Skye Racer Flies Again!

I have not been blogging for a while since my focus has been on getting it back in the air leaving little time for meaningful posts. After the Airventure Cup I will circle back and write up the completion process, but it did fly again this morning!

Last week, I took it out for a high speed taxi and a brief test hop down the runway. This test revealed that I needed to add heat protection to a few more areas of the cowl, mainly where I used vinyl ester resin. It does not hold up to heat like West Systems epoxy. Fortunately, there were only a few places I used it in the final cowl.

For the first test flight (since modifications), the weather was perfect. 56 degrees no wind and clear skies. I warmed it up until the oil temp came up over 100 degrees, took the runway, set the power to 31" and released the brakes. At that power setting, the rpms were still lower than they used to be at full power before the turbo but the timing is set very conservatively. Still, it accelerated well and climbed acceptably. The motor ran perfectly with the temps all in the green.

After completing a turn and gaining enough altitude to make it back to the runway in case of issues, I reduced the power to 27 inches climbing at about 500fpm. After reaching 1000' AGL I circled the airport at 24" to let the temps stabilize. Head temps were around 350 and the oil temp was 190.

I pushed the power back up to 27" and let it stabilize again. All temps stayed in the same range, but I could feel warmth on my arm that was pressed against the fabric on the left side. I took that as an omen that it was time to come down.

Ready for first test flight!

That "before test flight" scowl

Post flight "I did not die" smile ; )

For what its worth, the turbo is a draw through system which means that the carb is before the turbo. There is no wastegate. Power is managed with the throttle. I had been told that the power settings would be difficult to manage, but it was almost identical to managing a non boosted motor. No chasing the throttle, as rpm's come up, the manifold pressure comes up slightly.

Another thing of note is how quite it is. On the ground, its quieter than a muffled Rotax 912. In the air, its very quiet as well ; )

Post op inspection revealed that all of the bits and bobs were still where I put them.

But back to my warm arm... My concern was warranted. My exhaust stacks have always been flush with the cowl without issues in the past, but the heat was enough to bubble the paint on the cowl behind the exhaust this time. The heat I was feeling was the exhaust going past the fabric. Looks like I am going to have to extend the heat shielding further aft.

Next steps are to re torque the heads and case bolts and give it a thorough inspection, and of course extend the heat shielding behind the exhaust ; )