Had a most excellent couple of hours at the field today, with everything clicking and nothing to work on when I got home. Pipe coupler held tight, and no loss of power. Still a little peaky midrange on throttle, but that is also getting better and overall it is fairly linear.

Got in 4 flights over 11 minutes each, and the engine pulled well all the way through, unlimited vertical with no sagging, pulling through vertical rolling maneuvers without losing steam.

Finally, I can start working on just flying some sequences without worrying about the plane. Everyone was impressed with how well the engine pulled and how quiet it is with the pipe. I'm staying with the 18x10 for a while longer. Just finished gallon #2.