3.0L Corvair for Sale, running on video.
THIS ENGINE IS SOLD!
.
Builders,
14 days ago I posted this story about a new Corvair for sale: Outstanding Deal on New 3.0L Corvair.. We had a lot of nice comments, a number of interested builders, but as of today, it’s still in my hangar. If your plans for flying this season need something to accelerate them, get a good look, there will not be another deal this good in 2019.
.
.
Above, the engine running at 4:30 pm today in front of my hangar. If you are interested, I will change the valve covers to any color you like, or reconfigure the oil system to suit any standard installation.
.
.
Above, 30 seconds of running at 700 rpm. This is running on the silver carb from the previous story.
.
.
Above, 15 seconds of running at 2,000 rpm.
.
.
Above, a detail look at the 2400L starter system, the SPA Gen II billet 5th bearing and the A Gold hub. The engine is nicely detailed.
.
.
A look from above, a view that highlights the Corvair’s simplicity. This is back in the hangar after the run. Motor is very clean.
.
If you are interested in the deal, call or text me personally at 904-806-8143.
.
William.
.
(Ps, Dan Glaze, I was going to make that “Any Colour you like.”)
MA3-SPA Test Runs.
Builders,
In the last week I have been running several back to back test of two Marvel MA3-SPA carbs. The Carbs are mechanically identical, but have two different histories.
.
.
Above, two MA3-SPA carbs, perfect for Corvairs. To be correct, they must be, as specified in my manual, part number 10-4894, or the exact equivalent. And that doesn’t mean another MA3.
.
If your aircraft plans say the spar is to be made of Aircraft Grade Sitka Spruce, you can’t use white pine from Home Depot; If you plans say the longerons in your plane are 6061T-6 Aluminum, you can’t replace them with screen door material from Ace Hardware; and if you are building a “WW Corvair” , you can’t just use any MA3 because you found out the right one cost more than wanted to pay.
.
Good News: the 10-4894 is the most common of all MA-3’s accounting for 50% of total production. Once set, they hold their adjustment and do their work a very long time. Look at the two carbs above, the silver one has been used on my test stand nearly 20 years. It has run 100’s of engines, you have seen countless videos of it starting brand new motors in one or two seconds of cranking……I have never done any work to it, and it has never been overhauled, and the serial number indicates it is as old as I am. This is an example of a well designed machine.
.
The black carb pictured is from my personal aircraft. It was rebuilt by D&G fuel systems about 6-7 years ago, and I paid the same $600 every other builder pays. In very carefully instrumented test runs, this carb ran perfectly, even on Justin Peters’s 3.0L motor and on Mark Borden’s 3.3L . The carb does not have to be re-jetted to do this, it does it all on its own, because it is an excellent design.
.
For more info on carbs, look at this: Corvair Carb Reference page for 2020.
.
WW.
.
Justin Peters Starlet progress in one hangar visit.
Builders,
Here are a few pictures to wrap up Justin’s 2.5 day hangar visit. It is a story of good times and great progress. As you read, make your own plan for progress this season.
.
.
Above, the finished motor mount. It was a lot of calculation, measurement and work, but we charged him the same price as one of our production mounts. I have always regarded Individual enthusiastic builders with unique projects as an opportunity to demonstrate my support of homebuilders. There are plenty of businesses which either ignore them or regard them as a deep pocket to be picked, but I have a very long track record of treating them more than fairly. The flip side of the coin is such builders must understand, and be patient for when we can do such work in our schedule. Justin is such a builder.
.
The intakes on the floor were test fit, the shiny one is a panther, the gray one is a Vagabond, a variant of a Zenith intake. Neither one fit, so we carefully measured for a custom one.
.
.
Above, Sunday morning was foggy, but Justin’s 3.0L Corvair put down a perfect test run. It had no issues at all, we just did a fine adjustment on the E/P-X ignition and it was good. The engine is built exclusively from parts from SPA and myself. Justin got started in the fall, and had the engine 95% ready by the end of the Barnwell Corvair College last November. Knowing we were going to build a mount, I asked him to bring the engine also. The engine turned 3,370 rpm on the test prop. We took an oil sample to send to Larry Nelson at Lab One, and after it cooled we used the engine to check for cowling options, intakes and exhausts.
.
.
Above, Justin holds an MA3-SPA carb in place while we study the space between the engine and firewall for a carb installation on a custom intake. He is very skilled with tools, he works HVAC as a regular career. That type of mechanical work makes for craftsmen who are good with hand tools, good at planning several steps ahead and good at diagnosing solutions, He is well suited to building a unique airframe. Most people new to homebuilding would be far better served by a more common airframe, but Justin’s skills and his willingness to enlist assistance, make his choice realistic.
.
.
Above, Justin samples my backyard range and 60 year old Remington 513T “Rangemaster”. He is an experienced hunter and skilled marksman. He nailed the yellow steel plate dead center, hit the remains of the Chinese multimeter barely visible in red, and went on the shoot the 1/4″ edge of a steel plate laying on top of the backstop, all off-hand.
.
.
Above, a smile while fitting a nose bowl and standard spinner. the mount looks low but it is taller than it appears, the crank is 45″ off the ground in wheel landing position. This will not be a clearance issue at all with a correct diameter prop. Notice how the gear and suspension angle was corrected since the first pictures 2 days ago. This is the kind of thing we can rapidly correct in the hangar.
.
.
Above, the satisfaction of progress, of having a plan come together. Later in the year, when the outcome of the Super Bowl has long faded, Justin will take his airplane out to the flight line for its first time. This will happen because he made a plan and decided he would work on his plane this day and spend the balance of it driving the 855 miles back home. He chose to do this rather than be a spectator today. Nothing wrong with having fun, but make sure it isn’t a poor substitute for what you really wanted to do this year.
.
Wewjr.
.
Traditional Homebuilding, Into the night.
Builders,
8:30 PM here in Florida, Saturday night and 65F out. We are closing in on completing Justin’s custom mount. Another hour at the weld bench and Vern will have it polished off. Over the years I figure we have made nearly 50 one of a kind mounts, this is the first Starlet mount, but not the last custom one. I have long said, if the only impediment to a builder using a Corvair is the mount for his plane of choice doesn’t yet exist, I will make it.
.
Earlier today Justin and I stopped by the SPA shop where Dan and Rachel were working on a Saturday afternoon, as many small business owners do. They also have plans for this years flying season. The offered to let Justin try a Panther cowl, exhaust and intake, to check their fit to see if making custom items was avoidable. It was the kind of things old school homebuilders always did for each other.
.
People have said some nice things about the work we do supporting builders. My actions here are not original ideas. they are patterned after how the best of homebuilders I met decades ago treated the ‘new to building’ me.
.
I was fortunate enough to know the EAA’s founder Paul Poberezney. I exchanged letters with him, wrote for his personal magazine, was the first guest speaker at his SAA flyin. He was human, not perfect, but he really did understand how to treat people and look for their better side. Even if aviation really wasn’t a ‘brotherhood’ he believed it could be, and went about proving this one day at a time. His reward was largely the same one I’m after: getting to spend your days in the company of better people. You can’t pay the bills with it, but it goes a long way toward having a satisfying life.
.
.
Above, Vern putting the last of the Tig weld beads on the mount. This is where skill and experience come into play. We built the ‘tray’ in my fixture, welded some of the bottom elements complete, tacked all the tubes with it fixtured to the firewall, but all the finishing welds are done with the mount free on the bench. If you weld too much in one spot it will badly warp without a fixture. By considering the duration, sequence and angle of the beads, the welds can be done with almost no distortion. Knowing just how much duration, which sequence and what angle comes from a few decades of mounts.
.
WW.
.
Stolp Starlet Corvair Mount in progress.
Builders,
Below is a look at making a one of a kind Corvair mount.
.
The elevation of the engine in the airframe is set by several factors like specified thrust line. On some designs you can alter this with caution, ie, my Pietenpol mount as 3.5″ higher than BHP’s because I deleted the cooling fan. But I wouldn’t try that trick on a tandem wing plane like a Dragonfly, because it has no elevator to counter act the potential pitch change.
.
A very important cosmetic issue: The cowl must slope down from the base of the windscreen to the spinner. May sound dumb, but Dan Weseman and I have discussed countless times that an upslope there is a mortal design sin. Along with this, the tops of the main gear tires must point outboard slightly, otherwise the plane looks stupidly heavy. (there are also important dynamic reasons for this) Dan always adds that all fixed gear planes must also have wheel pants, but I don’t agree, but he is too big to argue with.
.
.
Above, down slope to the spinner being assured. This give about a plans height thrust line anyway. The distance from the firewall to the motor is set by CG calculation. This plane had previously been finished and briefly flown on a C-90-12 by a meticulous builder……who made a colossally stupid error on his CG, weighing the plane in a 3 point attitude... it took me 5 minutes looking at his numbers to spot this, his main gear moments were in the wrong place by 1.5″, but his DAR never saw this. Lesson: Trust your own training, don’t assume another homebuilder got anything right.
.
If you compare this picture with the previous one, we spent 3 hours yesterday correcting the sag in the main gear which gave the wrong camber to the wheels. The rubber bushings in the Starlet’s suspension design were motor mounts from a popular 1960s car……..The Chevy Corvair.
.
WW.
.
Justin Peters: 855 miles to a custom mount and a 3.0L test run.
Builders:
Last night at midnight I waited outside our airpark entrance for a truck trailer, plane and a builder at the end of a full day drive. Out of the dark, it was Justin Peters, he just logged 855 miles driving down from Ohio. He come on a mission of productivity, as he intends to fly a very special bird on Corvair power this season.
.
