tshort wrote:My other buddy who is a CFI is on the insurance policy (he is a C140 and RV-6 owner) so I may ask him to go fly her on a good weather day.
My
other buddy? If your "other" buddy is also a CFI...then why don't you just employ HIM to check you out?
In any case, re: your engine: While six weeks sitting isn't as good for your engine as a flight,...it's also not exactly long-term storage. Each day the ambient temperature rises, then falls each night. Your engine's temperature does the same. So does the atmosphere around/within it. The result is that each day, another cycle of air warms up and exits your engine's openings to atmosphere....then each night new, moist air re-enters your engine. It's a set-up for rust/corrosion.
I'd suggest you 1- CLOSE the throttle completely to disallow ambient air from getting to any open intake valves, 2- take a couple of "Dixie" cups (wax-paper cups, which usually are "conically" shaped,) and stick them into your exhaust pipe exits upside-down, (to plug them and disallow ambient air from getting to any open exhaust valves.), 3- go to the store and purchase some plastic "Tuffy" brand, or similar plastic pot/pan scrubbers and stuff them inside the heater inlets in the cowling and in the wing root cabin-air inlets (to discourage insects).
Above all, ... do NOT assume that ground running your engine a few minutes is a good thing for your engine's health. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
Ground running your engine 1- does not provide proper cooling with standard cowls/props, 2- creates quite a bit of water vapor as a combustion by-product, which, 3- is not driven to sufficiently high temperatures to evaporate, so it resides in your crankcase as engine blow-by gases where it condenses and causes rust/corrosion/acids. Fly your airplane for at least 30 minutes and then utilize the methods mentioned to prevent the engine from taking on moist ambient air/condensation. This should be sufficient for 30-60 days storage.
Longer periods of storage should include more extensive methods, including oil change, dessicant plugs, and preservative oil "misting" into the intake during shut-down. ( While I have confidence in these recommendations, all the above is only my personal suggestion, and not necessarily the exact procedures promoted by the mfr's.)
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