OMG, Randy. You're absolutely right. I did start my tuned pipe "career" on the .46 vice the .40. (We're talking almost thirty years ago versus old-timer's disease here, after all!). Doing so...motors one step bigger than the norm...was sort of my thing over the years. It's like, despite all of Brett's cheer leading for the the FP .20, when it came time for me to get something to put into that Shoestring I built for VSC12 (OMG again...almost 20 years ago!) I opted for the .25. ghts in a long time.
Oh, dear, I think we might have some misremembering here. I was present for the very first piped flight you flew with your own airplane, which was a stock 40VF. Set per the theory of the day, peak out lean, then back off just enough to keep it from going over the top. That was the session where the engine ingested metal chips from the area where you relieved the tank at the front to clear the header. I did my first flights, also with a 40VF, the next weekend.
I think that engine was used for the duration of the "Temptation" life, with the internal muffler conversion that piped the exhaust to the tail. I actually have the engine, which somehow got to Randy Powell, and I later bought. That's the engine we used for the engine testing with the thrust stand, proving that the 40VF had 2.5 times the static thrust of an ST46 (when set for stunt runs) - that no one on SSW "believed" could be true. It may have even been in the old airplane the last time I flew it, still works fine.
I tested your 46VF for you shortly after that, and it was *far* too much power for the props we had (where were depitched Rev Up 12-4s), and I had no idea how I could have possibly used that much power. But it led to the 46VF AAC with the 12-3.25 Bolly, which may have been in there for the unfortunate Rossi Plug Flameout that destroyed the Temptation once and for all.
In fact, I seem to recall taking your engine apart at some place we flew in Gilroy (not Gilroy High School) where the circlip "sproinged" into the decayed blacktop parking lot. You wanted to just give up, assuming (as you should have) that we would never find it again. With my extensive experience finding contact lenses, I got down on the ground, and found it, and we put the engine back together. That may have been the first day with the AAC.
All the really good success was with the 46AAC and the Trivial Pursuit, of course.
BTW, I have a potential upgrade in run reliability for the Shoestring that we can try out if we get a chance. But, I think I should come by this week and fix your replacement tank for the Citation, and use that instead. You can still beat me in Stunt 25 and Profle with the Shoestring, and beat me again in real stunt with the Citation - just like the previous 200 times.
Brett
p.s. I also have a Randy *40*VF AAC that goes into my 3000-flight, finally worn out, #1 40VF.