Activity Stream

Activity Stream



  1. akflyer added a post in a topic starting a sitting 582   

    Visually chaeck the oil injection lines and make sure there is no visible air in them.  If it makes you feel better you can mix the gas at 100:1 for a couple gallons just to make sure.  When I do a start up on a new engine I will hold the oil injection arm wide open till I get really good smoke out the pipe.  This assures all air is bled out of the system.  Make sure when you hold the oil injection arm open it does not kink the cable going to the throttle mixer.  I would check the bleed screw on the RV oil too to make sure there is no air in the crank case in the RV cavity.  That can ruin your day in about 10 minutes if there is air in the system there.  Make sure the RV oil resivior is filled to the line.
     
    Make sure you have the correct jets in the carbs per the chart for your altitude / temperature.  A little rich is much better than a little too lean.  Keep an eye on the EGT's and make sure they stay under 1200.  I dont like getting them above 1150 just to give me room for temp error on the gauge. 
     

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  2. egp8111 added a topic in Avidfoxflyers General Hangar   

    starting a sitting 582
    I'm about ready to start a 582 greyhead that hasnt been run in a couple of years.  Would it be wise to run some pre-mix in addition to the injector for an hour or so just to make sure everything is working and good and lubed ?  carbs have been rebuilt seals replaced etc. any suggestions welcome, I'm new to two strokes.
     
    Thanks,
    EG 
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  3. AlbertaPilot added a post in a topic What's the proper way to repair this?   

    Thanks for posting that video, I'm out of town right now but once I am back home I will do some further inspection and begin the repair process. I hope it is just the top longerons that are bent.
     
    I found a photo over on supercub.org that shows a tube straightening jig similar to the one in the video, will use something like this to straighten the tubing:

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  4. EDMO added a post in a topic Fabric repair question   

    Jim,  I guess you know that if you have the 2.7 oz  "certified" Stitz or Ceconite there will be stamps on the fabric - The "uncertified" 1.7 or 1.8 will not have the stamps on it.
    ED in MO
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  5. 1avidflyer added a post in a topic Fabric repair question   

    I just went and dug in the builder's manual for my MK IV, printed 8-16-96 and it talks about using
    U-500 fabric cement, (made by superflite) and on another page it talks about three cross coats of Nitrate Dope. Just looked at my manual for my first MK IV, odd that it's dated 6-20-91 and it's serial # is about 120 later than my second MK IV. I don't think the 96 manual originally came with the second MK IV. Anyway, it talks about using nitrate dope to attach finishing tapes ect. I have a manual that came with a bunch of C model parts I bought a while back, I'll have to take a look at it also. Long story short, I'm pretty sure I don't have poly-fibre on that plane. The inside of the fabric would look pink color also if it was' from the poly brush (although I think you can get clear polybrush) This fabric is gray looking. I think that's from seeing the aluminum UV blocker showing through the clear dope. I was talking to a guy that's covered a bunch of planes, and he figured that some poly brush would probably work okey. I'm thinking I'll give that a try. Thanks guys! Jim
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  6. akflyer added a post in a topic overheating... again   

    well guess what.... After 15+ hours of flying the lil sumbitch decided to start pushing fluid out the overflow again.   7000' over 15 miles of open water filled with ice bergs and I see orange fluid start spitting out the cowling and running back across the windscreen.  It was 6 to one half dozen to the other on which shore line I was going to try and make so I kept the nose pointed for home.  The temp never went above 160 till I was on short short final and had to add some power to counteract the gusty cross wind at the airport.  I was puckered up for the 25 minutes I was flying with a little trail of anti freeze working its way up the windshield but once I was over dry land again I knew I would be able to set it down on just about any lake I would need to.  I was in constant contact with my brother incase he needed to launch to come get us.
     
    I did not have alot of time to mess with the plane once I had it on the trailer and at the house, but I did find that I could blow air and coolant into the recovery bottle, but the coolant would not drain out from the bottle back into the system.  It has clear blue tubing on it and I could see no obstructions in the line, and looking into the tank with a flashlight I could not see any blockage, but no amount of sucking on the hose, or blowing into the recovery tank to pressure it up would get it to drain out into open air.  My guess is that there is little pieces of the flashing plastic from the tank manufacturing process balled up in there but I cant swear to it until I get home and take the dang tank off and see whats in there blocking it.  All I know is that I want my floats back for the open water crossings as I did not have anything close to resembling fun on the ski's when the damn engine started acting up again.
     
    Has anyone else has issues with the rotax overflow bottle plugging off and not allowing the coolant back into the system as it cools off??
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  7. wypaul added a post in a topic What's the proper way to repair this?   

    Here is an old video that I found on You Tube that has a ton of great info on repairs.  It shows some tube straightening jigs that can be built in a few minutes.
     

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  8. AlbertaPilot added a post in a topic What's the proper way to repair this?   

    Thanks for the information. I did cover the wing roots to prevent air (and bugs) from blowing into the wings.
     
    I will inspect the spar carrythrough, thanks for the tip.

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  9. akflyer added a post in a topic What's the proper way to repair this?   

    for future towing, the modified light boat trailers work well.  Atleast with a boat trailer you will have the trailer suspensoin soaking up the bumps alot more!
     
    I straightened out the tubes around the seat truss and under the door frame on mine with a 2X4 and a rubber mallet.  If you cut a groove in the 2X4 to help support the tube the length of the 2X4 you can whack it pretty damn hard without damage to the tube and you can get proble 99% of the bend out if the tube is not kinked or creased already.
     

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  10. akflyer added a post in a topic What's the proper way to repair this?   

    Looks closely at the rear spar attach point.  If you bent the upper longerons, there is a good chance that the carry through tube on the rear spar attach is tweaked too.  I hope for your sake that it is not tweaked, but it stands a better than average chance of being twisted too.
     
    Generally it is towed tail first to keep the ram air pressure from filling the wings at the spars and the open root end and balloning the fabric up and pulling it away from the ribs.
     

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  11. Av8r3400 added a post in a topic What's the proper way to repair this?   

    Hindsight and all I know, but taking off the front set of tires on the trailer may have helped the situation, too. (For future reference)

    If your welding skills are okay, there's a ton of repair references out there on the 'net. (FAA part 43 - I think - has a bunch.)
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  12. AlbertaPilot added a post in a topic What's the proper way to repair this?   

    Thanks for the reply, there was no strap in the area, but yes the tubing is bent in as well as downwards. Yeah there are a couple of AME's around here that are familiar with tube and fabric planes, but they charge a lot for their work. This plane is registered in the advanced ultralight category in Canada so I can legally work on it myself, but I want to make sure it is safe so I will probably get the help of a professional.
     
    I did haul it on an equipment trailer, a photo is attached:

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  13. akflyer added a post in a topic Bought an Avid Catalina kit.   

    OK you have been laid up long enough!  Time to see some progress pictures on this bird.  I am going to try and light a fire under Bobs butt and get him to roll the amphib back into the shop and get it in the air.
     

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  14. EDMO added a post in a topic Fabric repair question   

    Jim,   Been a while since I studied dopes - well, I did listen to some politicians! 
          If I remember right, the Nitrate is more flammable, and causes more shrinkage, but adheres better.   They didn't use it because of the continued shrinkage, I guess.
            Still, the buterate will shrink unless the Untauntling Buterate is used, I guess?
    I like the Stewart glue so much better, that I will use that - but might finish mine with Randolphs - still deciding on that one.
    Good Luck on your repairs.
    I see you are expecting another foot of snow - Oh well, skis will come off someday soon.
    ED in MO
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  15. akflyer added a post in a topic Fabric repair question   

    Jim,
     
    One of the local A&P guys fixed a bunch of the tapes on my brothers Pacer that were lifting like yours just using poly tac on them.. this was on a plane that was originally done in dope like yours.  My avid C manual called for polyfiber not dope.  I am assuming you have determined with certainty that dope was used on your plane.  I also think that the Stewarts stuff has been succesfully used over dope finishes too.
     
    http://www.supercub.org/forum/showthread.php?36647-Stewart-system
     

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  16. akflyer added a post in a topic What's the proper way to repair this?   

    I would strip the area and get a good look at the tubes that are bent.  If the top longerons are bent, there is a pretty good chance that the lower ones and some supporting structure is bent also.  Mine was bent alot worse than yours was and the tubes were kinked.  The chromoly tubes will take quite a bit of bending before it takes a set so you must have whacked some big bumps pretty good!
     
    Was there a strap over the fuse right in that area?  It looks like it is pulled  in as well as bent down.
     
    If the top tubes are the only ones that are bent, you would be surprised what you can do with a rubber mallet to straighten tubes out.  I would give it a few whacks with a SOFT rubber mallet to see what you can do to straighter it with the covering on before I stripped the fuse.  Just make sure you dont kink or buckle a tube as that is automatic tube replacement time then.  Is there a local AME that is familiar with tube and fabric planes that will take a look at it for you?
     
    Just out of curiosity, did you haul this on an equiptment trailer?  I ask this because the plane weighs in around 600# and equiptment trailers are rated at 8000# +  so you have virtually NO suspension on the trailer for the plane.  This sucks big time that your new pride and joy got bent up before you even had a chance to fly it!
     

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  17. 1avidflyer added a post in a topic Fabric repair question   

    Thanks Ed, the problem was that Avid used butyrate for the covering system on their kits it seems. I have worked with poly-fibre a number of times, just never with the butyrate materials. Jim
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  18. AlbertaPilot added a topic in Avidfoxflyers General Hangar   

    What's the proper way to repair this?
    Hi guys,
     
    Last summer I bought a Kitfox IV and trailered it home from Yellowknife, NWT for 1600km. Someone had advised me to support the rear of the fuselage with blocks to prevent stress on the tailwheel spring with the wings folded. Unfortunately, due to the rough roads in northern Canada, when I got home I found that the tailwheel spring was fine, but the tubes along the top of the fuselage were bent. Now I'm wishing I were just replacing a tailwheel spring.
     
    I was busy with other things over the winter, but now that the weather is getting nice, I'm getting the itch to get this Kitfox in the air so I would like to repair the fuselage.
     
    I am am pretty mechanically inclined and have taken the Polyfiber covering course so I am comfortable with fabric work.
     
    I have attached a photo of the damage. What would be the best way to fix this? As you can see the fabric has some holes already, should I just strip all of the fabric off and straighten the tubing and re-cover the whole fuselage? Or is there a way I can do this repair without doing a full re-cover?
     
    Thanks,
    Randy (Alberta, Canada)
     
    See photo's below:



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  19. EDMO added a post in a topic Fabric repair question   

    Jim,
         I was looking at my Kitfox 1 manual this morning and found the following written by someone from Denny Aerocraft:
         "The Stits manual recommends using a mixture of polybrush 3 to 1 with Reducer for doping down finishing tapes.   I use a variation of this mixture of my own design that I have found to have better adhesiveness, and it seems to work better............"  " My mixture is as follows:
    3 parts polybrush
    2 parts poly-tak cement
    1 to 1 1/2 parts reducer."
    Ed in MO
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  20. C5Engineer added a post in a topic Gear swap... Number 3...Bush Gear part deux   

    Paul the thickness of the spring is 7mm I couldn't get a width as the cabane is assembled. I tried to get the upper bolt out but the spring must be compressed some putting pressure on it.
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  21. EDMO added a post in a topic Help?   

    I think the bottom line to all of this is the change in behavior of the younger society - They need more comedy and less violence!
    Even the music has gone from "Flying Purple People Eater" and "Tie Me Kangeroo Down" to "Shoot the Cop" in rap - Which aint even music to my ears!
    Someone has not taught them that building a plane and flying above the crowds is a far bigger blast than stealing cars, selling drugs or shooting helpless children!
    ED in MO
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  22. wypaul added a post in a topic Gear swap... Number 3...Bush Gear part deux   

    Joey from looking at the picture is appears that there is about the same amount of slot as the original.  I did some rough figuring today and came up with a total axle movement of about 3" with the 21/2" inch slot that mine has (HighWing). Mine settled about 1/2" with the empty weight plus about 10 gal of fuel (about 675#) so down and dirty math leaves me with about 2 1/2" of travel at the axles....so I guess that I will be interested in hearing how much yours travels with just the empty weight.  I'll go back to the hanger this afternoon and see if I can get some better figures and also check to see what the axle travel is on the original bungie  gear.  OK, not sure if all of this has any great value by way of comparison, an engineer could do a much better job of it I am sure but then the newtons, ergs and such just makes my head hertz.
     
    Snowing here in Wyoming
    Paul
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  23. akflyer added a post in a topic M.E.K. Substitute?   

    Bob and you other guys that are having issues with the format.  The boxes at the top of the reply box (B I U) etc will make the font bold, italisized or underlined.  My guess is that you may be trying to hit the shift button and another key to capitalize a word, but are accidentaly hitting the control button and then I or B or U and that will trip the button to change the font.  I edited your reply Mr. Bob to change the font
     

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  24. akflyer added a post in a topic Help?   

    good thing you were not watching alf and eating shrooms... damn that brings back memories of yester years
     
    I am with Randy on this one though!  I would much rather watch most of the shows from our era versus the stupid crap they have these days!
     

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  25. horsepower added a post in a topic Help?   

    I think with all the crap that's on the daily news we're much better off watching some of the old comedies and action shows.Kit the car was pretty bad ass.Ive been watching " I love Lucy" before I head to work in the morning. Alf was actually a funny show,wish it was still on.Randy
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