James M. Knox wrote:
: The Comanche clearly was faster at low altitude. Down around 8K or less
: the turbo Arrow flies pretty much like a straight Arrow - figure 145
: knots or so. And initially the Comanche has more "get up and go" climb
: performance from sea level.

: OTOH, at high altitudes (low flight levels) my Arrow will true out
: around 175 knots (it has the Merlyn wastegate) and burn a LOT less fuel
: (GAMIjectors). Also, at those high altitudes, my ability to get more
: direct routing is a lot better. [BTW, both the GAMI and the Merlyn
: greatly reduce both the "abuse" and the "twichiness" of the turbo
: Arrow.]

: Objectively, it was about half and half who one. Long trips,
: particularly with a tailwind, and I would virtually always win. Short
: hops of 150 nm or so and the Comanche would always win. Fun...
:

Yeah, that's about the way I figure it. Having never flown a
turbo'd plane, I haven't gotten used to the notion of much above 12kft.
Flying east is great, but my plane's slow enough that the speed gain from
altitude doesn't come close to making up for the headwind hit. Flying
west I'll usually cruise 2000' AGL and argue with the bumps and slightly
faster groundspeed.

Question though... my mechanic recently did the the wastegate
upgrade, but it seems like it didn't do a whole lot for it. Stock setup
was atrocious (make boost all the time and regulate MP with throttle
only). It was almost rotation speed before he was able to look up from
the MP and tach on takeoff, because it wanted to overboost so much. Even
with the new one, it seems flakey and prone to overboost. True? Any way
to add an intercooler to the setup too?

-Cory

--
************************************************** ***********************
* The prime directive of Linux: *
* - learn what you don't know, *
* - teach what you do. *
* (Just my 20 USm$) *
************************************************** ***********************