Rich of Peak (ROP) vs Lean of Peak (LOP)/Engine operation

[KyleTownsend]

Incorporated the "full rich climb" into my SOP's today. Seemed to work fine. Thanks Kevin, et. al.

Of course, now that I am actually paying a lot more attention to all of this stuff, I am beginning to wonder if I can trust my factory gauges at all. I flew a 3 1/2 hour out and back today, and CHT's never got over 300 degrees (as far as I could guess with the factory gauge). Also, oil temps never even got close to 180, which I understand is about the level needed to "boil off" any moisture in the oil. ARGH! It sure would be nice to have gauges I know I can count on (I know, buy a JPI).

The last couple of posts raised another question for me. Am I understanding that it is OK to climb at WOT and Full rich but to pull the RPMs back? I would have thought that this would shift the peak of the combustion event closer to TDC. Isn't this what we are trying to avoid?

Kyle