First Engine Start – SUCCESS!!!

Upon arrival at the hangar today I removed the lower cowl.  I pulled the airplane out of the hangar and put 4 gals of fuel in the tank.  I turned on the master switch and when the SkyView screen came up I put in the fuel pump fuse.  The pump began to make the normal racket.  I opened the fuel valve and fit began pumping fuel.  It was just a few seconds and I had fuel pressure at the engine.  I switched the master off and disconnected the fuel supply line from the gascolator fitting.  I attached a section of 5/16" rubber hose on a piece of tubing and attached it to the gascolator. I turned on the master switch and opened the fuel valve.  It took 120 seconds to pump 1 gal of fuel into a bucket.  The max allowable time is 180 seconds.  I hooked up the fuel line and returned the fuel to the tank.  The Moller gauge on the tank registers 4-gallons, so it seems to be correct.  There were no signs of a leak, no smell of gas so it appears there is not a problem with the fuel system.  

I reinstalled the lower cowl along with the oil cooler. I left the airport to pick-up Tim from work.  He agreed to help with the first start.  When we got to the airport we checked out the intercom to make sure it is working, and it is. Next we checked the brakes to make sure they are holding and they are.   We rolled the airplane out of the hangar and chocked the wheels.  I got inside and had Tim stand at the wing tip with a fire extinguisher.  I turned on the switches, called "clear" and started the engine.  It fired right up.  The engine ran and all of the things to be checked off in the PAP engine ground run were good.  After a couple of minutes I shut the engine down and we rolled the airplane back into the hangar. 

SUCCESS!!  It is good the have the first run out of the way.  I will go back tomorrow and run it again and sync the carbs.