Carbs

[flyalaz]

Nice and shiny! That's the way it should be. Good looking job. I see that the plastic bushing is on the bottom. Is it doubled on top? My installation has it on top. Good job with those three bolts too. That mod makes it a lot safer.

And how did you shine up the tubing? Lot of work there.

Those props are real beauties, and if they are at all like the smaller versions for the 185's, you will absolutely love the performance from them. I swear by mine.
Karl

[lazairkid]

There is one on top and bottom.
I took the single one off it, lt looked good but felt like it could break in
to peaces so I replaced it. I remember seeing pics of Dave's 2-seat and the way he did his with one on both sides

Two pound can of nevr-dull polish and some long rags to run back and forth.

[daver, C-IIII, CYEL]

Carb replacement for novice in chilly weather.

Today I changed one of my carbs; for some of you pros it would have been a piece of cake...

At first I thought my new carbs were the wrong ones, it must have been my old gas fumes.

It is really, hum, TRICKY to get the back castle nut on (very tight fit, especially with decompresor plate). I found if I rotated the carb up and put back nut on first it was the only way I could do it; then rotate carb back down and slip onto outer stud...perhaps Tyler can do it easier from higher altitude.
I think I will do the second one faster, hope the weather holds around 0 C./32 F. Now that I know how I will be able to finish before running to van to warm fingers.*

Hope to give report of engines running soon, its been TOO long.

* What gave me encouragement was the GRIN of Dale Kramer walking out of water from his amphib.

daver
C-IIII, CYEL

PS I tried a new method to get my bod into the plane (when the props are turning)...it will actually require me turning my butt to the prop-wash, which is better than my head. Its the pod and windshield that are my hinderance. I will practice, practice, practice, with engines off. But I have had it trying tp climb past angled wheel support tube from boom - from behind.

[flyalaz]

Hey Dave,

Can't you start your engines sitting in the plane? Better than trying not to shave your butt! If it's too far away to grab the pull cord, make yourself some extensions like I have on mine. I just have to lean a little forward to get them, even in flight it's easy.

Karl

[lazairkid]

Hey Dave,
know what you mean. I put a phantom x-1 pod and windshield on my lazair.
Even though I haven't started running the engines yet I have been trying to get in and out of this setup. I had back surgery last year and this makes it even more
harder to bind and twist.
I have to crawl threw and over the seat, put my legs in without stepping on the
pod, then set down and pull my body up right.
Re mines me of that old game called Twister.
I hate to see how hard it's going to be when I put the wheel pants on.

[flyalaz]

Something that might help you guys out can be done by adding a cross tube. The one on my plane anchors down the bottom of my instrument pod, but I use it also as an aid to getting seated. It works great and doesn't weigh much at all.

Karl

[russell]

I've noticed there has been discussion in the past and now recently about that large nylon washer type bearing that the tube which operates the aileron/ruddervader mixer, as I call it, goes through.
Early on after I started flying my plane I noticed a wear pattern starting to develop on this tube. At th rate the wear was progressing I knew that I had to do something before this became a disastrous situation.
I found a caged needle bearing and steel inner race. I slipped the race over the tube and bonded the needle bearing to the tab that the old nylon washer held. To add more support for the bearing I devised a clamp.
The picture shows what I came up with. I know that it's not very professonal looking, but all this happed right in the middle of flyng season and I needed to get back in the air. I planned to redo this during down time but it was working so well that I kept putting it off. So this is a future project once more.

Russell

[flyalaz]

Short vid of why you should be in the plane before you get the motors running:

Runaway plane

[ozzie]

Shamed to say that this was a Aussie incident involing an Ultrabat. The pilot was well known in the scene here (but not very well liked) and not his first incident. He also owned a Harvard that i repaired after a gear up landing after forgetting to put the wheels down. this incident almost killed the airshow scene from the huge increase in liability insurance. not to mention what the dept., wanted to do. this accident was caused soley from ego and attitude.

Russell great idea with that bearing it looks professional from the photo and i am sure will also take some of the friction out of the control system. more info on the bearing part numbers would be helpful as i am sure that a few would like to do this mod. well done. Ozzie

[russell]

Thanks Ozzie, as for part numbers, well it's been 25 years since I did that so at 58 you can imagine that remembering the past would be quite a feat. I probably got the bearing from a distributor here named "Bearings and Drives". They have 27 stores across the southeast (USA) but that's it (www.bdindustrial.com). I will go there and look through their books and try to find a manufacturer and part number.

Russell