Great report !!................Keep them coming
as I and most of the group that are not
in the air yet live for the flight reports of those of the group that are
in the air........The
info on tuning the EC2 is invaluable reference for when each of us
takes to the air.........
You probably have already thought of this but
raising the injector staging point (MP)
is a way to avoid having the EC2 trying to stage at your
approach power setting...IMHO
The group are always happy to hear any
flight report even if it is only for a Saturday
--------------
Original message from "Mike Wills" <rv-4mike@cox.net>: --------------
Spent the last month addressing issues
uncovered during my first flight. Today was the day for flight number 2. OAT
was in the low 50s. Temps during climbout up to 6,000 were good. Leveled out
and stayed at full throttle for a couple of minutes just to see what
happens. Saw indicated airspeed in the mid 150KTS range. RPM was 5500. Both
were still creeping up when I throttled back. Looks like I may be slightly
over-propped. Temps still fine.
Throttled back to 5000 RPM and just flew
racetracks over the airport for an hour. My flight test area is very
restrictive. I've got a huge piece of the desert to the east but have to
cross a 3500' mountain and 30 - 40 miles of rugged terrain to get there. Not
until I have a few more hours on it in flight and have 100% confidence. I
have the Mexican border 2 miles south, Class B 2 miles north and the Pacific
Ocean 5 miles west. So racetracks over the airport are going to be the norm
for a few hours.
So, 5,000', 5,000 RPM, roughly 20 - 21"
MAP, and indicating 140 KTS. Temps 170 on the coolant and 168 on the oil.
I've already met my goal for this airplane on the second flight - this
airplane is a little faster than my old RV-6A was at equal power settings.
The -6A had a 160 HP Lyc in it.
Looks like the revised static system has
solved my airspeed indication problems. Stall speeds are in line with the
Vans book numbers and airspeed correlates pretty well with the GPS
groundspeed. Still need more left trim tab.
The engine ran great. Anyone trying to
tune up Tracy's EC2 without either having an EM2/3 or Ed Anderson's EFISM,
you're wasting your time. I spent the better part of a year tweaking the MAP
table and thought I had it pretty well done. On my first flight I spent a
fair amount of time fiddling with mixtures and had a couple of rough running
spots. I installed Ed's EFISM and spent 2 days tweaking. In the process I
got the engine running smoother than it ever has and now have it idling
nicely at 1350 RPM. Thats 300 RPM lower than I was ever able to get it
previously. In my opinion you really HAVE to have some sort of
indication of what is loaded in the MAP table to effectively tune
it.
The only hiccup was when I came in to
land. Tower asked for me to extend my downwind for traffic so I added a
little power to hold altitude. And ended up setting the power right at the
injector staging point, which still seems to run a little lean. Nothing like
having the engine cough just as the runway is receding over your left
shoulder. Took me a couple of seconds to realize what was going on and then
added a little power and that cleared it up.
Then managed to bounce the landing. How
many landings can I log on one approach? Oh well, I guess I'm a little
tailwheel rusty. And without the cowl cheeks the view over the nose is very
different so I havent quite got the pitch attitude figured out
yet.
Other impressions. The airplane is loud,
but not painfully so. At least not from the pilot's seat. The handling and
control power still seem quite a bit better than my RV-6A (which was great).
Not really clear why but most of my flying in the -6A I had someone in the
right seat so maybe the weight? Other than the rudder, the airplane flies
perfectly straight.
All things considered I'm real happy.
This flight was considerably less stressful than the first and I actually
was able to enjoy it. I honestly dont remember a lot of the first flight.
Also, I took my glider data logger with me on this flight. I havent
downloaded it yet, but when I do I'll know more about speeds, climb rate,
etc.
Dont know how you guys feel about these
flight reports. Give me some feedback if you want more as my testing
progresses. I know that I like reading about other's flight experiences as
it motivated me to keep going. After 13 years of building I'll tell you, its
worth it. Now I wish I'd pressed harder to get it done sooner.
Next flight will have to wait until I get
gear leg stiffeners added. Classic RV - pretty bad shimmy on the roll out
after landing. 38.5 hours to go!
Mike Wills
RV-4 N144MW