Posted for Matt Reeves <mattreeves@yahoo.com>:

Lancairians,

I've reseached a lot of past posts on this subject but I am hoping for a
couple of opinions. I did solve my oil temp problem - more on that to come
later. Flight testing is going great and I now have 8 hours on my brand new
Lancair (that took me 13 years to build). It starts and runs awesome with a
Don George Lycoming 0-320-D3G 160 hp with a Hartzell constant speed prop.

I normally have had around 4-6 psi flying around my airport, however,
yesterday, I flew on my first cross country. Cruising at 220mph, I noticed my
fuel pressure slowly start to drop as I got faster and higher. It went down
to 2 psi. I climbed higher in case I needed time to find a place to land.
Luckily I didn't.

I turned on my fuel pump with only a slight increase of 1 psi as a result.
I switched tanks and same results.

I learned my engine requires .5 psi minimum so I have remained about that,
however I don't like it. I want 4-6 to keep my peace of mind. Top psi limit
is 8.

So, I asked around to a couple A&P's. They all think it could be my vent on
the tanks is not providing enough positive pressure in the tanks. I thought
of maybe increasing or decreasing the angle of the vent into the relative wind
to increase the fuel positive pressure in my tanks, however I know it is bad
to have too much pressure in the tanks as well.

So, I am seeking input on this problem or if you guys think I shouldn't even
worry about it.

Interesting that when I reduced power and got into my pattern, the psi went
up to 5 psi.

All in all, after 8 hours and successful flight testing and enjoying the
hell out of myself, I still can't believe it's really flying - something I
built! My mind can't compute that all those parts and all that dust really
turned into something so awesome. It seems like a dream, so unreal.

I had a bunch of people come out and ask me questions about the plane and
admire it yesterday. It was great.

Matt Reeves


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