tcj

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Posts posted by tcj

  6. Posted · Edited by tcj

    November !2, 1970 the Oregon DOT blew up a whale that had washed ashore in Florence. They thought it would be a good way to dispose of it. The outcome was not what they expected. Here's a video made 25 years ago on the 25th anniversary of the event.

     

     

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  7. Posted · Edited by tcj


    For what it's worth, the front header tank the service bulletin is talking about is a one gallon round aluminum header tank that was mounted in front of the panel.  That header tank was used in early kitfoxes with wing tanks and no large front panel tank.  If you have the large panel tank no other header tank is needed.

    You may want to remove the panel tank and install a rear header anyhow.  You then can have a nice large instrument panel and get that fuel out of your lap.

    From the service bulletin:

    NOTE: For those operating wing tanks in conjunction with the large, front main tank, the wing tank fuel lines should route: forward from the wing tank, above the door frame work, down the diagonal bracing in the windshield area, and plumbed directly into the filler neck of the main tank. The wing tank fuel valve can be installed in the headrack above the door. Because of the capacity and fuel visibility in the main tank, the question of fuel flow stoppage from the wing tanks is not as critical. With the fuel routed into the filler neck, you will have a constant visual on all fuel.

  8. Posted

    I know nothing about Ridgrunners, but photos I can find of Ridgrunners show struts under the Horizontal Stab just like Kitfox and Avid Flyers..  I can't find a photo clear enough to tell for sure but some appear to have flying wires from the top of the stab up to the vertical fin in addition to the struts underneath.  I tnink one of the member's here has/had a Ridgrunner on skis.  Maybe it was Bandit. Anyhow, maybe they will chime in.

  9. Posted


    I just now  looked for the rubber caps I mentioned above.  It seems that since Aircraft Spruce bout out California Power Sports, they don't carry all the parts.  The rubber caps, which are used to cap off the primer ports on a Bing 54 carb, aren't available from them.  Like I said though, you can plug the oil injection ports with epoxy.  That's probably better anyhow.  The rubber caps aren't that secure.

  10. Posted · Edited by tcj

    I'll have a look, when I get the chance, and see if my intake sockets have that bulge. Either way, no big deal, as long as it has a continuous mating surface to seal. It sandwiches the fan shroud, anyway, so it's not like it ever had perfect alignment on the intake ports. 

     

    I'm working on gathering the parts to convert my 503 from single carb to dual. One of the main things I need are the small intake runners for each carb. I saw what looked like the right part on ebay new in box for a lot less than what they sell for from Rotax dealers. Thought I'd take a chance, so I bought one to see if it would work. It bolts up fine, and the carb boot fits, but there is a small bulge in the opening where it bolts to the engine. You can see that the intake port doesn't have this shape. Looking in the exploded view in the Rotax part catalog, It appears to have this bulge too. Does anyone remember seeing this before?

    Thanks,

    Luke

    Those are the the correct parts.  I looked through my old 503 parts boxes and found these.  It is an oil injection system I took off my 503.  if you aren't going to use oil injection you can plug the oil ports with a rubber cap you can get from aircraft spruce, I think.  I bought this from a guy who took it off a new 503.  He had just filled the ports with epoxy and ran premix.

    For what it's worth you can get intake and exhaust gaskets from a Ski Doo shop for about half of the cost of the official DCDI rotax gaskets.  They are the same.  Don't use the Ski Doo head gaskets though, they are aluminum and the DCDI Rotax ones are steel.

    I took the oil injection off because it is a SOB to get calibrated correctly, I couldn't seem to find a source for the correct Bowden cable, and the barrel on the end of the cable I did find was too small and wore out.  Much easier and I was much happier without the oil injection.

    Oil injection.jpg

  15. Posted


    I built a Kitfox Classic 4 with a little 52 HP rotax 503 engine.  First few flights the landing gear and wing struts were bare.  Cruise speed at 5800 rpm was about 65 MPH.  Then I put the wood fairing on the landing gear and covered with fabric and cruise speed went up to about 75.  Then put the PVC fairing on the wing struts and cruise went up to 85 MPH.  Rate of climb and power off glide went way up too.

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  16. Posted · Edited by tcj


    Raising the needle would richen the mid range.  The photos clearly show it is too lean.  Are you sure you raised the needle?  if you raised the clip instead of the needle it could cause the lean condition.

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  17. Posted · Edited by tcj


    I still have the original package from spruce with that number on it and used pins in it.  The chart for dimensions of AN clevis pins in the spruce catalogue lists Dash 85 as 2 21/32 "Effective length". I measured the pins.  I replaced all the wing attach hardware every couple years.

  19. Posted


    Just keep in kind that if your 3rd class medical is ever denied, you can't fly under sport pilot rules unless you get it reinstated.

  20. Posted


    Allen, you don't "Convert" to sport pilot.   Just let your medical lapse.  You can fly under sport pilot rules with a Private Pilot Certificate.

  21. Posted


    There's 160 acres of corn across the road from me so I'll be good to go this summer.

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  22. Posted · Edited by tcj


    We went to Costco in yakima a couple days ago.  Got there right after the doors opened.  There were already more people in the store than we had ever seen.  They all had their carts piled head high and higher with cases of bottled  water, paper towels, and Toilet paper.  We needed just a few groceries.

    After a while a lady came up to us and said "I noticed that you and I are the only ones in the store that don't have any bottled water paper towels or toilet paper in our carts, what's going on?"  We had a good laugh and asked an old guy why.  He said everyone was going to be quarantined because of "That virus".  My wife asked him if the water was going to be turned off too.  He said "Well yes".

    I went back to the toilet paper area just to see what was happening there.  The shelves were bare and two employees on lift trucks were bringing out pallets of toilet paper and water as fast as they could turn around. The shoppers were emptying  them as soon as they were set down.

    We were ready to check out in about 30 minutes.  Every check stand was open and the lines were half way to the back of the store.

  23. Posted

    When I do my new kitfox I'll probably do flared AN connections, but haven't ruled out using short (about 2  inch) pieces of tube as connectors. Do what makes you comfortable but be sure to inspect well as I've seen the aftermath of poor maintenance.

    What is the best way to connect an aluminum line to a tube?

    I slip the hose over the tube and use safety wire to clamp it.  Never had a leak yet.  I use a double wrap of safety wire for almost all of my small diameter hose connections.

    I was going to do that and wanted to put a bead on the end of the aluminum line to keep the hose from slipping off.  I couldn't find a beading tool small enough for 1/4 inch line for less than several hundred dollars.

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  24. Posted

    When I do my new kitfox I'll probably do flared AN connections, but haven't ruled out using short (about 2  inch) pieces of tube as connectors. Do what makes you comfortable but be sure to inspect well as I've seen the aftermath of poor maintenance.

    What is the best way to connect an aluminum line to a tube?

    1 person likes this

  25. Posted


    A word of caution.  Some people have used the wrong type of rod ends on the connections between the stick and the aileron bellcrank.  That connection needs to be able to rotate as the stick is pulled back and pushed forward.  The correct rod ends have a narrow shoulder.  There have been at least two instances where the wide shoulder type rod ends were used and they broke in flight. Both landed safely using rudder alone to bank the plane but it was extremely hairy.

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