Ed,
things are definitely moving forward. This is a great weekend weather wise
to get my priming done, or at least the first round of it.

I kept the engine turned over quite often.  Just about every time I worked
on the plane I would turn the prop a couple times.  I got turn over at least
once or twice a week.  I did a little tuning yesterday, only for a couple
MAP points, but it went well, and definitely makes a difference in the
smoothness.

The prop is a blade 72" Ivoprop Magnum.  It has the high pitch blades, but I
don't remember the range.  I know it goes up to 90 on the pitch, but I don't
remember the bottom number.  I had already bought the prop when I heard
about another incident with cracking blades.  I though that problem was
behind them, but it was on a Lycoming, so I'm hoping that I won't have any
problems running on the smoother rotary.  I really like the concept of the
design, and down the road I can add the in-flight adjust motor for only
$900.  Right now, it is what they call a ground quick adjust.  I'm not sure
how much pitch I have right now.  I cranked in only a little bit, but the
blades has a pretty good pitch to them to start with.  I will be keeping a
very wary eye on the prop for any signs of cracking.

I'll just adjust the prop to get the proper static RPM.

2 questions.  What RPM are you using for idle ?  What static RPM is best for
a starting point ? I was thinking that it was in the 4800-5000 RPM range,
but I may be wrong.

Steve Brooks