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Turboprop BD5 (BD-5T) Progress and Completion

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p dog fly

Member
Joined
Jun 19, 2012
Messages
11
Location
Daytona Beach, FL & Fort Lauderdale, FL
Brought my jewel home in July 2012, it was about 90+% complete at the time and I'm currently doing the finish work on it. I don't get a lot of solid time to spend on it so I have to poke away at it on my days off from my full time job which is away from home. This allows me about 4 or 5 days a month to work on it. So during my time at work and rest time I have to plan my attack in advance so I can get as much done as I can during those days. First thing I did was get the registration in the works. Then it was onto the fuselage to complete/change/modify wiring (what a pain, and very tedious task), and I'm still not 100% done with it but it's almost there. Next was to have some aileron counterweights fabricated, which I outsourced to Fibercraft @ the Spruce Creek Fly-In, Matthew there did a great job, he made them out of carbon fiber and will be used for Phase I. I plan on having some carbon fiber winglets that will replace the current end cap which I want to replace. This will be after Phase I, when it's at his place for that I'll get the landing/taxi light setup going as well. The stabilator and rudder were already balanced so no need for any additional work there. Once the wiring was coming together it was time to do some testing to see if I was getting proper indications on the EIS 4000 from GRT Avionics. It's a great little unit but it's kind of a pain to set up, especially when you weren't the one who installed or wired it up...lots of wire chasing and verifying. I did a series of starter tests to see if I could pick up an %N1 reading but the starter just wasn't able to bring the speed up for the monitor to recognize. A full start would be required for me to figure out if it was working or not.

Starter Test: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb67PfX2cis

Today was the day, time to put fuel, air, & spark together for fire. I got my clean Home Depot bucket and borrowed a lid from my father in-law down the street and went to the FBO to get some JetA, lol. I concocted a hose to attach to the fuel inlet line at the wing base and threaded it on and dropped the hose into the bucket and primed the fuel like by disconnecting it at the engine inlet and let it run through to see if there was any debris in the line....all clean! Hooked it back up and checked for leaks with the pump on...no leaks. Here we go....

1st Start-up!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qB6UOwGNDA

A few indication issues to work out, but I was picking up accurate %N1 and accurate EGT...still working on fuel pressure indication and oil pressure indication. I also have fuel pressure and oil pressure annunciators and they were both extinguished shortly after light-off. So I know both pressures are good, just need to verify wiring (once again) and proper settings for the EIS unit.


Anyway, enjoy the journey, I'll be posting pics and videos later of previous and future progress here.


Patrick G.
Daytona Beach, FL
 
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