This week I received my magnetos back from E-magair. They had confirmed that my engine ground strap issue had damaged the circuit board and so they had installed new circuit boards. I also received my footwell carpet from Classic Aero Designs. The replacement carpet had the transponder antenna relief notch in the correct place. So the first thing I did when arriving at Stoney Creek Airport was install the footwell carpeting and reinstall and retimed the magnetos. I had not yet installed the engine oil sump quick drain valve so I did that next because it needs to be installed for the pending weight and balance. I had also not yet installed the left flap rub strip because I had run out of UHMW tape when I done the right flap. I had ordered some tape with my last order from Van's so I installed the tape. Next I added some high temperature RTV to the engine electrical harness firewall pass through in order to seal this. Following this I installed the engine cooling plenum, pushed the aircraft outside and tried an engine start. It did not start but during the start attempt I had monitored the bus voltage and it had dipped to 8.5 volts and that was too low for the P-mags. I quickly, temporarily rigged two 9 volt batteries to power the P-mags and tried the engine start again. The engine started and ran instantly, without hesitation. I let the engine run for one minute after confirming good oil pressure, then shut down to check for leaks. No leaks were noted so I proceeded with the cowling installation. With the cowling installed I fired up a second time and conducted a brief taxi test. With the fully castering nose wheel the RV turns on a dime. Back in front of the hangar I brought the power up to 1700 RPM and cycled the propeller control to get oil into the hydromatic propeller hub. Nothing happened on the first control cycle but the next two propeller control cycles were normal.
