In patrolling the Missouri River west of St. Louis out beyond Herman, no enemy activity was observed. Nor was there any surface activity by pirates. All appears to be calm but we can not rest because we are facing a determined and sneaky enemy. The patrols will continue.
Phase one flight testing continues and things are settling down to a routine. The Lycoming is a bit grumpy and growls after start but once the throttle is open and the RV is flying it becomes a smooth purring pussy cat. The engine now idles fine at about 680 after AFP checked things over, but when up above 1000 rpm, it barks and protests and seems a bit unsettled but push it up to 1800 for a mag check, it has found itself and runs fine. I don't know what that is 'bout but it could just be being new and tight.
I've started to lean the engine aggressively as I do believe the rings are seated. In 8 hours, it has used just a half quart of oil and the oil remains very clean. The book says the rings are seated when oil consumption stabilizes, whatever that means.
Cooling is a non issue. Max CHT so far is 390. Max OT so far is 180 with the oil cooler shutter closed, with it open it runs like 160-170. The double pass SW 8432R oil cooler really works. It is firewall mounted facing down and gets its air through a 4" scat tube from the #4 cylinder aft baffle.
I have 2 shark like vents on each side of the lower cowl, an idea I stole from a friend's Bonanza where the vent is used to augment air flow through an oil cooler. I've been thinking about closing them out in an effort to return the cowl to its original appearance before the Subby adventure. So yesterday I duct taped the vents shut to see what the effect would be on cooling and airspeed. In flight I couldn't tell anything different. After landing the reason was apparent, the internal lower cowl pressure had blown the tape off the exit fin areas. There's a lot more air going out through those vents than I imagined and it probably is augmenting airflow down through cylinders. I think next time I will tape them shut from the inside and see what happens.
It took since last June to make this engine change and it is a good feeling to have an airplane to fire up and go fly again. The Lycoming may be ancient technology but it sure gets the job done.
No Al-Qaida Subs Observed....
Linear Mode
