Since it was so easy to do and the potential payoff great, I plugged the hole in the exhaust
gasket. No difference in oil temps.

It was a cool morning 13C, I could climb out at full power 5200 RPM to 3500 feet before oil
temp hit 210. About the same as before. Cruising at 5400 RPM at 3500 feet oil temp remained
steady at 215. So 15C Ambient is about the practical limit of my airplane. I use Centigrade
because that is what AWOS reports at my home field. With 30C ambient the plane is pretty much
un-usable, can only climb to 1000 feet and it is very difficult to climb above that with the
engine throttled way back to 4500 or so.

Leon thinks the oil is hot because of lean operation. Be aware that when my oil temp is 215
in cruise, the water temp is in the lower half of the car gauge range, about the same place
it is in my car. Also, Tracy said he notices no significant difference in oil temps between
rich and lean operation.

The 13B core engine in my hangar came out of my RX-7 at 209,000 miles. I removed the exhaust
manifold to inspect it for plugging that hole. The color of the exhaust ports is off-white,
exactly the same as my airplane. Why am I not surprised?

Perry

 
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