first flight/wheel pants
First, I respect all the previous posters' opinions (and thank them) . Here's my experience on the first flight of my RV-8. N9669D has a Lycon IO-360M1B with 10:1 pistons. Prop is a Hartzell BA CS. It runs cool on the ground. It also needs breaking in, so I'm keeping power up. It was about 26 degrees in WI for my 1st flight. Off the ground in less than 300 feet. In climb with full throttle and 2600 rpm (prop limitation) CHT's all 330 or less (on 1 & 2). After leveling off left full power in and was flirting with Vne. Decreased pwr to 25/25 and was indicating 0ver 200 mph. CHT's were 285 #1, 300 #2, 310 #3 and 315 #4, all varying slightly. At any lower power setting the CHT's were lower. It was suggested I land since 285 was felt too low. I have no wheel pants, gear leg or intersection fairings. If I had had them I don't think I could have kept the speed down and not had excess cooling. The next day we added Al dams in front of cyls 1 & 2. Temps now much better. In my particular case it was good, I think, not to have had the wheel pants and fairings on the airplane. YMMV!