If you are interested, there is a video of my first flight at this
link.
 http://www.eaa1246.org/videodisplay.asp?id=36
I have a lot of good friends who helped me make the event a success.
 They took pictures and video and were there to support me.
I did my second flight yesterday and all went well.  The landing was
 much better.
Bob
That did not work for me Bob.
 I am running Thunderbird.
 If you mail it to me on DVD I can put it on the ACRE web site
 in wmv or some other common format such as mov.
 Mail it to:
 830 East Santa Maria St.
 Suite 303
 Santa Paula CA
 93060
A lot of sites have problems with different browsers.
 Youtube seems to have it figured out as just about
 any browser can view Youtube.
-----------------------------------------------
 I see what happened. The EAA site did not inform us it was
 downloading. It took awhile but eventually the video appeared
 on the screen.
Nice editing. I am glad we got to hear the engine sound.
 Did you have any problems with the CG? The nose looks a bit long.
Paul Lamar
Yes, the nose is longer than usual. I moved the seats back some and
 added additional baggage space behind the seats, which called for
more
 weight on the nose.  Based on my original W&B estimates, that is
where
 the engine should have been placed.  It gave me enough room to place
the
 radiator and oil cooler between the engine and firewall.As it
turned
 out, the plane was slightly nose heavy with the battery on the
firewall,
 so I repositioned the battery in the tail.  Now the W&B is perfect.
As
a
 bonus, the battery is out of the engine compartment where it would
have
 gotten a lot of heat and there is more room on the firewall for
cooling
 air to exit.  So far, I have been able to idle on the ground for over
25
 minutes without any overheating.  My cowl flap can be opened wide or
 closed to adjust for temperature needs.  Even on climb out, the
engine
 barely got up to operating temp (180 degrees) with the cowl flap half
 open.  Yesterday, I closed the cowl flap completely and ran the
engine
 up to about 32 inches of manifold pressure (3/4 throttle) and got 190
on
 water temp after about five minutes.  Speed was only 170 mph at 3,500
 feet and OAT was 55 degrees F.  When it gets hot during the summer
 months, cooling may be marginal at high power settings.  With the
turbo,
 I should be able to fly at higher altitudes where it is cooler and I
can
 go faster.  Time will tell.  Right now, I am happy just to be flying
 instead of building.
Bob
Thats great Bob. Yes the OAT is a little low for a good test.
 Bravo on the cowl flaps. I have been harping on that for years :)
Also what are you using for an oil cooler?
What kind of turbo is that? If stock 1988 to 1992 Mazda I suggest
 a turbo tach kit from Garret to keep from over speeding it
 at altitude. The 1991 seem to last about two hours at 12,000 feet
 as a rough guide. Just about everybody that has tried one has
 blown it up including Mistral. The suggested modification is
 take some meat off the tops of the turbine blades after you install
 the tach for a base line data. This has the effect of reducing the
 centrifugal
 forces on the blades and will slow it down as well. Most auto turbos
 are over powered for rapid spool up.  I think as a wild ass guess it
 should be kept below 90,000 RPM.
Paul Lamar
The oil cooler is stock Mazda that came with the 1987 Turbo 13B RX-7
 engine.  The turbo is not stock.  It is a much bigger Turbonetics
60-1
 with an external waste gate and stock intercooler.  The turbo does
not
 start to generate much boost until I get to the top end of engine
rpm.
Bob
Ah so very good. I won't worry  then.
 Thanks for the info Bob. Keep us informed on how it goes.
Paul Lamar

Bob do you have provision for logging turbine inlet temps by power
setting
for each mission flown?

Steve Beckham
Steve,

I have a temperature gauge in the intake manifold (after the turbo and
after the intercooler) to monitor intake air temps and I have a manifold
pressure gauge to monitor power settings, but I do not have any
automatic logging system.  I guess I could manually write down the
measurements, but so far, I have been too busy checking the basic flying
qualities of the airplane to be concerned with those details.  I also
have a knock sensor which sends a ping signal to my headset and I got
one or two of those when I advanced power with too lean of a mixture.  A
quick turn of the mixture rich knob fixed that.  The air/fuel gauge
(hooked up to an oxygen sensor in the exhaust downpipe) also tells me
when the engine is running too lean.

When I get further along in my test flights, I plan to record more
information on engine parameters and performance.

Bob

Hi Bob,
The knock sensors you refered to, are they (or is it) the standard Mazda
issue? How many knock
sensors do you monitor? Can you detail for us the circuitry you use to
bring the warning to your
headset? The standard issue sensors are lead into the ECU harness to
retune engine parameters and
I'm unable to determine how to utilize the signal. It's one of those
sounds that a pilot never wants
to hear but having the ability to do so can add to peace of mind. I'm
still planning to monitor
inlet temp also. Thanx, Dave M