Builders:
I typically put out an ‘Outlook’ statement in January each year, outlining the game plan for who I will work with builder during the upcoming year, what we will focus on, events in the works. This year is a but different, as it is my 30th year in the business, and I spent the last 4 months of 2018 speaking with many friends, in a rigorous evaluation of what the strengths of the Corvair movement are, what builders need, and how best to serve them.
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The Golden Rule: ” In a demanding environment, the most reliable machine will be the simplest one, at the hands of the best trained operator.” – ww.
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It has been my long held conviction that our motor and the process building them are very well developed, but way too many builders, including many who have attended colleges, are getting just a fraction of what we are offering in education and experience. The centerpiece of my work in 2019 will be increasing the understanding of each individual builder.
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After careful looking at operations and questions builders had in 2017-2018, It was obvious that three things were causing the majority of issues for some builders who were either too distracted by secondary things like avionics, paint jobs and interiors. or were not focusing their attention on really knowing their plane. This may sound critical, but it is honest. When a guy has a $2,000 interior in his plane, but doesn’t own a $39 timing light, he needs to be told his priorities are inverted. Likewise, a person who has painted their plane, but not bothered to open the inlets on their cowl, but when later questioned says ‘I ran hot before, but the weather is cooler now” needs to hear this. Same goes for anyone about to fly a plane who has never heard of a “Two minute test.”
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This year is my 30th year of working with Corvair flight engines. The goal has always been to learn build and fly. The internet made the distribution of that information much easier, but it also brought incredible distractions, opinions from countless people without relevant experience, and it radically accelerated peoples consumerism, all of which distracted from or directly attacked the transmission of the experience and understanding I am working to share. This is pervasive, as some people attending Corvair Colleges miss basic information, simply because they got distracted by other things when the mission at hand was learning. In 2019, I am going to directly and plainly address the “Learning Gap,” in everything I do, this will be priority #1. If you got into homebuilding to see how much you could learn, understand, build and operate, this should be a very welcome declaration.
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Plainly: The three main issues some builders have come from these points;
A) They are not flying the correct carb set up correctly for their plane. When correct, carbs are stupid simple and very reliable, and I will put their operational record against that of EFI any day of the year. But we have people who don’t use the right carb, or ever verify its operation. Addressing this is the motivation behind the testing in these stories: Shootout at the Stromberg corral , .Stromberg Shootout, Pt #2,.and. MA3-SPA Test Runs.. . This information will be part of an ongoing push to get builders to use the right carb, set up correctly.
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B) For 10 years I have told builders to not use the nose bowl inlets as they come out of the mold, but they must take 30 minutes when mounting the cowl to open the inlets and install inlet rings. Perhaps only 30% of builders did this. The other 70% of people includes people who were out on the internet complaining their plane ran hot. It includes people who flew to airshows and Colleges. This is the equivalent of buying a new radiator for your car, but only filling it half way and leaving the cap off. After a decade, The solution is to offer a new cowl, which has these things already done, so people who can’t be bothered will have it done for them. This cost a lot of time and effort to have new molds made, but in the end I said every thing I could about this and only got 30% compliance. The New cowl is better, but it’s primary goal was to address the 70% who would not follow the directions. .‘STOL Bowl’ availability starts tomorrow.. is a story about this cowl as a solution to getting people to use the cooling potential of the engine.
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C) I must have written 100 stories about how critical it is to set the timing on ANY flight engine. Just like this: YOU MUST SET THE TIMING ON YOUR ENGINE. Could not be more plain. I have showed 100’s of builders how to do this for free at 43 colleges, yet, we still have people who will not do this. Something which has emerged is builders who don’t do it because the don’t want to stand behind a running engine with a timing light. This is odd, because many of the same people stood right behind their engine when it ran at a College. Yet, when they are home, they may set the timing at idle, but will not run it up as required. This leads to this development: .Dual 50K volt test ignition. This specific system has no points and no advance. The timing on it can be set at idle…….Is it better than the E/P and E/P-X systems that I have been making for 14 years? The answer is Yes, if the builder is not doing to set the timing at full static RPM. This test:.“Corvair Fast Burn” Ignition timing settings , is an evaluation of fixed timing settings, and to further demonstrate that the timing must be set on ANY engine.
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LOOKING AHEAD: I will shortly put out notes on Colleges, Finishing Schools , airshows and and other learning and training opportunities. Builders will shortly see how the format of Colleges will be redone this year. If you wonder why, come back and read this, and understand that my primary focus of sharing my experience has never changes, but I am in the process of adjusting it to have a better success rate with all builders.
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WW.
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