This evening was the first time I have had time to fly since Oct 10th. The outside temp was 36 degrees when I took to the sky. Boy did she climb in the cold air! Anyway, after takeoff and level at 3000 I scanned the gauges and noticed my oil pressure was fluctuating from 60 to 80 PSI. Normally at 3150 rpm I show 40 PSI. This of course got my attention so I reduced the throttle to 2700 RPM and the pressure fell to 40 PSI. I increased it back up to 3150 rpm and away went the oil pressure back up to 60-80 and not holding steady anywhere. Just for $&)%$ and grins I opened her up to full throttle and she began to run rough. I decided to stay very close to the airport and do a lap or two. Things did not get any better so I went in for a nice landing and back to the hanger. As I was taxiing back it dawned on me that the temps were cold and the Corvair likes nice warm air to run smooth at cruise. I did not prepare for the cold temps when flying so I have now dismissed the rough running engine to the cold temps and not feeding any warm air into the carb. As far as the oil pressure I am gambling on it being a bad sending unit and will replace that before my next flight. Oh, did I mention we have had snow flurries here the last two days. Man I wish I still lived in the south.
Mark Jones (N886MJ) Stevens Point, WI E-mail: flykr2s at charter.net Web: www.flykr2s.com
