N886MJ made a flight yesterday after it's aborted takeoff the day before. What I did prior to the flight was to adjust my Ellison carb which was way out of whack. I had previously set up the carb for cold weather flying and she would not idle in warmer weather so I made some adjustments. I achieved a very smooth idle at 900 rpm and also regained my static rpm of 2750. As I taxied out yesterday, everything was green to go. Static rpm hit 2750. She cycled through all rpm ranges very smooth. Everything felt good so I called the tower and was cleared for takeoff on runway 28. This was about 6:30 last night and there was no one else moving on the field. As I slowly firewalled her she quickly began picking up speed. As I reached rotation I was at 3000 rpm and she lifted off like she really wanted to fly. Everything felt great and I was headed straight out due west over the interstate. As I passed through 800 feet, I took note that the oil temp was at 190° and oil pressure was at 28 psi. Then I started noticing an rpm drop. I checked the throttle to make sure it was not backing out and checked the mixture. At the same time, I called the tower and informed them that I was turning crosswind and would like to stay in the pattern and I was cleared to do so. As I was turning crosswind, the rpm dropped to 2500 and began running rough. I called the tower and informed them I was losing power and would like to turn in to runway 10 for a 180° straight back to the runway. That is when the tower asked if I was going to need assistance. It's nice to be in good with the tower as they know me and did not ask if I was declaring an emergency. Anyway I told the tower that I would be able to make the runway since I still had enough power to maintain flight (but I really did not know how long that was going to last). When I had the runway made, I throttled back and set her down on runway 10 and the tower asked if I would need tow assistance. Luckily, she was running fine at 1500 rpm and I taxied in under my own power. Once again, I beat the odds. I pulled the cowl off and the engine was so hot, I could have fried eggs on top of it. As a matter of fact, I was cleaning the prop off and the overspray from the cleaner sizzled when it hit the engine. Today, I went to the hangar and took a look. I did a cold compression test and got the following: 1 = 80/78 3 = 80/60 5 = 80/54 2 = 80/46 4 = 80/74 6 = 80/62 Not good in my opinion. All the air was escaping into the engine case and none through the intake or exhaust. This told me that either I had cracked rings or cracked pistons. So I began disassembling the engine. I have removed both heads and have pulled all jugs and removed all rods and pistons from the crank. That is about as far as I have gotten as I had to stop to go to Daddy's Night at my daughters school. I will say that the rings were not cracked. I have not removed the rings from the pistons yet to inspect the piston. The rod bearings looked like new so there is no problem there. I will continue with the disassembly and do a complete inspection and rebuild. I will beat this devil riding on my shoulder!!!
Mark Jones (N886MJ) Wales, WI Visit my web site: www.flykr2s.com E-mail: flyk...@wi.rr.com
