Why Do You Think They Call it a Quickie!

For a better look, be sure and click on the image.

Now that I have your attention, I wanted to mention that I finally broke the 200 mph, true airspeed, barrier on the 15th flight.

A big hurdle has been the oil temp. The Continental overhaul manual lists redline oil temperature as 225F. Well, just about every time I flew it would get up to 225 pretty quickley, so most of the flights have been around 1/2 hour.

I started looking around at the Continental documents and found there was more to this oil temperature business. First off, remember that those oil temperature limits were established a loooong time ago. Probably in the 1950s. Oil has changed a lot since then.

Long story short, I called tech support at TCM and talked to an engine expert. He said it's official, the red line inlet oil temperature for the O-200 is 240F. So, if your plane doesn't meet the specification - just change the spec! Easy!

So yesterday I decided to go up and fly, fly, fly. First I climbed to to 5,000' or so and did a hearty full throttle run. That's when I achieved about 3,050 RPM and the TAS hit 201 mph. The highest oil temp I saw was 226, one degree above my "old" red line but well within the revised tolerance.

The engine still isn't perfectly smooth and I'm still fooling around with the mixture, EGT sensors, and maybe that darned trigger wheel sensor bracket again. But, I actually flew out past the big Mississippi and did a low approach at Perryville, MO before I came back home. (Kind of funny that I'm excited about making a 30 mile "cross-country", when 10 years ago I made this trip).

I'm still going to do something to bring the oil temps down, but at least I know that I'm not really in the danger zone and that I'm within striking distance of making this plane go faster than ever.

And that my friends, is why you call it a Quickie.