fusionfab

Hey everyone 

as some of you may know. My Subaru converted mk4 is sitting at 716lbs empty weight and I'm noticing that my new bungees 3/8", 90" long and 8 wraps is flexing quite a bit. The heats stance is pretty wide at empty weight and the tires running on the inside edges. 

Any suggestions or advice whether or not this is ok and if not what would be a better bungee setup to go with? 1/2" maybe? More wraps?

thanks everyone 

just doing that as we speak and it is much clearer. The fibreglass layers are pretty rough and overlapping. Sanded them flat with 220, which got most of the fabric glue out also and now just wiping on a thin layer of epoxy

I just ordered th elbows and grommets from leading edge but I do want to try the sight window first. 

Only problem is the previous owners fabric covered most of the ends leaving very small window that was painted over. Here's a pic after removing fabric but before cleaning off the painted square. Now my issue is trying to clean off the glue the fabric left behind.

I removed some fabric to expose the end of the tank. And I can lightly see it but not as well as I'd like. I may have some little leds laying around to try 

thank you Jim, I will for sure place that order today. I haven't hear back from Bear Perkins yet. But either way  im going to get the parts on their way while I work on just a visibility method with the end of the tank.

i cut away the excess fabric overlapping the butt of the tank and will work on lightly sanding with high grit to clean them up helping with visibility  

I had tried purchasing a couple of his kits in the spring but he said he no longer carried them. I'll try again tomorrow with those kits and hopefully he has them. 

Thanks 

Anyone think I can drill the holes in each tank and fibreglass in two NPT female fittings?

Hey everyone,

my plan failed with the low fuel indicator so am just going to do it the right way and install fuel sight tubes or another method for fuel level.

can anyone show me pics of their fuel sight tubes to give me ideas. Or pics of other methods used? 

Thanks in advance everyone.

is that the heat shrink Aircraffspruce has with the glue inside? 

simple enough. That's what I'll do. Thank you 

Hey everyone 

just went to start the plane and was dead with no spark. Noticed that the cable depicted on the left had bent at the terminal breaking underneath the shrink tube. So I replaced both with the plastic crimp fittings and soldered the other ends hoping the plastic would add support to the wire at its joint, better than shrink tube.

Now how can I go about securing these terminals to this resistor? 

well last week I did a final test runup before I start my taildragger lessons this week. Made this runup a long one going full throttle at 4800rpm for 2 minutes then to cruise. My temps appeared to be an issue.

First was the oil temp gauge reading 275-300 when the actual oil temp itself didn't exceed 196. Figured out I had the wrong temp sender for the gauge and got that straightened out.

Next was cooling, I installed a cbr1000 rad at the bottom exit of the cowling hidden away. The temp climb slowly, but never stopped climbing. It reached 210 after 2 minutes of full throttle before I dropped to cruise and it continued to climb. It didn't start cooling off until I just dropped down to idle. 

So I decided to try and stop reinventing the wheel and install the VW Rabbit rad that many are using. Bent up some aluminum and mounted it up underneath and trimmed the cowling to create good flow of outside air down and through the rad. Going to give it a shot like this with a thermostat and go from there. Next may be louvers to further help direct airflow. 

Ok thanks guys, I was afraid to hear about the outta business thing. 

The single carb engine in my plane has a custom aluminum intake for the increased air and fuel of the Weber carb so I don't have the thermostat. But I've figured out how to plumb this one in I just was hoping to eventually replace it. I dislike having incomplete engines around. 

I have no clue but my guess is yes. I believe between the two engines I have the one this came from was built by stratus so I may try contacting them I just can't locate any contact numbers or emails. 

hey everyone 

between the two Subaru EA81 aircraft engines I have, the one I decided on using didn't have a thermostat housing so I'm robbing the one off the other but would eventually like to replace it with the same one. Does anyone know where I can get this? It's 1" in and out and 3/4" bypass. 

I agree, that's my concern but really, my only concern is the high Rpms to achieve the hp. I'm just really trying to find a way to achieve more useful load without going back to 2 stroke. 

My plane is totalling 722lbs and with two of us flying there's limited space left for fuel. 

I have completely rebuilt a BMW 1150 engine but am just at a wiring harness and computer snag. Until this Yamaha engine caught my eye

I'll be following this thread as I'm sincerely interested in this conversion. I have Subaru now and so far so good. But would really like to shed some weight. Very informative thread thank you. 

Hey EDMO, I just figured it out that I never got around to installing the proper sensor I had purchased for this gauge. Just went through past emails and I ordered two sensors, one for water and the other oil but the oil sensor was wrong size so I never got around to it. Just ordered the correct and will try it out. 

I know the POH you're talking about. I've printed it off and keep a copy in the plane. I love it. 

http://www.avidfoxflyers.com/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=10238

Just wondering where soob owners have their oil temp sender mounted? I have mine mounted on the rear of the engine at the oil pump housing but the gauge is reading 275-300 degrees when the actual oil temp itself is 196 degrees. 

Thanks everyone 

Following this build lostman, I just purchased the 2L plans with hopes of starting it as a next project while flying the avid. 

I admire the design idea with lower turtle deck and larger vertical stab. Nice work. Looking forward to more pics. 

I've read through a number of threads here and kitfox forums, that it is rare to keep a Subaru conversion under 700lbs as EDMO said also. 

My Subaru engine weight 206lbs with everything on it and oil. But minus plumbing, coolant and rads which came out to 24lbs. I may be wrong but the 582 is around 130lbs? Then the battery size needed is 26lbs mounted at the back, plus an additional 10lb weight in tail. With that said. Your bird at 585lbs would then weigh close to my 720 (roughly)

Its a popular conversion with good success rate. Would I do things differently now having run into limited payload, absolutely. But for the time being I am happy with it all and am just hoping this instructor who is at least my size will be able to fit. Fingers crossed.

I think they're an extended speed wing, or clipped wings? Each wing from butt rib to tip is 11'6" plus cabin 38" so total span is 26'2". 

Can anyone tell me what their Subaru powered mk4's weigh?

yeah I am not sure if it's considered the same thing, but nonetheless I'll stop lol. I appreciate the headsup. 

I am sorry I didn't mean high speed taxiing. I meant short run ups. So I'd set up, full throttle, raise tail, and drop throttle to gently bring tail down. But if that's considered the same then I will for sure stop. 

Yeah unfortunately that's what she's weighing in at, I'm not proud of it. I even went out and bought good scales because I didn't trust the numbers I was getting. 

It has a Subaru ea81, belted redrive, single weber carb and custom intake manifold. Also has speed wings. 

Also forgot the 29lb battery in the back plus 10lb lead weight. Those didn't help my cause. For CG issues yes, but not overall weight. 

I finished this project with the plan of flying on my own and wife (she's tiny) then either upgrading to a bearhawk or finish the BMW engine I have and consider a conversion. We'll see I guess