the TBO on that
serial number!!
Spark plugs: Check every 10 hrs and change every 50 hrs- this is probably
excessive but they are very cheap at www.partsforaircraft.co.uk-an excellent little site and the
chap running it is very cando and helpful.
Check exhaust bolts frequently!!
follow the Jabiru maintennace schedule to the letter. If you do not have this document, you can
download it from the official Jabiru website.
Do make sure you check the flywheel caphead screws as per the manual.
Pay close attention to the flywheel/coil gaps.(10 thou max, and 5 is better. adjust usingthin card
paper as necessary)
Do check the exhaust for cracks and security.
Do your winter?summer prop bolt tightness adjustments and max torque 11 ft/lb. The prop will
expand during winter due to the extra moisture in winter, and the effect will be to incrase the existing
torque, so slacken off during winter. (park up for any length of time, prop in the 9/3 oclock
position ie horizontal to stop the contained moisture running to the lower blade tip and the upper
blade root. Trust me it DOES make a difference.
Really it is common sense but I commend the manual to you. It is very staighforward .

Hope this is of use to you Des. I am convinced the oil/filter changes are the most important
bit of maint you can do.
All the best.
Regards,
Pat G-ASXI

Des,
forgot to mention: the idle adjustment is done on the idle adjust screw and that is all.
The bing carb automatically adjusts itself for mixture, being a an automatic altitude compensating
device, hence no manual mixture control. 850- 950 is a good figure to aim for but a reliable 800 is even better
as the Nipper will float on approach unless you have idle rpm set.
All the best,
Pat

Thanks all for the tips, very uselfull stuff.

Got the idle sorted today despite the actual Bing carb fitted to mine looking nothing at all like the one in the manual! Got a nice steady idle when warm of 800-840, I actually got really lucky and wound on the idle screw a bit before starting, once warmed it then settled down and ideled perfectly with no further adjustment required. I also did a few other bits such as setting up the correct T&P limits, alarm levels and Hobbs reading on the Stratomaster unit and configured the panel mounted GPS to my own taste.

Also had chance to spend a good bit of time just working my way around the engine bay getting to know where everything is, I did however spot straight off that one of the coil / flywheel gaps is miles out so will sort that tomorrow.

Just wondering what you all use for oiling aileron / rudder hinges etc? The book says SAE40 oil, is that the same as just plain 10w40 motor oil?

Regards

Des

Hi Des,
Regarding the hinges, I used to use just a light 3 in 1 type oil, until an aircraft engineer friend recommended white grease.
Halfords do it in an aerosol and its dead easy to apply, and clings really well.
Also while on the subject of spray on magic, I am convinced (really I am!) that good quality spray on silicon lubricant used regularly extends the life of the undercarriage bungees (again halfords do their own brand, but I bought a brand name for an extra pound). I spray it on every other flight after lifting the tail to ease the loads. Perhaps I am fooling myself, but my last breakage seemed to be very dry and perished rubber. I will report back after six months of doing it with the long term results.

Regarding a meet up this week, I have just Pm'd you and John with my number, I think it will be a case of weather watching and keeping
in touch. I would like to meet up somewhere like Oban on Thursday or Friday, and I am trying hard to make it to Fife on Saturday at around lunchtime.
Check pm's for my number...

Ps: John, Your number has been lost along with my phone on the hills, please get in touch as I cant call you until then, ta.


Paul.
G-NIPR.

Thanks Paul

07780 660992 is active most times

Looking fwds to the meet

rgds John

Been a bit quiet arouind here of late so I just thought I'd add something Jabiru specific to this post in case it helps someone in the future.

At first when I bought FE I was getting a steady in flight Oil pressure of circa 36 PSI, whilst not brilliant was above the min in flight of 31 PSI. After about 10 hours or so however this was starting to fluctuate with readings of between 29-36 PSI.
I decided to change the oil and clean the pressure relief valve which resulted in initially a raised oil pressure of circa 44 PSI, the old oil was looking rather thick and tired and I wondered if it might have been clogging the oil cooler. Another few hours of running however resulted in the pressure fluctuations returning once again between 29ish - 36 PSI.

I remembered reading in the manual that the pressure relief valve pressure can be adjusted by placing 2 x AN4 washers behind the spring however I also read online that upto 4 washers were required on older engines. I decided to give this a try and ordered myself up some AN4 washers. On stripping the Pressure relief valve, there were already 2 x washers behind the spring but each was only 1/3 the thickness of a standard AN4 washer! I placed 3 x correct AN4 washers behind the spring and the end result is I now have a rock solid Oil pressure of around 55 PSI at cruise rising to circa 60PSI when starting from cold.. (Max is 76 PSI so plenty of Margin)
I had it in the back of my mind that as the engine was one of the earlier S/N's the low oil pressure was perhaps a sign of something more terminal. Given however that its had new bores + piston rings fairly recently and the compressions are all good I'm very happy to have rectified such a worrying problem for the cost of a couple of 10p washers!

Just to confirm the performance I took my Nipper upto 10,000' on Sat and am pleased to report I was still getting circa 700 FPM at 6000' and around 500 FPM at 10'000' (According to GPS VNAV). It was however bloomin cold (8C on the ground) which would have been helping performance and by 10k I was getting some slight frost on the inside of the canopy, to be expected I suppose with an OAT of approx -12C!