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Thread: Dual STI build log

  1. #371
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    Default Re: Dual STI build log

    Yes Phil I did mark it, took pictures, engraved it, labeled it, sketched it, marked it, recorded it, and logged it after that couple day adventure.🙂
    Dustin Dickerson

    Building 7ss STI x 2
    Oratex
    29" shock monster
    EP912STI 155hp
    Garmin
    N33TF......FLYING!
    N53TF......FLYING!

  2. #372
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    Default Re: Dual STI build log

    Update!

    I have about 10 hours on the aircraft so far. I have got the tune pretty close to good. I am never much of a fan of running a engine on the limits and would rather just burn a little more fuel for that piece of mind. Its crazy how hot these engines are rated to run. (Rotax EGTS temp limits) I am really liking the data log from garmin. I have not taken the laptop up with me to tune, so instead I just pull the data log and use that to tune the laptop for the ECU. By comparing what I am seeing on the data log I can get the data field on the ECU that controls that parameter. I have been learning the ECU and getting more comfortable with tuning. I don't claim to understand most of the ecu, but it is nice to be able to zero in the exact spot for tuning. I have trimmed the egts to get them within 15F of each other now. Takeoff I am now seeing 11.5AFR and 12.5AFR for cruise. This is on the very conservative side I know. My opinion is I am not losing that much power running it rich, and its easier and safer to makeup the power by just turning the boost up.



    GOT THE TIRES DIRTY!
    Went out to start getting some landing practice. I flew to U14, Nephi, and did some landings on the dirt next to the runway. I am not pushing it yet, but takeoff and landings are getting real short! I have been working on full flap landings and approaching slower. Right now I am getting comfortable approaching at 50MPH. I still have my shocks at 150psi, which feels to stiff, and the tires are still stiff at 12psi. I have left the tire inflated hard for the long taxis I have had at home airport. Trying to see if I can talk the airport into letting me takeoff in the grass and not have to taxi the entire 8500' runway we have. I then flew up to Desert Airpark and tried landing on the dirt strip out there. I am getting more comfortable landing, doing wheel landings and 3 pointers now on q!

    I have been pushing the altitude higher and higher each flight to make sure everything is working as expected. I am now up to 14500' and need oxygen to go any higher. I have gotten soft over the years flying a pressurized cabin and I was feeling the effects of hypoxia. I have previously tested the effects on me and first thing I notice is a head-ache and vision sharpness starting to go. I stayed at 14500' for a short time and dropped back down to 10500' and immediately started feeling better.

    Everything has been going fairly smoothly with just little adjustments here and there. I did have an issue last flight with my transponder that I can't figure out. Worked great for 2 hours of flying. Landing and did a couple touch and goes and after one touch and go I got a transponder fail box. I tried powering it down and back on and nothing. Landed and shut everything down. (This is usually the solution on the challenger) Turned on the garmin into config mode. Everything was showing normal. Restarted and transponder was working normal. Did some touch and goes and after one a couple same thing happened. This time I turned of the transponder in the air, and turned it back on. It reset and began working normal. I think I am going to check the harness and make sure its not working loose. When it went to fail, I noticed the transponder auto turned itself to off. When I tried to select alt or on it went back to off by itself. Traffic was still displaying so it was still receiving traffic. I checked GPS signal and I still had WAAS signal. I wish there was a datalog for the transponder or I could get into config mode when it was failed? Any suggestions?






    Another useful tool is I have been loading in the data from the Garmin into cirrusreports.com which compiles that data to give you a very useful graphical reference of the flight.


    It been awhile since I have been able to say when I fly and where! I love it!







    Dustin Dickerson

    Building 7ss STI x 2
    Oratex
    29" shock monster
    EP912STI 155hp
    Garmin
    N33TF......FLYING!
    N53TF......FLYING!

  3. #373
    Senior Member Esser's Avatar
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    Default Re: Dual STI build log

    That’s pretty much exactly how I have my AF set up too.
    ------------------
    Josh Esser
    Flying SS7
    Rotax 914iS
    AirMaster Prop

    Edmonton, AB, CWL3

  4. #374
    Senior Member aviator79's Avatar
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    Default Re: Dual STI build log

    Hey Dustin,

    A friend with a G3X in his Arion Lighting had transponder issues that sound simliar. He eventually figured out his transponder was losing a high-integrity signal from his GPS. I believe he traced it to a wiring issue. I'll try to probe him a little bit to see if his issue really is similar to yours and if so, how he fixed it.

    To clarify: he still had WAAS signal from the GPS, but it would lose integrity (RAIM). The transponder demands high-integrity.

    EDIT: It sounds like his issue was different. His transponder never turned off, but it was not providing ADS-B out information. He recommends calling Garmin G3Xpert by phone or email. He gave me the contact info. PM me if you don't have it. I don't want to throw it up here as bot fodder.
    Last edited by aviator79; 10-14-2019 at 06:21 AM.
    --Brian
    Flying - S7SS

  5. #375
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    Default Re: Dual STI build log

    Thanks Brian. All good info. To me it seemed related to when I was trying to land short and I planted it in. My GTX45R is mounted in the back and may got shook on landing. I wish the G3X had an MDC to record issues from LRU's that have errors.
    Dustin Dickerson

    Building 7ss STI x 2
    Oratex
    29" shock monster
    EP912STI 155hp
    Garmin
    N33TF......FLYING!
    N53TF......FLYING!

  6. #376
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    Default Re: Dual STI build log

    Okay I think (fingers crossed) I figured out what happened to my transponder failing. I was suspecting something went wrong when I landed. I checked the transponder and it seemed to not be locked into the tray very firm. I could wiggle it quite a bit. I removed it and found that the allen stop screw was loose allowing the locking device to become loose. I could grab the transponder in the tray and move it in and out of the tray. I think this was happening when landing, causing the harness to not be seated fully. I tightened the locking mechanism to make sure the harness was fully seated and then tightened the allen set screw so it won't loosen up again. I am 90% sure this was the cause. Hopefully I can get out and do some flying this coming weekend after I am back from East Coast trip.

    Dustin Dickerson

    Building 7ss STI x 2
    Oratex
    29" shock monster
    EP912STI 155hp
    Garmin
    N33TF......FLYING!
    N53TF......FLYING!

  7. #377
    Senior Member efwd's Avatar
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    Default Re: Dual STI build log

    Dustin, just a heads up. I figure since I experience issues with this latching mech myself, maybe you should know as well. Since the floor of the tray is pretty flexible, that little catch may simpley push the floor down and it makes it not secure. Hopefully you caught your true issue and that is that. I have to reach up under my panel and apply upward pressure on the tray to truely secure my Xpdr.
    Eddie Forward
    Flying
    SS7, 912iS, Garmin G3X

  8. #378
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    Default Re: Dual STI build log

    Yes I did notice that. Mine is mounted vertical on the left side of the fuselage but the latch was very loose. I did tighten until the latch is seated snug, then removed and tightened set screw. At first I did it too tight and the base just pushed out. So, I backed it off some and tightened the set screw.
    Dustin Dickerson

    Building 7ss STI x 2
    Oratex
    29" shock monster
    EP912STI 155hp
    Garmin
    N33TF......FLYING!
    N53TF......FLYING!

  9. #379
    Senior Member bbs428's Avatar
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    SW Missouri
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    Default Re: Dual STI build log

    Congratz on your achievement! Looks like your sorting it out. All that data compiled by cirrusreports.com looks interesting.
    I'll be interested to know if your transponder issue is fixed.
    Appreciate all the new flying pictures.

    Enjoy!!
    Somebody said that carrier pilots were the best in the world, and they must be or there wouldn't be any of them left alive. — Ernie Pyle

    Brett Butler
    Flying: 1998 Model 5 Outback, 912ul Zipper 110hp, G3x avionics, ss7 upgrades

  10. #380
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    Default Re: Dual STI build log

    Okay I thought I had the transponder figured out. Took it out and was able to get it to fail again. It failed when I purposely dropped the tail hard. I am still was getting slight movement of the transponder in the tray. With the tray mounted vertically and in the aft portion of the fuselage it still had slight play and I think is still getting bounced around. Its like when it clanks hard in the tray it fails. Decided to try and strap it also. I bought some velcro straps and strapped the transponder in the tray to help secure it for hard bumps. After doing this I went back out and I have a dozen off airport (grass and dirt strips next to runway) landings without the transponder failing. YEAH! The 40 hours is taking much longer than anticipated because of all the little tweaks. (My wife has been a trip and flying has been minimal with kiddos) I am not having any major problems, just fine tuning everything. I have my fuel map dialed into where I am happy with AFR and with EGTS now. I am running it rich to keep it on the safe side and burning a little extra fuel. Climb is very impressive. 2000fpm if you want to climb out steep. Cruise....well its what I suspected with the STI wing. Its draggy! I am seeing about 5.5 to 6gph and 105mph TAS. Defiantly not a cross country machine. Started playing with the shocks because they are really stiff. Temps are running very cool on the engine. In fact I can not even get oil temps warm. I have now covered almost 80% of my oil cooler to get temps up to 180. Last flight out I was able to get oil temps to 200F on a long high power climb. As soon as I level off temps come right down. In dropping the bottom of the cowl I think it has really increased the exit air and increased vacuum in cowl causing everything to run cool. Intake temps are looking good also. I am seeing 120F on takeoffs and climbs and then 100-110F on cruise. We are currently working on the cowl on my brothers STI and decided to go with a larger naca for the intercooler. We will compare intake temps and adjust as needed. I fly down to Nephi u14 and up to West Desert Air park UT9 to practice landings on the dirt. Takeoff's are easy. Tried holding the brakes and powering up. Tail started to come up and felt like it was going over, so I let off the brakes. It accelerates like a sports car! Mash the throttle and hold on. Landings are going to take a while. I am starting to get comfortable coming in slower. I did 10 landings with 5 knot wind and was consistently landing sub 300' I had a couple really short ones but I can see timing needs to be spot on to get really short. I have a field right by my house that is 600' long. My goal is to bring it into that field one day. I defiantly need lots of practice. The problem is it has a 5' fence on the one end that I will have to approach over. I need to do the math on how much it will reduce available landing distance? So far I enjoy flying slower 75mph seems to be the sweet spot. Flying above 90mph and it gets really noisy!



    Early morning flight. Waiting for the Sun to come up!


    Headed down to the Dunes! I trimmed the fuel on cylinder one after this flight. Now they are within 10F



    Little photo mission in 313V/33TF Little bit of speed mismatch
    Last edited by Shadowrider; 10-27-2019 at 08:28 PM.
    Dustin Dickerson

    Building 7ss STI x 2
    Oratex
    29" shock monster
    EP912STI 155hp
    Garmin
    N33TF......FLYING!
    N53TF......FLYING!

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