The weather and work schedule finally co-operated and opened a window to get the 701 into the air. I had set the pitch to 17 degrees in anticipation of the extra hp, hoping this guesstimate would keep me from over-reving the engine. It was a bit of an agressive setting as static rpm only hit 4250 as I lifted off. It wasn’t the usually 701 snap off the ground and wildchild takeoff I’m use to, more like a 172 liftoff and climbout. The climbout was pretty decent at this rpm, around 700 fpm indicated, which was about what I would see with the old engine at 5000 rpm at 20 degree C air temp. This rpm setting was my old cruise rpm at 75 mph, now I’m climbing out at a nice rate. First good indication of what this engine was capable of doing. I leveled out at circuit altitude and reduced power to find the same cruise speed of 75 mph was at 3500 rpm. All the engine parameters were looking good and I played with the mixture adjust and watched the A/F ratio indication. There was a pretty strong xwind blowing right across the runway and a system coming in so I decided to get back on the ground and have a look under the hood to see if any new leaks or problems had appeared. Nothing to report.

That was the first flight, a few things to do before the next one such as set the ptich for 15 degrees and see where the static rpm ends up. I have to check my coolant temperature measurements as I am getting a large difference between the sds water temp and my panel gauge coolant temp. Both probes are an inch apart on the swirl pot so there shouldn’t be such a difference in measured temp. I need to get a proper tachometer installed rather than relying on the sds indication. It only changes in 250 rpm steps which is a wee bit corse for my liking. It looks like the weather will not co-operate for the next week or so for flying so I’l be able to get these items attended to.