wypaul

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Posts posted by wypaul

  3. Posted

    I’m in the process of building some new wingtips for my Avid.  These are epoxy/glass.  I actually started building them a couple of years back and just now getting down to laying them up. The plugs are made from laminated pink building foam from Home Depot or the likes.  The shapes were cutout with a Hotwire knife. These will be built into wing tanks.  The nice part of the Hoerner tips is that they will increase the effective wingspan by over 30” without increasing the actual wingspan. What to expect according to available data is slower stall speed, greater climb, slightly higher top speed and greater range (time in the backcountry.  
    I can post photos as the project progresses if anyone has an interest.

  4. Posted

    The nice thing about vinyl ester and many epoxies is they stand up to alcohol.  Both of those will adhere to the polyester the early tanks were made from.

    3 people like this

  6. Posted

    I noticed a post of a new owner on Rotax Owner with starting issues and a few years back I experienced some worth noting. This happened on a trip to Idaho after fueling and running on 100 LL.  ABOUT THE SECOND FUEL up the 912 would not fire at all. Finally changed out the plugs and it fired right up.  The fellow with me fueled at all the same places had no issues at all. The next time I stopped same issue. Running short of spare plug I found I could change one plug and the engine would start and run just fine.  Once I returned home and running on auto fuel, 91 alcohol free, no more issues.  To this day I do not know what was the cause but suspect some chemical related issue with the lead in the combustion chamber related to temperature of the burn.  Anybody else ever have this issue. I was not running Iridium plugs at the time.

  8. Posted

    I have ran quality 8.8 metric bolts in my props for the 912 engines without issues.  I suspect that the bolts may be counterfeit and of poor quality.  Looking at the hub there seems to be deformation where in contact with the washer’s perhaps it is just the pictures.  I guess I would need to hear about the report on the recent KF crash in AZ where there has been some doubt cast on the prop.  These of course are just my thoughts from looking at pictures which doesn’t mean much.  I do wonder what grade of aluminum is used in the hub.  Does the hub use the standard Rotax drive lugs? Mine are threaded for the 8.8 x8mm bolts but I know they are available clean bored to be used with nuts on the rear.

  9. Posted

    Thanks for the replies guys. A friend has a three blade hub (Duc) coming and I can give his a try so I guess I’ll see how that goes. He tried the four blade and didn’t care for that so he’ll have an extra blade anyway.

  11. Posted · Edited by wypaul

    Anybody flying behind a Duc prop?  I have the means to purchase one for myself at wholesale but haven’t pulled the trigger, seems like all of the quality props claim super performance but all end up about the same.

    Flying behind a Warp Drive with no complaints at present.  Price wise NR seems hard to beat just a bit of a hassle with ordering. 2 vs 3 blade thoughts?

  12. Posted

    Hey Jim I copied the first page to photos on my IPad and printed it out measuring the mouth that fits over the spar it looks good and I will verify it with my spare at the airport hopefully later today. 

    1 person likes this

  13. Posted

    Yes, it will work great for you.  I had a Revmaster with a plug installed at the factory without thread lube and pulled the threads.  I took it to a speed shop for the repair because I wasn’t comfortable boing the repair myself.  Bottom line, it worked great with no future problems.  Just had to install one in a friends 912 engine block the other day.

  16. Posted

    Hard to imagine that those bearings went bad so quickly.  Makes me wonder if the Chinese didn’t get them packed with grease during manufacturing. I have been running the dual fork model with no issues for over 1000 hours. Fortunately with the dual the wheel cannot depart but I will pay better attention during walk around, thanks for the heads up Jim.

    Good solution for a safer installation, I wonder if Matco will use the knowledge you imparted. 

    1 person likes this

  22. Posted

    That mount looks nice Paul, but I think one would have to completely remodel the Avid or Kitfox firewall to use it.  Also, it looks like it puts the engine a good bit further ahead than the Kitfox mount.  On my Kitfox, I set the oil tank about 2 1/2" into the firewall, and it's very close to the engine on the front side.  The prop flange face is about 25 1/2" from the firewall with mine.  What plane is this mount used on?  Looks like if the oil tank was recessed into the firewall like I did, the mount could be shorter.  Here is my Kitfox firewall showing the box I made into the firewall for the oil tank to fit into.  Also, one showing the oil tank from the top and where the firewall is.   And the tank just barely does fit, height wise.  That space on the Avid it taller by 3/4" than the Kitfox so the tank would fit there for sure.  JImChuk

     

     

    So this is a one off airplane known as the Outlaw.  A friend returned it to flight.  He built the mount which of course would not work on our planes and is only offered as an example.  One would need to build a mount to fit the Avid.  My oil tank is mounted beside the engine on the right side.  The original tank position was under the MK IV baggage area which worked fine.  No issues with weight/balance without adding any weight to the tail.

    C9B406E8-DB05-404E-A327-D7A5919E279A.jpeg

  25. Posted

    If you do decide to try the Hopi here are some thoughts that might help. 
        Cooling ducts are a must to cool the rear cylinders (jabiru style easy to make)

        Torq the heads every 25 hrs

        Adjust the valves every 25 hrs

        Oil temps big issue so a well ducted oil cooler is important

    feel free to contact me if you have questions. 

    1 person likes this