Amorphous M7/M6 Rebuild Project

[Kirk]

I’ve always used foil tape, don’t burnish it on too hard and it will release okay. After 6 or 8 years I had some adhesive buildup which wiped off with Goop Off.

Your Oratex on the fuselage in the wing root area will cut down more on air and water leakage into the cabin than anything else I think.

Kirk

[asa]

Thanks for the tips. Foil tape makes sense.

Used the forklift to tow the M6 to the gas pumps. A beautiful day made the plane look pretty good. Wanted to get enough fuel to test for leaks and do some engine runs, but not very much because I'll have to drain it back out for weighing.







Bled the air out of fuel line at the boost pump, did some final walk around checks and fired her up! Ran great after a year of being pickled. Had my dad on fire watch, which then transformed to video duty after no fires appeared. Not sure how to embed these on here but here are the youtube links for a huge 17 seconds of IO540 sounds.

https://youtu.be/TjzzSgZkzTU
https://youtu.be/mhf6B-jXmfk

Ran it for a few minutes, checked for leaks and such, then fired it back up and took for a taxi around the block and tested radios and everything. So far, so good.

[asa]

Weigh day.

Drained fuel in level flight attitude, just pushed it out enough to feel I wasn't building up fumes to explode and it was breezy so I wasn't too concerned. Took longer than expected to drain through gascolator, thankful there was only 2.5-3 gallons in there. I added 6gal at the pump the other day. Unusable is supposed to be 3gal and it's ran on the ground at idle-ish power for 20 mins or so total. Seems about right.



Backed it back up into hangar and started adding scales under each wheel. Forklift made the whole leveling thing really easy and a pallet on the forks made an excellent work surface that was large enough to not worry about the plane getting knocked off.





And the outcome is.... 1474 lbs. The tail was 95lbs and noticeably lighter than my M7 when picking it up to put on the scales. The weight is satisfactory to me and the optimist in me says the very far forward empty CG (9.8") will be great for when I'm loaded up. This is without a back seat (10lbs?), on 850's, only primer on the cowl, very light VFR panel with no gyros or vacuum system, minimal interior, no headliner, ultralight carpet, etc. It will likely gain a few pounds after annual and before I take it to Alaska at which point I can weigh it again if I want. Painting cowl, little interior additions I may find I want, vinyl stripes, etc.

While it was leveled and before I put it on the scales, I measured prop clearance for the fun of it. 15" with the 81" Hartzell.



Last night I got all my avionics configurations done. Was hoping to get my fuel level sensors on EDM900 calibrated today but it was windy and I didn't want to fight the plane rocking around sloshing fuel while doing the calibration.

[Kirk]

Just for reference, rear seat for my M5 weighs 12.7 lbs. has fairly thick cushioning and a high headrest.

Looks great and the weight turned out well. Anything under 1500 lbs gives bragging rights of 1,000 lb useful load!

Kirk

[asa]

Just for reference, rear seat for my M5 weighs 12.7 lbs. has fairly thick cushioning and a high headrest.

Looks great and the weight turned out well. Anything under 1500 lbs gives bragging rights of 1,000 lb useful load!

Kirk

Thanks Kirk! I'm pleasantly surprised by the weight. I suppose it makes sense though, it was weighed in 2014 at 1498 lb. Left the factory in 1982 at 1525 lb. Max gross is 2500. Made a W&B for when I'm on 31's and baby bushwheel, that sits at 1512 lb.

Forgot to post this a couple posts ago. I wasn't stoked with how the lightweight Skytec spun the IO540. After asking around, it sounds like this is normal, but I still didn't like it. Bought a Skytec NL series starter which is a couple pounds heavier but spins the engine much better. I hate sending a working starter back as a core if anyone wants to buy it...





Got the fuel senders "calibrated". They're still the stock resistive senders so I'm not putting much weight in this calibration. With 4 tanks, I can't afford all new CIES ones ($2500 total). I generally use my fuel totalizer more than anything.

[gdflys]

I've got one of the light weight starters. It almost always hangs up on the first compression stroke. Release and spin again and it makes it past there and keeps spinning. How different is the better starter?

[Andy Young]

I've got one of the light weight starters. It almost always hangs up on the first compression stroke. Release and spin again and it makes it past there and keeps spinning. How different is the better starter?

I have made the change from the LS starter to the NL on three 540-engined Maules; my own and two customers’. In all three cases, the cranking went from what you describe, to spinning through quickly, with no hesitation, and no difficultly at all in getting past the first blade. Night and day.

[gdflys]

Good to know I'm not alone. I have a replacement starter solenoid waiting on the shelf for when the weather warms up. I was figuring it may have a high voltage drop if the contacts are getting pitted. Looks like it could be an original or at least not in the last few decades.

[asa]

Good to know I'm not alone. I have a replacement starter solenoid waiting on the shelf for when the weather warms up. I was figuring it may have a high voltage drop if the contacts are getting pitted. Looks like it could be an original or at least not in the last few decades.

I believe the SkyTecs are able to do direct actuation, eliminating the starter solenoid if you run a wire from ignition switch to starter. I did not set mine up this way, but it’s an option if you wanted to just get rid of the solenoid.

[asa]

The last couple days were spent flying out to Cut Bank MT to get an M6 checkout with Rick Geiger (Montana by Air) for insurance. Was a fun trip and was good to get my first Maule specific instruction. I had about 50 hours in my M7 but never got any training other than reading technique on the internet. Despite the legends, I feel that Maules are no harder to fly/land/handle in a *mediocre* way than any other similar sized tailwheel I’ve flown, but it was really nice to hear the tips to get beyond mediocre from a pilot with thousands of hours in them. Hopefully will be a good foundation to figure out my own plane.

Would highly recommend going to Rick if anyone wants Maule specific instruction. His prices were very affordable. Getting to Cut Bank from Kentucky… not so much affordable. Where else can you rent a fire breathing M5 converted to M6 with an M7A long wing, MT prop, etc etc for the same price flight schools are renting 182’s.

[asa]

My IA showed up right when I got back from Montana and we started in on the annual yesterday morning. Being a rebuild, some things go faster than a usual annual, some require more time than usual. Overall it went very well though. Thankful for a thorough, knowledgeable, and supportive maule-centric IA who rebuilt his own M6 in similar fashion a couple years ago.





The result is that the plane is flying! Great first flight. The rigging ended up being good which I was surprised by - I'm not going to touch it. Engine ran great but had a hot EGT on cylinder 2. Landed, found a plugged injector, flew it again and all good. Thankful for 6 cylinder engine monitoring, I would've had no idea otherwise. I think I may have a small pitot leak or error, my airspeed seems a little low. Nothing crazy, but feels low on climbout/approach and math doesn't quite add up in cruise. Will look into that. ASI matches AV30 pretty well so I'm suspecting pitot lines/plumbing, not instrument.

Overall, I'm pretty euphoric. Weird to have a flying airplane after this long in project mode.



Surely someone will find something wrong when I show these detailed pics.. hit me:





My dad showed up in time to get this video which comically goes out of focus. A perfectly dad move.

https://youtu.be/BxtG8Z4Mi_k

[Dale Smith]

Congratulations!

You did an amazing job of not only rebuilding it but sharing it with all of us. The last while here you have been my daily interest. I would check in every day to see what you had gotten done and the pictures that went with it. It has been fun to watch. I hope the plane works out well for you! Really though it would not bother me if you wanted to build another one that we could watch.... LOL

[1:1 Scale]

Congrats, Asa! More proof that hitting a project hard, and CONSISTENTLY is the way to get it DONE. Enjoy the fruits of your labor!

[Willardj]

Really enjoyed watching your rebuild project. Has inspired me to recover My M5235C one of these years and clean it up like you have.
Check your fuel gauges and fuel totalizer. Fuel gauges show about 43 gallons on board. Fuel totalizer shows 55 gallons remaining.
I am in the process of replacing the old resistance gauges with CiES senders.

[asa]

Thanks everyone!

Really enjoyed watching your rebuild project. Has inspired me to recover My M5235C one of these years and clean it up like you have.
Check your fuel gauges and fuel totalizer. Fuel gauges show about 43 gallons on board. Fuel totalizer shows 55 gallons remaining.
I am in the process of replacing the old resistance gauges with CiES senders.

My senders are unreliable and the totalizer is wrong because I drained fuel out of the tips. Double whammy. Keeps me on my toes.

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Have about 5 hours on it, it's doing great! Still feels weird to actually have an airplane after so long "having an airplane".

New engine cover from Mac's airplane cover + oil sump pad = 100deg oil in the morning. I'm about 70% satisfied with the engine cover but I do like the thickness and quality.



Flying greenhouse. It's more window than airplane.



Flew to a nearby state park lodge for breakfast with friends this morning. It's been a couple beautiful days in Kentucky.