Well, today is the day! I couldn't make it out yesterday, except to the driveway to break in the engine. Bad news with regards to the smoke system....It's not going to work. I had suspected this before I tested it as I had blown through the pressurizing line just to get a "feel" of the amount of pressure needed and the resistance to flow was substantial. I guess the TME smoke pump is in the future, fortunately the change out shouldn't alter the weight noticably. The engine however is in fine running order. At full revs I didn't get any flutter in the control surfaces, either. As a last minute thought, I slid some tight-fitting carbon fiber tube over the pushrods...what a difference! Get this...the engine went through the third tank of fuel in 25 minutes! I was expecting to be empty in 8 minutes. A pleasant surprise.

Well, time to load the minivan. Wish me luck!


Peace.