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Successful Second Flight

N890GF

Well Known Member
Patron
As some of you may have read the previous post about my eventful first flight thread, I've since done my second flight, this time I can happily say it was a success. I flew for 30 minutes at WOT at ~2500RPM orbiting my airport. the plane flew beautifully! I can seriously say I got bored doing circles.

The new engine settled in nicely with CHTs in the 350-370 range, and all EGTs quite nicely balanced in the ~1350 range. Oil temp settled in at 175F (the OAT was 42F). For a new engine running at this high power I assumed I would see higher temps on the CHTs. I was cruising around 160KTAS (i haven't fit the fairings and wheel pants yet).

I did set the timing on my PMAGs slightly after TDC so maybe that has something to do with the temps being lower?

Any thoughts on this from the smarter people out there on what to look for or should I just keep flying?
 

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If its a new Lycoming with steel nitrided barrels, it is likely that the rings broke in during the run-in on the test stand, and you won’t see high CHT’s followed by a drop. I have seen that in a number (not all) of cases where I have done first and second flights for people. Keep track of oil consumption - if you’re not using any, then you’re probably broken in already….high five and move on! If that’s not the case, then you’ve got an awesome cooling setup (high five!!) and keep Tucson hard until oil consumption drops.
 
If its a new Lycoming with steel nitrided barrels, it is likely that the rings broke in during the run-in on the test stand, and you won’t see high CHT’s followed by a drop. I have seen that in a number (not all) of cases where I have done first and second flights for people. Keep track of oil consumption - if you’re not using any, then you’re probably broken in already….high five and move on! If that’s not the case, then you’ve got an awesome cooling setup (high five!!) and keep Tucson hard until oil consumption drops.

Thanks Paul, I'll definitely keep my eyes on oil consumption. I have a Superior IO-360 with the millennium cylinders. I also built a plenum, and was hoping it would be good at cooling, I guess time will tell once we get to the summer
 
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