After a frustrating Saturday trying to figure out a linkage for the vernier mixture control on a Marvel-Schebler that won't interfere with the oil tank followed by brakes that wouldn't bleed, we decided to safety-wire the mixture full rich temporarily and chock the wheels. The engine started on the first try, but was running so rich that almost any movement of the throttle caused it to load up and stumble. We worked on the idle and mixture until it smoothed out. Then we went back to bleeding the brakes. We tried reverse-bleeding and had almost instant success. On the first taxi test, the brakes were dragging, so we went back to the hangar, raised the clevis on the master cylinder, and loosened the parking brake cable. That solved the problem with dragging, and we did a couple high-speed tests to check the pitot system, followed by aggressive braking to see if the airplane pulled. The nosewheel tracked straight and the brakes worked fairly evenly. By the time we were finished, I felt that the engine was running well enough and brakes were good enough that I would have taken it airborne had everything else been ready.
Progress continues (slowly!) Dave
