This was the first flight after turbo manifold modifications, which I hope will give more flow to the turbo, and laminair so I see less oscillations in MP.
The improvements included a new turbo manifold snorkel, to provide better flow from the engine air scoop to the turbo compressor inlet. I also taped up all the gaps on the wing, and canard cover.
Startup was nominal, and I was told to taxi to runway 32. A short runup , with nominal engine numbers, and I took off to the east.during the take off I decided to leave the turbo off as per the engine manual.
At 1000ft msl, I turned east, turned the turbo switch on and pulled the prop to 2550 rpm. The turbo seemed to hold pressure and hold the MP at 28.5”, or very close to. During climb to 3000ft msl, a slight reduction in MP was noted, but the oscillations had greatly reduced. The controller seemed to hold the 28.5” without issue.
Once level I sped up and started to reduce the prop rpm. Again, the oscillations observed earlier seemed to have greatly reduced, and the pressure seemed to be up somewhat, but it had reduced somewhat.
After the overcast rose, I climbed to 4000ft msl, just below the layer. Once again, noticed that the MP had reduced but the oscillations were much less than before. After a box flight I decided to go to Lebanon airport for a landing. Getting closer, I changed my mind and turned back to Smyrna. During my RTB, I got a cautionary Pitot heat warning, a new one not seem yet. The outside air was 8C, and I did hit a whisp of a cloud. I will read about the caution some more to understand the trigger. Did turn it on, a d several seconds later, the caution was cleared off the screen.
I landed on runway 32, using about 2400 ft landing roll.
Sieders Family Velocity Aircraft 