Friday out of shop until 4pm.
Builders:
It’s 2;30 am here, and in another 4.5 hours we will be starting a 1/2 day tour of our CNC machine shops in central Florida. While the day before we leave for a College or an airshow is busy, there is usually a time crunch about 10 days before departure when we get the last round of material into the machine shops, the last parts into the powder coater, and the last orders into the print shop, so the can get picked up a week later just before we depart Florida, In the case of CC#26-Zenith open house ’13, the crunch day is 9/6/13, today. The loop down through central Florida is about 325 miles of driving. I am starting early, (that is why I have been asleep for hours, this is just my clone sitting at the keyboard sipping coffee and typing this) and I am shooting to be back in the shop by 4pm est. I will be in the shop all weekend, If you would like speak on the phone, just call 904 529 0006 or send an email with your number and a good time to call. Looking forward to speaking with each of you.
Blast from the past, winter 2005: Sebastien Heintz, Grace and myself in the Zenith hangar, one of our stops on the 5,000 mile Midwest night school tour. (http://www.flycorvair.com/midwest05.html) Eight and a half years ago, but just looking at the photo brings back a lot of memories of time well spent over the years. Grace never ages, but just for fun compare Sebastien and I in the 2013 Oshkosh photo below. He looks twice as laid back and I look twice as old. At least the dog looks good with whiskers.
Corvair College #26 and #27 notes.
Builders
Registration for Corvair College #26 is now closed. We have 76 builders signed up for the event, which will run from noon on the 18th to 10:30am on the 20th. We have planned it this way so that we can clean up and pack up, as the space we will be using is also being used for the Zenith open house forums starting at noon on the 20th. Sebastien has provided the space, and I have assured him we will return it clean and on time. 46.5 hours is a fairly short college, but we have a long track record of packing productive work and learning into short periods of time. This schedule also allows builders to take in all aspects of Zeniths Open House on Friday and the main day on Saturday. We will be on hand both days also. Our initial plan was to limit the builders at this event to 60 due to space and supervision, but as I reviewed the registration information, I saw that a high percentage of the builders signing up were headed to their first College, and they were planning on studying, taking pictures and learning, probably lending a hand, but not yet bringing an engine. Because these builders don’t need table space, engine stands, or special tooling, we elected to run the allowable registration to 75. We are full, but it will not hinder the transfer of information and learning.
We will have more notes on Colleges shortly. Builders signed up for #26 will receive more detailed information directly emailed to them this week. We are leaving for the College in 11 days and expect to be out of the shop for 7 days. After that we will be in full prep for Corvair College #27 in Barnwell SC in November.
Barnwell has a hard limit of 100 builders; We opened the sign up for #27 before Brodhead and Oshkosh, months earlier than we typically have, to allow builders to plan further ahead. We have already signed up more than 30 builders for Barnwell. Although we have come close, we are yet to hit 100 people at Barnwell in the previous colleges we have held there. Before we have held the registration open until a week before the event. In speaking with 601/Corvair builder Ken Pavlou, (who handles all of the on-line registrations from an undisclosed location in CT.), we have decided to cut off the #27 sign up at midnight on October 20th, or when we reach 100 builders, which ever comes first.
If you are planning on attending #27, please let me encourage you to sign up for it early, and not to assume that we will have the sign up active until the last week as we have done in earlier years. The link is listed below:
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CC27 – https://corvaircollege.wufoo.com/forms/corvair-college-27-registration/
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The Event also has it’s own Face Book Page:
https://www.facebook.com/CorvairCollege27
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Above, Randy Bush runs his engine at Corvair College #19 in Barnwell. He flew this engine to Oshkosh this year. His aircraft now has more than 500 hours on it. Attending a college is often a turning point in a builders experience. If you are not making the kind of progress you would like, come to a college and find the experience, motivation and friends you have been missing. Then I can write a story about your plane reaching the 500 hour mark and pull out an old picture of your engine running on our test stand at a college. No airplane is built in a day, but to get one done, you must decide that this day will be different, take action and make choices that are proven to make progress. The choice is yours. Time will pass whether or not you set goals and reach them. People who take action are far happier than those that just wish they had.-ww
Deal Of The Day, early generation hub…(Sold 2:11 am, 9/3/13)
Builders:
Today’s deal of the day is an early generation black hub / starter and alternator arrangement. These parts actually flew on our Zenith 601XL in 2004. They have been used on another test engine. The parts are used, but in fairly good condition and airworthy.
Before there were Gold hubs and 5th bearings, this was how Corvairs were converted. Today, there are still a great number of aircraft in the Corvair fleet operating systems identical to these. This set up can be directly used on a 4 bearing engine, or it can be used by a builder using a Gen. 1 Dan Weseman bearing.
If a budget minded builder wanted to use this with a 5th bearing, it would require the hub modification and a switch to gold starter brackets. It would still be an economical proposition. The ring gear is an FRA-235, the style we have not used in 5 years. Today we use disc style ring gears that do not have spokes. If the edges of the spokes above are polished to remove stress risers, they have a good track record. Otherwise they are prone to developing cracks in the spokes. I put a lot of effort into explaining the concept and asking people to periodically inspect these, but many builders did neither. Today, all of these are eliminated by only offering the disc style ring gear, but for builders willing to put closer effort in, the spoked wheels was more than a pound lighter. If a builder wanted to upgrade to a disc style ring gear on this arrangement, it will bolt right on.
This is a good opportunity for a builder working to a tight budget to get launched on an affordable engine.
The parts in this package are:
Black hub, Ring gear, puck, front alternator pulley, starter, brackets, tail bracket, alternator brackets, 20 amp alternator, and drive belt.
These parts cost more than $1,250 new. As the ‘Deal of the day’, we are selling them for $475.
If you would like them, email me directly at:
WilliamTCA@aol.com
I will cover the shipping in the US.-ww.
Deal Of The Day, 2700cc Gen. 2 Engine, w/rear alt. and HD oil sys.
Builders,
Todays ‘Deal of the Day’ is a big-ticket item, an Engine, complete, test run with new logs. The engine is a 2700 cc Corvair Bored .030″ It has a Gen 2 Dan Weseman bearing on it, complete with a matching fully prepped GM crank from the Them. The pistons are some of the last Made in the USA Sealed power forged units (they have since been outsourced to India). The Cylinders were done by Clarks. It has stainless valves with exhaust rotators, welded on head pipes, and out latest starter and oil systems. It has our E/P dual ignition set up. It is equipped with a flyweight, welded aluminum pan. It also has one of our CNC high volume oil pumps. The engine is rated at 100hp continuous output, it weighs 225 pounds, (the same as an O-200) Based on the experience of building Corvair flight engines for 24 years, I can state that this engine has a realistic TBO of 1,500 hours.
Two features that this engine has are a Weseman Rear alternator set up and one of our heavy-duty oil systems Our standard price for a 2700cc engine with a Gen 1 Dan bearing, front alternator and a standard 12 plate oil cooler is $9,750. The options on this engine add about $1,400 to the cost. We assembled the engine with the idea that it would be a good match to any of the popular Corvair powered airframes, but these two options are popular on STOL aircraft like the Zenith 750.
The Deal of the Day: We are offering this engine with options for the standard price of $9,750 for this week alone. After this, I will bring the engine to the Zenith open house, use it as the display and then sell it for the regular price + options. This is a substantial savings for anyone who is ready to move forward. If the buyer lives anywhere near the course we are taking to CC#26 and the Zenith open house, we will deliver it for free. Otherwise, crating and shipping is available.
If you would like the engine, or have questions, email me directly:
WilliamTCA@aol.com
Above shows the engine assembled, but the rear alternator, E/P distributor and HD oil system is not yet mounted. We typically put these in place when the engine is on the break in stand. The break in run for this engine is Tuesday afternoon. more pictures to follow. In more than 20 years of commercial engine building, I have only let a single engine out the door without a documented break in run. Our typical engine run is more than an hour turning a prop at 75% power. This is not only a proper break in procedure, it also assures the buyer that everything is in perfect working order. There are pictures of more than 100 engine runs done over the years on our two websites.
Above, My friend, A&P extraordinaire Chris Welsh assists with the rocker adjustment. Chris’s day job is an airframe specialist for Northrop-Grumman working on E2D’s and F-5s. 25 years ago, he was my roommate at Embry Riddle. He worked for many years as an instructor at the prestigious Embry Riddle engine Repair station on the Universities’ fleet of aircraft engines. He has covered a lot of jobs in aviation, including instructing at Colorado Aero-Tech and working in heavy repair for Evergreen. Over the years he has assisted me with a number of Corvair engine builds and test runs.
Many experimental aviation companies, particularly alternative engine promoters, are staffed by people who have no actual professional training or industry experience in aviation. Over the years I have met a number of very impressive, disciplined and ethical men who were self-educated and well qualified. But they were outnumbered at least 50 to 1 by dangerous idiots who’s only credentials was the dubious claim that they “used to build race cars.”
Even if this was true, I simply ask this: If you were about to take off for your first flight lesson ever, and the person next to you, who you thought was a flight instructor, suddenly confessed that he had never flown a plane, but he “had driven a lot of race cars before”, You would jump out right? OK, you should have the exact same reaction to anyone telling you that he has built a lot of race car engines, but not any flight engines. You would think that this goes without saying, but people still seek the assistance of unemployed car mechanics with their experimental flight engines every day. It’s insanity, but it never stops.-ww.
Deal of the Day, simple MA3 carb. (Sold at 1 am, 9/1/13)
Builders:
Here is the next “Deal of the Day. It is an MA3 carb. Please note that it is not an MA3-SPA, the primary carb we use. The difference is that the SPA model has an accelerator pump, which also does a good job as a primer. Additionally, this carb does not have in flight mixture control. Functionally, the carb below is much like a Stromberg NAS-3. The person who puts this on their plane is going to also install a primer. This isn’t a big deal, and virtually every plane that has a Stromberg or even an Ellison has a primer. Only the MA3-SPA gets away without using one. I am thinking the most likely home for this carb is a Pietenpol or other fairly simple type of plane, but it does have the ability to withstand fuel pressure, so it could be used on a low wing aircraft with fuel pumps. It is not restricted to gravity feed like a Stromberg.
Why not just use an SPA instead of this MA3? Simple: Cost. The Core value of a rebuildable MA3-SPA is $500 to $600. This carb, which I am pretty sure will run as is, and is certainly a great candidate for a simple tune up (the throttle bushings on it are in very good condition, this is the hardest part of a rebuild). We are selling this as is for $150.
Above, carb is dusty but complete. It will bolt directly to our standard intake manifold.
It has a short throttle arm, but this can be replaced with a longer one. This uses the older style arm which is worth a lot less than the new style one.
