RE: Just got the Phoenix Super Decathlon
Yes the elevator should be neutral. I was refering to the angle of the engine. By adding/increasing downthrust on the engine the plane will climb less at high throttle settings...
The plane should climb with increased throttle, that is wanted and inherent to the design, but the amount can be fine tuned using the thrust angle of the engine.
This is all part of the tuning one should go through with a new plane. To me, CG is tuned at a low throttle setting to get a stable shallow glide with neutral elevator.