Av8r3400

Nice tin-work.

No one will argue the function of carb heat.  This looks like a well thought out and good functioning system.

The easiest source would be www.KitfoxAircraft.com 

Highest performing airplanes that never leave the airport pattern.

This airplane belongs to a member here (or at least it used to). 

http://avidfoxflyers.com/index.php?/topic/6545-avid-airdale-with-harley-engine-on-barnstormers/#comment-59389

Kenneth, I heard the same comment from a guy on TKF who put one on his Lycoming RV.  Maybe the direct drive engine just isn’t compatible with how the dynamics of these balances work. 

I now have about 6 hours on the unit and I am very pleased with it.  

Now that's really Kool!

This be the winter Won-Ton.  My LGT without the training wheels...

Do ya really wanna go there?  My dually. 480 hp, 1850 pound feet of torque.  I’d bet less than half the cost of a new pickup  

Looks like the pickup was buried...

I've got 4 hours on mine.  Very enthused about the results so far! 

Not as good as the SxS for the Silverado?

So what currency is that??

1.  Too early to tell.  I'm cautiously optimistic.  

2.  It is far easier to adjust than a Warp Drive.  It came with a pitch setting tool that I will do a video on in the near future.

Right now I’m getting 5500 on takeoff and climb out.  I run my engine up to 5800, no more.  Hal says it’s fine to 6200.  I’ll stick with 5800 max.  I cruise normally 5000-5200.  If I really need more speed I’ll run 5800 continuous no worries.  Not much more speed, but a lot more gas. 
 

The balancer is slotted to fit several of the patterns on the prop drive flange and center bored for the centering diameter. 
 

I payed $750 plus shipping for the prop. 

I would probably gain some static thrust and improve takeoff marginally and possible a little more climb, but at the cost of considerable drag in cruise. 
 

I may still try a set of the 79” blades anyway at some point in the future. 

Hoping to keep the Luni-Leni bin going for a while more...

I didn’t realize this would link the photos to TeamKitfox!  Sorry.  When I get to my computer I’ll link the photos directly to AFF. 
 

Yes I did.  The original flight home had no balancer.  It’s much, much smoother now. 

I've been a little quiet lately with my 70 hour per week business getting in the way of my Kitfox-ing. But, I do have a bit of a story to tell.

I had a bit of an incident while taxiing. I was turning around into a field next to a friend's grass strip and hit what I thought was just a patch of snow, that turned out to be more of a snow filled furrow. Long story short, I modified the tips of my Prince Prop.

    

That day (Saturday 11-16) I gave a call to Hal Stockman (a national treasure in my book) to place an order for a new Luga/NR prop from him. I was surprised to find out he had one on the shelf and would ship it out to me asap. It turns out he shipped it that day!! What a swell guy! With a tear in my eye, I had to leave the Mangy tied down at the grass strip for a couple days (with a winter storm coming) until the new prop arrived.



That Tuesday (!) my new Luga prop arrived from Hal. (Did I mention what a swell guy he is?). I quickly put the prop on, that Wednesday, and got the plane home. I found out that if I pitched the prop to where I thought it should be the trailing edge would contact my cowling. It was always close on my Prince prop, but it didn't hit. This did. So I flattened the pitch for clearance and got the plane home. I could over rev the engine at half throttle and all I could manage was 70 mph on the way home, but I got her home to her own hangar in time to avoid the coming blizzard. Here's the new prop on my kitchen table:



My Prince was a 78" diameter by 48" pitch. It was a big prop. It was a takeoff and climb animal on my plane. Unfortunately the large diameter also meant it was pretty draggy and my top speed was a little better than 100 mph on a good day. This was never a big problem, because the STOL performance was so stellar. An acceptable trade off to me. The new Luga is only 72" in diameter. So I was preparing to take a substantial hit in STOL performance.

To install the prop with the way my cowl is configured, I needed to add a 1" spacer. Hal happened to have a used one for a good price and he asked me if I wanted to try a balance ring with it. I had seen these in Aircraft Spruce and was curious. I have similar balance rings on my big truck wheels and know they work awesome in that application, so I said sure, why not. Here is what the stack up looks like. (Spinner options are still being explored)

  

AS of today, I have about 4 hours on the prop. I explored pitch settings starting at 15º which is the zero setting on the pitch gage. At that pitch, I would quickly over rev the engine on takeoff and level flight. So I bumped up the pitch to 17º. That only gave me 5200 on takeoff, but my cruise speed jumped up to over 120 mph in rough, unsettled air. I have it now at 16º with is appearing to be a nice compromise.

My takeoff distance may be a few feet more than with the prince, but not more than literally a few feet. Climb performance with the Prince was stellar to say the least. The Luga does well, but not as well. With the Prince I was seeing sustained climb rates of 1700-2000 FPM. With the limited time I have on this new prop, I'm seeing 1400-1600 FPM. Nothing to complain about by any means. However, I am seeing cruise speeds in the 110-115 mph range with 16º of pitch. I am not complaining. More that an acceptable trade off.

Now what everyone is waiting for: The Balance Ring. This thing is AMAZING!! This prop with the balance ring is so smooth, like nothing I have ever flown before. Every 912 I have ever flown has a little rough patch from 2500-4000 rpm give or take. Mine had it too. No amount of carb balancing or Dyna-Vibe-ing the old prop would get rid of it. With the balance ring this is GONE! Incredibly smooth! Our EAA Chapter has a Dyna-Vibe machine. I have used it many times and know they work well enough, but I was never totally satisfied with the results I saw on my plane or any other I helped with. This balance ring has, in my opinion, just obsoleted the need for a Dyna-Vibe or any other balancing machine.

Very Nice!

Fuel injected?

Anyone heard if this is still a valid affair?

"Pricey" is always a relative term.  We are talking AIRPLANES here.

I built the Mangy with a glass panel and Zipper 912 for far less than what my neighbor has in his bass boat.  It's all a matter of your priorities.  I wanted a reliable, safe and supported engine/airplane combination to fly.  

If your thing is "experimenting" and going your own way, more power to you, that's awesome.  You can spend less money out of pocket, but you will spend far more time fabricating, experimenting, working, re-working, tinkering and NOT flying.

I have a good friend who works for Mercury Marine.  He was the chief engineer for an experimental program making an engine for an "unnamed" helicopter manufacturer.  The project was shelved for unknown reasons.

Outboards have a vertical crank shaft.  They are not designed to operate in a horizontal position.  This would make them virtually useless in an airplane.  It would be far easier to start from scratch with a totally new engine than turn an outboard sideways.

Again, there is a proven and widely supported engine available on the market now that costs less and works better than any of these conversions.