Optimizing flight/speed with CEM

[prophet106]

Hello all. Another newbie here . . .

I took the plunge a couple of days ago and decided to start playing the sim properly with CEM turned on. I'm looking for a few pointers with regards to optimizing my flight. I've done lots of reading (especially here - http://www.2gvsap.org/flea/OP2GvSAPINST_3710.1A.pdf) and watched a fair few vids on youtube for pointers. Of course a have a couple of questions

Firstly my start-up/take-off procedure with the MKI spit looks like this (keeping in mind i'm new to this game)

- Fuel on
- Megnetos on
- Airscrew fully fine
- Mixture rich
- flaps normal
- Start engine

Wait for a little while for her to warm up

- Full throttle and adjust for swing/torque
- Tail up (50ish MPH). Nose up (100ish MPH)
- Wheels up
- throttle back to about 80%
- Rate 1/2 climb

This is when the problems start

Firstly my exhausts smoke a little. I assumed it was the rich mixture so i set it to weak (with my current controls mixture is either 'yes' or 'no'). Still smoking. Interestingly enough if i switch to auto-pilot the smoking immediately stops and performance improves. What the hell is 'he' doing that i'm missing ?

Next is with regards to prop pitch. I was under the impression that once we are in general flight we should switch to course pitch. When i do the oil temp and revs drop but so does the speed. Anything more than a rate 1 climb and you are loosing speed. Trying to catch up to a bomber formation above is a right ball-ache (without blowing the engine by flogging it to death)

So smoking exhausts (viewed with cockpit off, until my trackir gets here !) and lacking power. Any hints/tips would be greatly appreciated

Many thanks
James