Anyway, I think this day was the first day that I felt very relaxed. In fact, since spinning this thing and doing the aerobatics I've been much more at ease in the plane. So today I took some time and snapped a few photos of "the box." Experimentals flying out of Chino get the infamously restrictive 11-mile square in which to do Phase I flying. I had heard people mention how small it can be, how you're always turning, etc. You know what? It's not bad at all. Don't believe the hype. Whoever picked this area did a decent job in my opinion. It's a relatively sparsely populated area with a bunch of decent potential landing spots. The best thing about the box is that the weather always seems to be excellent there, regardless of how it is at Chino. On days when it was 4 or 5 miles in haze at the home base, in the box it was severe clear. So I actually found the box to be perfect for my purposes. Good weather, plenty of space, decent options.
Here are some photos I took of the box.
At 7500' and 50 OAT I was able to get 23.7" of manifold pressure with the ram air open. I dunno offhand what density altitude that worked out to, since I don't remember the altimeter setting (to derive pressure altitude) or the dewpoint or anything like that. But anyway, I'm happy with the way the engine is performing. This was taken when the CHTs were still relatively high, in the 340s for #1, #2, and #3, and 315 on #4. Cylinder #4 consistently runs cooler than the rest. I'm gonna trim down that air dam on #2 if this continues after break-in and after switching oil type.
This is Ernst, a private strip on the north central side of the box. I did a lot of my maneuvering right over this spot.
This is Vail Lake, which is down toward the south central end of the box.
My climb testing and stuff was usually done running the line between Vail Lake and Ernst.
You can see what I mean about the weather...it can be socked in elsewhere but the box is clear.
Not many houses out here. Just a few ranches here and there. Some of the terrain is unhospitable for an engine-out, but there are enough little roads here and there to use in a pinch.
Pretty sure these were the hills on the northern "border" of the box. Just east of here is another private strip, paved and in seemingly excellent condition.
When I got back to the hangar I had a shade over 15 hours, so it was time for the first oil change. Having done a zillion oil changes in the Mooney, I've got this down to a mess-free science. First I propped the tail up to level the sump. In that position, the quick drain doesn't even need a hose for the draining oil to clear the exhaust. Straight into the bucket.
I did wrap the heat muff with a rag just in case...don't want oil in there, but it cleared just fine.
Removing the filter is where most people mess it up, literally. I've tried all sorts of tricks in the past to keep this a clean process. I've tried the plastic bag trick, where you enclose the filter in a plastic bag as you remove it. That's a small mess at best. I went to a motorcycle shop and asked for a throw-away inner tube...I cut a 3" section out of it where the valve is, removed the valve stem, put the tube over the filter, poke a nail through the valve stem to poke a hole in the filter, attach a drain tube to the valve, rotate the filter so the hole is down. That seemed like the most elegant solution, with easily controlled filter draining, but it ended up not working so hot. In the end, what I always do is put a funnel right under the filter, drain tube off the funnel into the bucket. I get the filter just barely loosened, and then I punch a hole in the filter (toward the back, don't punch through the element...makes it harder to remove the filter element later). Rotate the filter 180 degrees, and the thing drains right into the funnel and into your bucket. Be sure not to loosen the filter too much before punching the hole, otherwise it can leak at the gasket as it's loosened that half turn. Anyway, this is a science for me, and I didn't get a drop on the floor. Here's the funnel under the filter, held up with safety wire suspending it from the cowl hinge.
Here's the drain tube. It's good to have something to do for a while as this thing drains...because if you really want no mess, you gotta let the filter drain completely. It takes some time.
I always cut open the filter, and of course there's not even a question about doing it for this first oil change.
I had heard stories about all sorts of gunk appearing in oil filters during the first break-in oil change. Not just metal, either. Toenails, etc. Just kidding. I was surprised to see basically nothing in my filter element. I didn't get a photo of it, since my fingers were pretty oily, but the worst I saw were a few very small metal flecks. Barely noticeable. In some ways this engine behaves like it was already broken in on the test stand up at AeroSport Power. Oil consumption is basically nothing as long as I leave 6 quarts in the sump. Anything more than that just blows out. Anyway, this looks good. New filter, more mineral oil (stick with it for a while just for kicks), and the plane is back in business.
After each of the first several flights, I removed the entire cowl afterward. The only leak I saw was a drop of oil at the bottom of the governor cable bracket. I just needed to tighten up the nuts, and that was that. After about 10 hours, I started removing just the top cowl after flights. That at least let me see down into the bottom cowl a bit to inspect for leaks. None found. Well, at 15 hours I spotted this (how could you miss it?).
Tom Prokop (Redtail, RV-6) had advised me to safety wire worm gear clamps. I had done a bunch of 'em on the firewall forward stuff, but obviously not all of them. Tonight I went ahead and safetied the rest of 'em!
