I've obtained the airworthiness certificate for my RV-4,
 I just need to get myself ready to fly it, if my volunteer
 pilot can't make it out to do the first flight. I'm working
 on my tail wheel endorsement and biennial flight review,
 and have a line on getting some time in an RV-7.

 It's a nice feeling having the plane sitting in the hangar
 just waiting for me. It's only been 15 years in the making.

 Brian Trubee

 Congratulations Brian.

 Paul lamar


 Brian,

 Congrats. You are going to love the RV-4!

 I flew mine today for the first time in 4 months. I had a partial power
 loss
 back in March that really got my attention. A temporary loss in fuel
 pressure. I've gone through the entire fuel system and haven't found an
 explanation. So it was either time to sell the airplane or get back on the
 horse.

 Been flying my glider quite a bit this summer. Forgot how sensitive the -4
 is! Little bit of PIO in both roll and pitch after takeoff. But it came
 back
 pretty quick. Before the -4 I had an RV-6A that I put about 150 hours on
 so
 felt like I was pretty well prepared for the -4 when I did my first
 flight.
 But the -4 is even lighter handling than the -6A was. Does take a little
 getting used to such responsive handling.

 I don't know what you are doing your tail wheel checkout in. Before the -4
 I
 had a couple hundred hours in  a Cessna 140 and about 20 hours in a
 Citabria. The -4 tracks far better than either of those, but the Citabria
 sticks better. The RV springy gear can cause a bit of a bounce, though no
 worse than the C-140. It actually took a while to get used to the sight
 picture in the landing flair because of the lack of a flat cowl against
 the
 horizon. Its definitely different flying without cowl cheeks!

 Mike Wills

 Mike, two pumps? Where are they mounted?
 Brand of fuel pressure regulator used?
 I assume you have fuel filters.
 Has Dave Leonard looked it it with the cowl off?
 Let me know when you will be in the hangar and I will
 try to come down and have a look.

 Paul Lamar

Paul,

Fuel system is I believe similar to what Ian Beadle in AUS had (is he still
around?). Separate pump for each tank. Pumps mounted close as possible to
the tanks. Outputs T'eed together feed the fuel rail. Return through an
adjustable regulator (Aeromotive) and to an electric fuel selector so
return
fuel goes back to where it came from. Switching tanks also switches fuel
pumps.

Incident happened while in a 30 degree left turn (burning from the left
tank). The turn was coordinated. Tank was about half full (about 7
gallons).
Lost power and switched tanks immediately. Power was restored as the engine
monitor triggered a low fuel pressure alarm. Flew back home (75 miles) on
the right tank with no problem.

I've checked everything over and done lots of ground testing without a
re-occurance. Needless to say the next few flight hours will happen right
over SDM.

Not sure when I'll be back out there to mess with it - it's the peak of the
soaring season! Priorities.

Mike

Sounds like a slosh. It is amazing how fast a fuel injection engine
will quit with a momentary loss of fuel pressure. Probably best to
put a 1/2 gallon pressurized tank up on the firewall someplace. You
might climb up to 10,000 feet or so near an uncontrolled airport and
see if you can get it to do it again with a knife edge on the
half empty tank side.

I was flying a Mooney and the engine quit with a bang. It was so loud
I thought it was a mechanical catastrophic failure in the hand grenade
mode. Fortunately I was high IFR (I Follow Roads.) and near Lordsburg
Muni NM. Turned out the high pressure mechanical fuel pump failed. I
rented a C172 to get home and ironically the carb float sank around
Phoenix. Had to keep it running while pumping the leaning knob and
made an emergency landing. Bad day :) My now ex girlfriend (long
before Robin) never flew again :)

What kinds of pumps are you using? Make sure the built in one way
output valves are working. Probably a good idea to use external
one way valves as redundant back ups.


Paul Lamar

Mike,

I'll add my 2 cents worth if that's ok.
I was curious if you have fuel slosh doors built into your wing tanks?
My Lancair ES has those.  Their purpose is to maintain an adequate fuel
supply in the first bay, even during uncoordinated turns.
They let the fuel into the bay, but shut if the flow tries to reverse and
flow outward.  No fuel related issues in 3 years of flying.  May be worth
considering.
Just a thought...

Mark S.

Mark, how is the EFI diagnostics coming?
What have we learned? :)

Paul Lamar