flywise

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Posts posted by flywise

  1. Posted

    one guy (courierguy) on backcountrypilot.org forum has more than a 1000Hrs on the big bore kit without any trouble...

    Over a one year period now I have NOT been able to find a single failure story regarding the big bore kit on the net anywhere. I am REALLY interested in the complete story of the guys having had trouble. Why is there nothing about their misfortune anywhere? It would be very helpful of you to bring these stories to light for the rest of us. In the meantime I am going to ask Hall if he knows more about this.

    Thanks for your feedback

    P.s. It is very helpfull to have the details like: Were the engines converted from 80Hp to ? Hp or did they use 100uls engines to go higher Hp / did they install fuel injection,turbo,high performance camshaft? / Were the engines old, used, prop strike before mod etc...

  2. Posted

    Hey Ljones

    I have not heard of any 912 fitted with a big bore kit "blow" up.....  Can you please give more info about you having watched 3 blow up!!!!!!!!!

    where, what aircraft, Hrs run, which model 912 etc....

     

     

    1 person likes this

  3. Posted

    Man, that's a lot of holes in the spars. Does not give me the warm fuzzy feeling, not sure what I'd do about it though.

    I am quite sure the spars were never designed to be drilled out at that location with so many holes.....  Any engineer to chime in about these drilled spars????

    1 person likes this

  4. Posted

    Regarding the pitch setting on his 912s it seems he is way over pitched and overloads the poor 912...

    He's only getting 5100-5130Rpm WOT on take - off / climb (you should NEVER run below 5200RPM WOT.... Should be at least 5350+

    Level WOT he is only getting 5390Rpm.....should be at least 5500 to 5700Rpm.

     

    The 912 really likes to cruise (~75%) at around 5200-5300Rpm for best efficiency. 

    If I were in the market for a Kitfox 5 ,  would not buy this Kitfox (even though it looks great) because of the risk of the engine crankcase fretting ......it's expensive to fix....been there

  5. Posted

    Hey Allen,

    I have flown extensively in europe and found when I flew there I had always somewhere I could land if sh*** hit the fan (meadows, river creeks, lake shores, valley in high mountains, corn fields, lots of airfields, etc) .

    When I started flying a C-172 on wheels here in Canada (british columbia) it was the first place I found I often had no place to go if my engine quit.....(big rocks, big forrests and ocean/lakes)

    I did not feel comfortable and decided to go "amphibious"....what a blast. There has not been a single flight where I did not have some water to land on:P . I now fly mostly in remote places and my Catalina may see a runway 5% of the time......I really feel good and safe to be able to drop into a 500feet pond if needed...

    Just my 2 cents..

  6. Posted

    Hey Jim,

    did you check the ignition trigger coils?? The gap is critical and they should have a certain resistance.

    Hope your trigger coils are good as they cost an arm and a leg @ Rotax..

    Laurent

  7. Posted

    Hey northidahoflyer,

    looks great. There is just one gauge in your cockpit I would reposition If I were flying your nice bird:rolleyes:...I would swap the VSI with your ASI so that when you're landing for example your eyes have a shorter distance to look between outside and the ASI for that quick speed check on very short final..

    Just my 2 cents

    2 people like this

  9. Posted

    Hello Duke,

    nice to see you here active on this forum. I am wondering if you have any pictures of Dale Hubner's windshield installation??

    Thanks

    1 person likes this

  10. Posted

    Hey Eg,

    on my 912 I had the same and found the choke lever return springs too weak, the chokes were not resting on their "off" position properly. Also make sure your floats are good (guess you checked that). One more item is the ignition leads which might not be properly inserted/screwed in their respective coil and spark plug cap.

    Check the float chamber vent tube, it should be installed so as to be at the same pressure than the intake (do you have an airbox) and if it's in the airstream (low or high press) you'll get rough running.

    Another easy item to mount backwards in the carb is the diffuser..item#2     https://www.cps-parts.com/catalog/rtxpages/914bingconstant.php

     

    Regarding the mag drop my 912 is the same and I would not worry about that.

    My 2 cents

  15. Posted

    I have installed a G-meter in my Catalina...and a usual soft / good landing on a hard runway shows 1.3-1.5 G (remember there is NO shock absorption on the Cat besides the tires).

    A hard/bad landing will show about 1.9- 2.1 G's

    Hope that helps a bit..

    1 person likes this

  19. Posted

    "Merde alors".... glad you're ok and little damage to your bird. Regarding your prop, you can order just the one broken blade...(would be nice to have a close photo of the propeller blade to see how it delaminated).

     

    Keep it up Fred

    1 person likes this

  20. Posted

    Looks like Casey Curtis' Catalina, which I tried to buy in 2011 with a bucket of cash and my Piper Clipper.  That's a beautiful Catalina, maybe the best ever. Glad to see someone is enjoying it in lake country.

    Yes it used to be Casey's...

    The build quality is good (built by Rick Mosher) but It had not flown in years when I bought it and there were A LOT (50) of items to correct to make this Catalina flyable again. I am very happy with it now :)

     

  22. Posted

    Hey Cowlove...maybe a useful info I can give you regarding airflow around your cowl flap area thanks to a mistake I made the other day.....

    Doing my prop blade adjustments and synchronizing on my renewed 912 at  I forgot the aluminum tool to set the degrees on my blades exactly along the fairing where you would have your cowl flap, about 1 1/2 inches behind my prop  . This tool is very light, made out of aluminum tubing and a couple of sliding plates riveted to the tubing. 

    I started the engine, run it at idle, at 4000rpm and at full power (5400rpm..)-----believe it or not , the tool after I shut down was still there where I forgot it. Just lying there....not wedged in any way!!!!!!!!!!!!  I just could not believe my eyes.

    Anyhow, since that experience I have the feeling that the whole cowl area behind the rear windows is a "no airflow" area....can't come up with another explanation. There might be a problem getting the air sucked through your rad because of this??!!

    P.s my cat is ripping through the air again...just had a flight today. Report will be posted soon.

  23. Posted

    I love it....but for my setup the weight (because of my rear c of g) is the deal breaker....Also If you consider how "draggy" Avids are I believe you will not gain much/any top speed. It's only good for shorter t/o and better climb rate...not sure it's worth it.

     

    In the end someone with a slippery / aerodynamic & fast aircraft should have a VP prop so as to get the best performance on t/o and at high cruise speeds (hardly possible with a ground adjustable prop)....but for us the advantages are somewhat minimal if you have a good fixed pitch prop well adjusted.

     

    My 2 cents

    1 person likes this