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Message
Greetings,
I took the plane out again
today, and found it to be MUCH more satisfying at 5 psi of boost. I
ordered another excellent used 89-91 turbo off Ebay today, and I'm going to pick
up a crack free exhaust manifold to go with it. Before I install the new
turbo, I'll port the crap out of the wastegate, to see if I can get down to
something more reasonable, like 5 psi, rather than 10+ like I get now. If
that works, I can actually use full throttle, which will make me, and Lynn happy
(see Lynn, I do pay attention). I'm also trying to pick up an
87-88 turbo actuator, which was only 5.5 psi I think.
As I mentioned before, the
new cowl is on order, and I'm starting to work out the details to get
this all inside the stock cowl. I can't imagine how nice it might fly
without all the cowl and tire drag. Realistically, it will probably be
around the first of the year before this all happens, but at least I'm back
on track, and excited about doing it all. Thanks for putting up with
my earlier depression. This IS going to work, and it IS going to be the
hotrod I hoped for.
Cheers,
Rusty (psyched
again)
9-27-03 .7 hrs /
2.7 total
Started my climb out
at 4 psi of boost, then modified to 5 psi around a thousand feet or so. I couldn’t get any rational VSI readings
from the Anywhere map, but it sure did climb better than ever. The oil and water both stayed right at
180 degrees, so no problems there.
I had the usual ceiling of about 2500 ft, so I couldn’t go higher for any
real testing. Here are the numbers
for 14 degrees of pitch:
Boost (over ambient)
/ MAP / RPM / MPH
Climb
4 psi / 38” / 5600 /
100
5 psi / 40” / 5800 /
100
Cruise at 2000
ft
0 psi / 28” / 5600 /
130
3 psi / 34” / 6000 /
145
5 psi / 38” / 6300 /
155
Once I returned
(with another beautiful landing I might add), I planned to fill the tanks, and
increase the pitch of the prop to 16 degrees.
Unfortunately, I
found that my left brake line is leaking again. The line was made of slightly softer
aluminum than Van may have had in mind, but I can’t figure out what was actually
in the RV-8, and he doesn’t spec the material for the RV-3 either, so I thought
I’d give it a try. I left a loop of
brake line at the caliper, and I believe that vibration is causing this to break
at the flare. After one of the
early leaks, the brake on the left has been “chattering”, rather than smoothly
braking, so I figured it must have been soaked with fluid. To make sure this never happens again, I
will replace the pads (which are 22 years old) on both brakes, and replace the
lines with stronger aluminum. I
will also get rid of the loop of line, since it could be part of the
problem. It’ll be nice weather
tomorrow, but I won’t be flying.
I found one other
problem today, my air vent sucks, and I mean literally. Rather than blowing air on me like it’s
supposed to, it has a pretty large suction on it. One way or another, air is coming in, so
I guess it’s still ventilation.
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