A couple of months back an engineering friend of mine, Garry Darnell, recommended I put a SlickSTART on the Rebel to help with hot starts. Fuel injected Lycomings are notoriously hard to start when they are hot. The engine on the Rebel is well above 10:1 compression ratio and with display and airshow flying, I often need hot starts.
On many occasions, I was only just able to get it going and I never felt confident.
My initial reaction was "simple is best" and I'd rather not have another electrical box on the aircraft.
I was very wrong.
The SlickSTART was simple to install and it has transformed the aircraft.
Cold starts were always pretty easy but now they are ridiculously easy and most importantly, now the hot starts are easy too.
I never feel nervous starting it with the SlickSTART.
Last week I had multiple displays on the one day with a long cross country to get there with a re-fuel each way.
I did 7 starts that day, 6 of them hot - it started easy every time.
I just can't say enough about the SlickSTART - they are worth their weight in gold!
Here are some official words from Champion Aerospace:
SlickSTART™ is a starting booster that delivers up to 340% more spark energy than conventional mags. SlickSTART produces easier and more reliable starts every time, even when dealing with fouled spark plugs, poor priming, hot engine restarts, and extreme cold weather conditions.
Available for Slick magnetos (and most TCM-Bendix magnetos), SlickSTART is a magneto start booster that delivers easy engine starts every time. Requiring no maintenance, SlickSTART overcomes poor engine priming, and reduces costly electrical stress to your battery and starter. SlickSTART can replace TCM-Bendix's starting vibrators, used with retard breaker magnetos, or it can be used to boost impulse-coupled magnetos.
