20th test flight

We’ll I’m just over 20hrs now, half way.  I have most of the major issues taken care off.  The engine is running cool, no oil leaks, oil vent ported to exhaust.  This flight I took off the sparrow strainer and trim at high speed was much better.  Before, at 160kts, I ran out of trim […]

13th test flight

In attempt to correct high CHT in #3 cylinder, I went at the cooling plenum again.  This time, opening up the area fore of cylinder 3 trying to make the turn down from the runner from the NACA to cylinder #3 a little more gradual.  Before going at it, the plenum was up tight along […]

8/9/10th test flights

On the 7th flight, I continued to see high CHT’s this time #2, so I thought I might have a fuel distribution problem.  I took all the injectors out and cleaned them, then switched them around until I measured equal fuel flow thru all cylinders (injectors out of the cylinders and attached to the lines […]

7th test flight

With a better roll trim and improved engine cooling plenums to provide better airflow to cylinders 3/4, I took her for another flight.  There were broken clouds down to ~4000′, so I climbed up to 10,000′ to get on top.  First off, I noticed the improved roll trim out of the gate.  I could now […]

6th test flight

In attempt to figure out the plane’s left roll tendency, I picked up a digital level at Harbor Freight this morning, leveled the plane and started comparing angles between the wings.  No matter where I measured, they were very close, within 0.3deg.  I put the level parallel to the longitudinal axis of the plane and […]

5th test flight

Today I spent the morning taking care of a list of squawks. First, I found an oil leak in the engine.  One of the cylinder drain tubes was leaking from where it joins to the cylinder.  I took off the tube and discovered that it was cracking right at the base of the flare for the […]

4th test flight

On the third test flight, once I climbed to 5000′ and brought it up to speed, I noticed a definite roll tendency.  To see if I could correct this, I drooped the ailerons so their trailing edges were 1/8″ below the wing at rest/level.  During this test flight, tho, it still wanted to roll left […]

3rd flight

I took it out today for a bit longer flight.  I took off from KORH on 29, stayed in the pattern for one round to ensure everything was ok, then headed, climbing out west.  I climbed to 5000′ (got there pretty quick, too), then after going out 15mi from the airport, setup a race track […]