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I finally flew the first flight with the reinstalled engine and new prop late this afternoon.

The flight got off to a bit of a bad start, as an L-39 started coming down the taxi-way just after I climbed in to start. The pilot shut the aircraft down just in front of me, as it was clear that he couldn’t get by. I started up, then moved off the taxi-way in front of a hangar, hoping he would start back up and taxi on by. But, instead, the two occupants climbed out and walked away to get their tug, while I waited, impatiently. Finally they pulled the L-39 out of the way, and I taxied to the ramp for my run-up.

The flight iteself was a very short flight - just one circuit, as it was clear that I had a problem with the engine. The engine ran fine at low power, but it wasn’t running happily at high power. By the time I figured out something wasn’t right, I decided it was a bit late to abort the take-off, so I continued the take-off and pulled up onto downwind. On downwind, I cycled through all the pages on the EIS 4000 engine information system to see what it had to tell me. The EGT for #1 cylinder was very low, and it stayed that way as I cycled the two ignition systems OFF and ON. If I reduced the power, the EGT for that cylinder jumped up, but seemed to be a bit higher than the other three. I think that maybe that fuel injector nozzle is partially clogged. I’ll troubleshoot that tomorrow morning, using Lycoming Service Information 1275 and Service Information 1414 as guides.