EAA Corvair Webinar- Wednesday Night, 5/9/12
Friends,
We invite you to visit www.eaa.org/webinar to register for a Hump Day forum on Flying Corvair Planes 7 p.m. Central tomorrow, May 9.
I will narrate a 30-45 minute discussion on Corvair conversions. Charlie Becker of the EAA will moderate 30-45 minutes of live e-mail questions from the audience. We will have a chance to cover some of the new stuff and discuss the upcoming Corvair College #23. The event will be kept for later viewing in the EAA’s archives, but I encourage builders to try to catch it live.
Charlie said already a large number of people signed up for the Webcast. One of the things that I like about a good turnout for events like this and for the forums I give every year at Oshkosh is that it gives the people at headquarters direct evidence that there are still many, many people in the EAA who are interested in craftsmanship, learning and affordable projects. The people at headquarters are pretty smart, and over the years they have adjusted the content and focus of EAA publications to reflect the interests of the membership. Our association has had some large changes in leadership in the past year, and I am sure that the new people will take some time to better understand the many different expectations of the EAA membership. For my small part, I am always looking for positive ways that we can make sure the leadership has a clearer picture of the interests of the traditional homebuilding element of the association. Participating in this Web forum is a good opportunity to accomplish this while getting more information out to builders who have selected the Corvair as the engine that best fits their goals.
If you are on other groups that may have potential Corvair builders on them, we would greatly appreciate you sending out a short message so other builders have a chance to catch this event. We hope to have you there. Thank you-William
Corvair College #23 schedule.
Friends,
A number of builders who are planning on attending CC#23 have asked for a thumbnail sketch of the schedule for the event. Here is the basic format:
Friday, June 8th,
11am; Check in begins, this goes on all day, and some people will arrive later in the event. When you arrive, the first stop should be at the desk to get your credentials and so that we know who is on hand.
12 noon; Work starts. Because a great number of people travel to the college on Friday, we have a gradual start between noon and dinner. I use this time to get a first had look at each builders project and get them launched. I get a rough idea of the order that the engines will be going on the test stand.
2pm: After things are started, we begin engine runs. We almost always start each college with an engine already on the stand. We get a crew of 3-5 people who are not working on their own engine at the college to be the ‘run crew.’ This is usually headed by a guy who has already run his engine at a previous college, (Dan Glaze, your nominated), This crew will do the bulk of the work removing and installing the engines on the run stand. An engine takes about 15 minutes to install, and 25 minutes to remove (work is slower when the parts are hot). Many more people and the builder of each engine are going to jump in on later tests, but I start with a nucleus group that gets a review on the nuts and bolts and safety procedures.
2pm to 6pm; While builders are getting started, we will prep and run any engines that arrive at the college assembled. In small groups I will show builders the pre- run inspection, pre oiling, valve adjustment, distributor installation and static timing.
6pm to 7pm; This is a “hard stop.” At this point, we will take a break for dinner. We usually have several dozen pizzas brought in. During a hard stop I need everyone to put don all the tools and take a break. At this point we will have opening remarks and introductions, and some tactical notes. Having everyone stop is important because I need to make sure that everyone hears the plans and safety brief.
7pm to 9:00; Back to work. Note; the running of engines stops at sunset. If you like to drink beer, I politely ask that you hold off until after sunset, as it’s a bad mix with running engines. The airport we are using is a city owned facility, and the manager is going out of his way to help us. Out of respect this means that we make his life easier by drinking beer out of cups and removing all the empties. (It goes without saying that anyone sipping a beer is going to be taking a break from any of the engine run action.)
9:30 pm Host and tech crew stops. Builders will be welcome to work as late as they like. The host and tech crew stops at this point. If we have a builders component that needs a weld, a special repair or a test or on the spot machining in order for his project to advance, we head back to our personal hangars to accomplish this. We also have our own day one debrief and make minor adjustments for day 2. I always plan on getting this wrapped up by midnight, but it often takes until the wee hours of the morning, which is why it is important that we actually switch gears at 9pm.
Saturday June 9th
8am, Get started. Breakfast will be on hand, and builders are welcome to start before this, but we will not run anything before this.
12 noon ‘Hard stop’ Group photo and lunch, introduction of pilots and more notes;
1:00 back to work. Through out the afternoon, a will be breaking of builders in groups of 4-5 people and giving them hands on instruction in individual aspects of the engines prep. Mark from Falcon will be on hand doing the same thing. Dan Weseman will be giving several demonstrations of how his bearing is installed. If there is a specific thing you would like to see, let me know when you check in. Most of these tasks will happen many times at the event, so you will have numerous chances to see it done and participate. During the event, Grace will be on hand to get everyone parts organized and Rachel Weseman will be overall event coordinator. We are all there to help you get the most out of the event. This begins with every builder showing up with a positive attitude. In 22 colleges, I have had nearly 200 engines run. The people who got it done all came with some prep work and a positive attitude. Working at home alone in a sequential manner is drinking little 8oz. bottles of water. The college is like drinking from a firehose. It is far more messy, and it requires some attitude adjustment, but in the end the rate of transfer is much better and builders realize that the small adjustment is well worth the progress.
6pm to 730 Hard stop for Dinner. Main meal of the event. We want to have everyone take the time to recognize the people who have flown in and people who have come to the college solely to volunteer.
7:30 back to work. On saturday night, work proceeds at a slower pace, as 50% of the people on hand use these hours as social time. We do not run engines after 6pm on saturday to keep the noise down. The tech crew will be on hand until 9pm, but builders are invited to work as late as they like.
Sunday, June 10
Work starts at 8am. Again, builders can start before, but we don’t run engines before this. Breakfast will be on hand. work will continue steadily. Traditionally, things wind down after 12 noon because most people are heading back home after a few hours in the morning. Although we begin cleaning up at noon, the tech crew will be on hand to help anyone finish up an engine that is close to running. We generally aim to get things wrapped up by 4pm. In the past we have worked long into Sunday night, but I am making a real effort to discourage our friends from starting a 6,8, or 10 hour drive home at 10pm on Sunday. We pack enough stuff into the 50 hours of the college that even stong coffee won’t keep you awake for long on Sunday night.-ww
Corvair College #23 – 40 Days away
Friends,
We are now just 40 days away from Corvair college #23. Dan and I are putting a lot of prep work into this event to make sure that every builder attending gets the most out of the event. We have developed specific checklists for each builders goals to allow them to come prepared for progress.
When you sign up for the college, please directly email me a paragraph or two on your plans, and I will gladly send you information on the specific items you will need. Please include a phone number, as I can often cover some variables faster on the phone. We will also use this information to break the builders down into smaller groups and organize some specific instructional sequences aimed at small groups. For example, a I going to show everyone in attendance how to use a timing light on a running engine, how to install a distributor, and how to set valve timing. We are going to do this in groups of 4-5 people to make sure that everyone learns these skills hands on.
Having Dan, Mark Petz and Myself on hand means that we can cover this, even for a large number of builders. We have other experienced builders like Dan Glaze, veteran of several colleges, returning to assist builders with tasks like exchanging engines on the run stand. Even though we are aiming for a large turn out, the expert to builder ratio will still be very favorable for good individual progress.
The link to the registration page for CC#23 is: https://corvaircollege.wufoo.com/forms/corvair-college-23-registration/
If you have not been to one of my previous Colleges, take the time to read about any of our Colleges from this section of our Web site: http://flycorvair.com/cc21.html
College #23 will be run just like previous events where the primary focus is on the progress you will make on your own engine. After 12 years of Colleges with hundreds of builders in attendance you can find countless stories of the value of attending a college, told by builders just like you. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by.
Question: What kind of person attends a Corvair College? Answer: All types of characters do. Above is a picture of a Corvair crankshaft core that arrived in our shop, sent by Corvair College #22 builder Kendal Darter. It is part of a batch of cranks that we are having processed as a group for CC#23. When a crank arrives wrapped an embroidered sweatshirt with a Crown Royal bag over each end, you can safely call the builder a character. If you local EAA chapter is light on serious builders, or if you consider yourself a little out of the mainstream, sign up for Corvair College #23, you will fit right in with the broad variety of serious builders that will be at the event.
Sun N Fun 2012
Friends,
Sun N Fun 2012 is now in the history books. This was my 24th consecutive year at the event. Many people wanted to know how it went, asking about the new president’s efforts to improve the event and the lingering effect of last year’s tornado. The answer largely boils down to a success story. The crowd was about the same as it has been from 2007 onward. (The peak year for attendance at Sun N Fun is rumored to be 1997 or ’98.) My particular observation was that the crowd was smaller, maybe 80,000 people, but I thought they were quality people. Almost everybody we spoke to had a sincere interest in aviation, and many of them specifically stated that they came to Sun N Fun to learn something. This is always a good sign.
I rarely measure the success of an air show by gross sales. The number can be very deceiving if you happen to sell two or three complete engines. For me the real measure of any airshow is the number of new Conversion Manuals sold. These represent fresh builders entering the Corvair movement. With fluctuations in the economy, builders will accordingly take a longer or shorter time to work their way through to a complete engine. Once they get started, I have a really good track record of keeping people motivated with new information and events like the Colleges. By this measure, 2012 was a very healthy year for Sun N Fun, selling more Manuals than we have in the past three or four years.
As guests in our booth this year, we had Dan and Rachel Weseman representing their newly formed company, SportPerformanceAircraft.com. Most people in the Corvair movement know Dan as the builder of the Wicked Cleanex and the developer of his very popular fifth bearing. Dan’s current project is his new single seat Panther aircraft. He had a completed wing on display along with a fuselage, tail cone and landing gear. All of the engineering and drawings for the design are complete. He is fabricating the prototype over the next few months and then will begin testing. He had no Panther parts nor drawings for sale at Sun N Fun, Dan and Rachel just wanted to bring it out and show people in person what the project looked like. If possible, they are shooting to fly the aircraft before Oshkosh this year.
Below are a collection of photographs we took at Sun N Fun. As usual, they are mostly about people. While we bring a lot of interesting hardware to shows, invariably the most interesting thing that’s in our booth are successful builders who are there to share their experience with those just starting. Sadly, many aviation companies do everything they can to keep the people who have purchased their products from meeting people who are considering buying them. They wouldn’t look very good if their previous buyers were asked for a testimonial. When you’re looking at all the photos below, consider that our efforts with the Corvair movement are just the reverse of this. The strongest motivator to the new builder is one of our experienced ones. Next time you’re at an air show, observe this phenomenon and you’ll have a really good litmus test of any business or product you’re looking at.
2012 is the 52nd year of Corvair powered flight. This means that Corvairs have been in the air for about half of the history of powered flight. The first half of the Corvair’s history was largely dominated by the story that Bernard Pietenpol wrote. His work was the greatest single factor in the success of the engine between 1960-85. In these years, he led the vast majority of builders to the finish line with a simple engine conversion that proved to be very smooth and reliable. My work with the Corvair has been evolutionary on top of his. Although many of the things we have done with the engine are very diverse, sophisticated and advanced compared to Bernard’s work, I never discount the fact that his pioneering efforts paved a path that made my work possible.
One of the first questions that tire kickers and journalists ask when they meet you at an air show is “What’s new and exciting?” My answer is always the same “Nothing. Why don’t we talk about what is old and flight proven?”
The word “new” to me in its aviation context is synonymous with the term unproven. I find “exciting” a very good term to describe the discovery that an unproven component is unreliable. The Corvair has been tested in the crucible of experimental aviation for the past five decades. What can and cannot be done with the engine is well defined and understood. Proven engines have been long flown and are easy to replicate. Only a very naïve person would look at any engine newly introduced to the marketplace and somehow feel that it will not experience any type of developmental or teething problems. Even if the engine itself is an outstanding piece, there will still be installation issues to define, and builder practices to develop. I defy any experimental aircraft builder to show me any engine that has not gone through this process. Here in the sixth decade of homebuilding, to suddenly expect any engine to arrive on the marketplace and be the first to have zero introductory issues is simply unrealistic. Some of the issues will require a simple service note and a change in practice, others will require the influx of cubic dollars that many of the businesses do not have. In the land of Corvairs, we are well beyond these points, and builders selecting the Corvair can proceed with confidence that can be attached only to a few engines such as the O-200. I firmly believe that people are entitled to spend their own money and time on any engine that they like, and if they wish to pursue new and exciting, they should. The aim of my work is never to be new and exciting, it is always been to be old and proven. This is the primary philosophical difference between myself and many of the other engine gurus. Experimental aviation has many choices, and builders need only find the one that matches their own needs and perspective.
From left to right above: Charles Leonard, who has been flying his Corvair powered 601 for five years; Dan Glaze who completed and test ran his 2700cc/Weseman bearing engine at Corvair College #20, which is destined for his CH 750; Dick Holtz, who is working on completing his 3,000cc/Roy bearing engine at Corvair College #23 to be installed in his Just Highlander; Dave Glassmeyer, who ran his 2,850/Roy bearing engine at Corvair College #20 and has plans to install it in his Kitfox Model V; and Dan Weseman of Wicked Cleanex fame brings up the other end of the frame.
On the left above is Gary Collins of Ohio, whose 2,700 cc Weseman bearing engine ran at Corvair College #20. Its ultimate destination is his Carlson Sparrow II project which is now 95% complete. On the right is Dave Glassmeyer. In the background are some of the items that Dan and Rachel brought to display.
Dan with the fuselage of his Panther prototype. On the other side of the fuselage is Greg Jannakos of Georgia, who has been flying his Corvair powered 601 HDS for seven years. He recently retrofitted his engine with a Weseman bearing. Greg’s Zenith was the second one to fly, right after our own 601 XL. There are many pictures of Greg’s aircraft on our FlyCorvair.com Web site, dating all the way back to 2005. We have now had eight years of Corvair powered Zeniths. With more than 50 of them flying, we are at the point where we can call them old and proven. New and exciting is fun to read about if you’re a tire kicker. If you’re a real builder, you can build a plan of personal success on old and proven.
Corvair/KR pilots Bob Lester, left, and Steve Makish, right. These two have been friends for decades. Between them they have about 800 hours of Corvair powered flight time. They both hail from South Florida. The first year that Steve flew his Corvair powered KR to Sun N Fun was 2000. Bob’s made it to the event the following year. If you have not spent time around these two guys, you’re missing some quality entertainment. The best way I have of describing it for people who are yet to meet them is that Steve is Bugs Bunny and Bob is Daffy Duck. Picture the two of them yelling back and forth to Elmer Fudd: “It’s rabbit season!” “It’s duck season!”
Above is Dan Weseman at left, and Colorado Pietenpol/Corvair builder Rick Holland with our our 3 Liter display engine. Rick’s plane is nearing the finish line after a number of years of steady work. His engine features Electric Start, all our Gold Conversion Parts and a Weseman bearing. The 3 Liter display engine is destined for Lary Hatfield’s Zenith 750. This engine is equipped with a Weseman bearing and a set of Falcon heads. This is the same engine we were using to test a mechanical fuel injection system. For display purposes at airshows, engines are equipped with a dummy Intake Manifold and carburetor and a sealed Exhaust System. This allows builders to understand the relationship of these components and installation, but effectively seals the engine from any type of dirt or moisture.
Above, the lovely Sandrine and Mark Meehan, Corvair builders from Orlando, Florida. A great team, very inspiring.
Above, Joe Horton, left, and Lynn Dingfelder, right, both of Pennsylvania, inside our booth. Joe again flew his KR-2S all the way down for Sun N Fun. His aircraft now has about 750 hours on it. It is powered by a 3,100 cc Weseman bearing engine. Lynn’s aircraft is a 601 XL. It has a 2700 cc Weseman bearing engine, and has been flying since 2008. Both of these men have gone out of their way to return to Colleges and airshows and share their experience with Corvairs with other builders. Very few other products in aviation have this type of spirit associated with their use.
Above is a look at our booth. In the foreground in front of the trailer is the Panther’s completed test wing. Renting a booth at Sun N Fun, plus paying for the tent and the camping, runs several thousand dollars. With all the prep work, the setup, the week’s display, the travel time, and the packing, unpacking, packing and unpacking, you’re looking at a two-week commitment. Yet face-to-face meetings with builders and giving them a chance to meet successful builders and pilots is a very important part of the Corvair movement. In a previous post I mentioned that most alternative engine LLCs have a three-year lifespan where they show up, take a lot of money, milk it for a while and then disappear. 2012 was no different. Missing from the scene were a number of here today gone tomorrow LLCs. A customer of one such firm actually stood in our booth briefly and told me that he was looking forward to getting some technical answers from the people he bought an engine from last year. He politely asked us if we had seen where their booth was, as he could not find the business name in the air show directory. I took little pleasure in telling him that the business that he was looking for had evaporated months earlier. I don’t think he actually believed me, as I later saw him asking pretty much the same question at a different engine display.
You never know what will turn up at an air show. Above, I sit in an extremely historic homebuilt, the McDonald S-20. The designer stands by the wing. Although I have never seen the aircraft before and the only pictures of it I know of are in a 40-year-old Sport Aviation, I recognized the aircraft immediately. McDonald was standing next to the plane talking to the EAA’s Charlie Becker. He was a little bit surprised that I could walk right up and identify the aircraft, and that I knew of many of the technical details in it. He insisted that I sit in the aircraft and appreciate the ergonomics of the cockpit, something he was particularly proud of designing. If you talk to people marketing things at airshows, even experimental aircraft and engines, many of them cannot tell you the difference between a Glasair and a Lancair. It may not be critical to their sales task, but it makes their claims of being in love with experimental aviation a little hard to believe. I will freely admit that there are many things about which I know very little: Computers, international cooking, agriculture, baroque art, matrix methods and laplace transforms, child rearing, and a staggering list of other topics. But when it comes to homebuilts, I know the subject quite well and have a great appreciation for its finest examples.
Above, Corvair/601 builder Phil Maxson from western New Jersey. Phil flew his plane down to Sun N Fun, taking the record for the longest Corvair powered flight to Sun N Fun 2012. He flew about 20 miles further than Joe Horton. Phil’s aircraft has been flying since 2006. His engine is a 2700cc/Weseman bearing engine. The YouTube video of his aircraft flying over the Florida coast has over 30,000 hits on it.
On Friday night, Dan and Rachel and I hosted an informal cookout in the campground. We had about 30 people on hand, a nice mixture of old friends and new faces. In the foreground in the blue shirt is well-known Corvair pilot Gary Coppen.
On the left in the Hawaiian shirt is my primary go to guy for engineering and CAD work, Spencer Gould. Spencer is a fellow Embry Riddle alumni, who currently works for Pratt Whitney. His one-of-a-kind Corvair powered aerobatic composite airplane was featured in an earlier Projects blog post here at FlyCorvair.net. In the blue shirt next to Spencer is Mick Myal, the founder and original editor of Contact! magazine.
One of the nice things about holding a relaxed evening in the campground is the fact that no one has to drive anywhere after the evening winds down. Dan and Rachel filled a couple of big coolers with beer and soda, and had a full-size gas grill running for a couple of hours. Half a dozen builders hung out until the wee hours of the morning. The following day Rachel pointed out to me that the donation jar came within six dollars of covering the several hundred dollar tab for the event. I take this as a sign that people had a very good time. The evening was a very nice addition to several years of informal barbecues for Corvair people at Sun N Fun.
In the blue shirts at the center are John Godwin, left, and Mike Oberlies, right. These two guys are well known for catering the barbecues at South Carolina Corvair Colleges. They spent all week volunteering in the workshop area of Sun N Fun. They’re both building Corvair powered Pietenpols that they are planning on finishing in 2014. The diversity of characters attracted to the Corvair movement is really impressive. While I am sure the purchasers of Rotax engines are good people, I honestly doubt they have anywhere near the type of diversity in their ranks that we do in the Corvair movement. Building and flying planes is meant to be fun, and I find it most rewarding when it’s done in the company of some real individuals.
Above, another photo from the barbecue. On the extreme left, in the pink Panther shirt, is the lovely Rhonda Weseman, Dan’s mother, and sheetmetalsmith from JSWeseman.com.
In the above photo, a Sonex builder next to Dan. We are having a good laugh disguising his identity because on his shoulder is a motor mount that mates the Sonex airframe to a Corvair engine, creating a “Cleanex.” Here we are kidding around about the man in the yellow shirt entering “The Builder Identity Protection Program” because the combination is not approved by John Monnett, the airframe’s designer. In years past, John was known for having low tolerance for people modifying his excellent airframe designs. Truthfully, I know him fairly well and he really doesn’t get that upset about it as long as builders choosing other engines do not level unfair criticism at his selected engines. There are now about 10 Cleanexes flying, and Dan is glad to work with any builder who has chosen the combination as long as they respectfully avoid Internet comments that would raise John Monnett’s blood pressure.
Above, old friends from the era when I was president and Grace was newsletter editor for EAA Chapter 288 at Spruce Creek. At left, Roy Shannon, and center, Steve Bacom Jr., both VariEze builders. On the right is Arnold Holmes, long time Corvair pilot and host of Corvair College #17.
Above, a photo of Joe Horton’s Corvair powered KR-2S out on the flightline. The aircraft now has almost 750 hours on it. I have very clear memories of Joe showing Grace and me photos of it under construction at Sun N Fun 2002. He has since flown the aircraft back to the air show a number of times. This type of experience is the definition of success in homebuilding. On the Internet tonight there are countless people who will talk about what they will do someday. For the great majority of them, someday will never come. The core of my work is to demonstrate a path to an affordable engine that is an integral part of a builder’s successful journey to the flightline. When you look at it coldly, everyone at home working on their plane tonight is going to end up in one of two groups: those who never finished or those who will be keeping Joe company in the sky. The largest single factor in determining which group you will be in has nothing to do with money, experience, resources or time. The largest single factor is simply your ability to put some good decisions together and follow a proven path to success. This starts with rejecting the negative messages sent out almost continuously by people who themselves have not and will not succeed at homebuilding. A guy like Joe, who has been to the finish line, understands not just the skills and equipment required, but far more important the attitude and the perspective that got him all the way through. It’s your life and your decision, choose wisely. Homebuilding is intensely time and resource consuming, and it frequently doesn’t offer a lot of second chances. Any builder reading this can decide that this will be his year and he will have his day in the sun just like Joe.
Schwartz Engine Runs at CC #22
Above at left with me is Blaine Schwartz of Texas, a Zenith 750 builder who assembled his 2850 cc, Roy bearing equipped engine with Falcon heads at Corvair College #22. In this photo, we hold Blaine’s license plate displaying that he is a devout Chevrolet fan. 10 years ago, General Motors put up billboard advertisements with pictures of red Chevrolet Corvettes. The only caption they put on the bottom of the sign was big print that said “They don’t write songs about Volvos.” Building Corvairs is part of my lifelong admiration and passion for Detroit engines.
The above photo shows where Blaine started midmorning on Saturday. Roy shipped the case already assembled with his bearing on it with the crank and cam in it. This is how he delivers his product to builders. This is why at first glance it appears to be substantially more expensive than the parts to build a Weseman bearing engine. Blaine found it a good value and worth the wait to get a running start at his engine. This assembly from Roy is completely compatible with all of the products that we sell and directly works with Falcon heads.
In the above photo I am demonstrating to Blaine the use of my Snap-On electronic torque wrench on the rod bolts.
An overhead view showing the Pistons and Cylinders installed. Blaine’s engine is a 2850 cc powerplant, utilizing a Piston and Cylinder Set from us. The cylinders used in the Kit are Clark’s full fin heavy duty cylinders, bored .105” oversize.Clark’s does this boring for us on their very accurate machinery.
In the above photo, I use a soft rubber mallet to tap on Blaine’s Gold Prop Hub. Engines equipped with Roy’s fifth bearing use a Short Gold Prop Hub.
The above position, with the engine standing on its nose, is my preferred position in which to set the valves. This photo also gives a good view of the full fin heavy duty cylinders from Clark’s that are part of our 2850 cc Piston Kit.
Above we are bolting on the Front Starter and giving it a good look before taking the engine outside to fire it up on the ramp.
30 hours later the engine is on the test stand ready for its run on Sunday afternoon. We utilized the engine to teach many people the assembly and priming sequence and how to install a Distributor.
Above, Blaine’s engine a few minutes into its test run. We did a full 30 minute break in on the engine with the RPM between 1800 and 2200. The engine ran flawlessly. Hats off to Blaine, John and Becky for running their engines at Corvair College #22.
Sun N Fun 2012-March 27 to April 1
Friends,
2012 will be my 24th consecutive year at Sun N Fun. The aviation event has long been known as an exchange point of information and parts for homebuilders. Long before it evolved into the major air show with many different facets that it is today, Sun N Fun was built around a core group of homebuilders, ultralight people, and antique aircraft fans. The air show has always devoted a lot of space and effort to education. The workshops and forum areas have always been given a high priority, even as the air show has evolved to a more commercial setting.
For the past 17 years I have given forums on Corvair engines at Sun N Fun. Over the years these have evolved from being delivered in the Contact! magazine engine forum tent, to now being delivered in the three-story Education Center. Over the past 24 years I’ve watched Sun N Fun evolve and change in many different ways. At any major air show it is very easy to point out elements of it that don’t appeal to you. But you should never allow the fact that corporate jets are also there deter you from attending an air show where you have a really good chance to learn a lot of information, make new friends and make progress on your own homebuilt project. For all the other changes at Sun N Fun, it still offers an excellent opportunity for homebuilders, and particularly Corvair fans, to cover these three points.
As we have done in previous years we have our own commercial booth at Sun N Fun, NO-34, located on the runway side of Building C. If you’re not familiar with the location, it doesn’t matter as you can always look it up in the official program under FlyCorvair.com. We will be manning this booth every day of the air show and I will be on hand to answer any question Corvair builders have. We will have many new items on display and be able to cover technical questions with all the hardware at hand. As with every other air show we attend, we will have a full complement of the parts that are in our regular catalog. If there is anything special you would like to pick up, please e-mail us in advance and we will put your name on it and you can get it while you’re there. One of the featured items that we are bringing in quantity this year are our Electronic/Points Distributors; we will have plenty of them for sale and I will be giving specific pointers on their installation and timing in Corvair engines. If you’d like to pick one up at the show, they’re an easy item to take home with you.
As we always do, we will be glad to inspect any builder’s engine component that he brings to the show. Often it’s something simple that you can carry in and let us get a look at. Other times, we will be glad to walk out to your pickup truck in the parking lot after hours and get a good look at a core motor, a pair of heads, anything you care to bring. As many people know, we are planning on having Corvair College #23 in Florida the second week in June. We will have more details on this College at Sun N Fun. CC #23 is going to be marked by an enormous amount of hard-core engine building. If you’re planning on attending #23, I highly encourage you to bring every part you can with you to Sun N Fun to allow us to pre-inspect it and come up with a personal game plan for you to make as much progress as possible at the upcoming College. We are going to run a large group of crankshafts through the nitriding and grinding process before the College. If you would like to get in on this, bring your crank along to Sun N Fun. Additionally, we are going to get a lot of case prep work done beforehand, so builders arriving at #23 will have everything lined up to jump right into assembly. Although they are separate events, Sun N Fun will be the launchpad for some of the most productive builders at CC #23.
Through Contact! magazine we have again been lined up to give several forums on the Corvair in Room 10 of the Education Center Building, now known as the Central Florida Aerospace Academy. They are as follows:
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11 a.m. Wednesday, March 28th,
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11 a.m. Thursday, March 29th, and
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11 a.m. Friday, March 30th, 2012.
On the social side, we are jointly hosting the Corvair barbecue with Dan and Rachel Weseman of SPA on Friday evening. Stop by our air show booth anytime during the week and we will get you directions to the exact location where it is being held in the campground. Last year, we had an excellent turnout of people and a grand time and we hope to see many of the same friends and some new ones also. The barbecue has always been an excellent place to get to know other people who are fans of the same engine you are, and in many cases building the same airframe. Many of the best memories I have of Sun N Fun took place at barbecues in the campground. Don’t miss this year’s cookout.
With a few days before the event, I feel particularly optimistic about Sun N Fun. As many people know, the event has had a significant change in management in the past year. The new president is a serious aviator, and represents a powerful new force to reorganize the old institution. One man does not correct all the flaws of a 38-year-old giant air show in six months of work. But it is fair to say that John Leenhouts has put a titanic effort into redirecting the focus of Sun N Fun to making sure that every person attending gets the best experience possible. It may take two or even three years before most of his ideas can be put into noticeable effect, and he will always have to contend with TSA required security measures that make every airport seem less friendly. But we have great hopes that the air show that we have been a part of for more than two decades will have real and permanent improvements under his leadership.
Thank You.
William
Franklin Engine Runs at CC ##22 KGTU Spring Break 2012
Above, Grace, John Franklin and his new running 2700 cc Corvair powerplant. John worked on this engine at Corvair College #21, and finished it at CC #22. It is a smooth running powerplant that features a simple stock oil system and no fifth bearing. This is a good example of the baseline economical powerplant headed to a Pietenpol. If John chooses, he may later upgrade to a Weseman bearing or any of our Gold System Parts without a major rework on the engine. This engine has a nice set of Falcon heads on it and a first-class nitrided crankshaft.
Above, Kevin Purtee, Guy Bowen and Greg Crouchley surround John’s engine after it is placed on the run stand. We primed the engine with an electric drill for a long time with the valve covers off to make sure that the lifters all flowed oil before we ran the engine. Because it was cold, one of the lifters was very reluctant to flow oil. After the test run, we brought the engine back inside, cracked open the valve cover, and confirmed that warming the oil and the test run had gotten the system to flow plenty of oil. When you build up the engine yourself, you have the confidence to look into things like this and verify that it is to your satisfaction. Building a Corvair is about building your own skills and getting away from being beholden to mechanics, engine distributors and importers. Real freedom is knowing that you can count on yourself.
Above, John and I check the oil flow on the engine.
During the assembly phase we went over a number of details, including instrumentation. While we do have some very high-end showpieces at the Colleges, the events are still largely about rank-and-file builders building powerplants that will serve their individual needs. I always encourage people to build the best powerplant they can afford, but the Colleges are about educating people to judiciously apply the money in their budget to get the maximum effect for it.
At Colleges, you will have plenty of help for any task at hand. This was the real spirit that all aviation events were supposed to have but many are sadly lacking. I can’t fix the rest of the world, but Corvair College will always have the spirit of camaraderie and friendship between aviators that has always been a central part of good aviation events.
John’s engine ran after dinner on Saturday night, and he had many fellow builders to cheer on his achievement. It was chilly and wet out, but John didn’t seem to mind at all.
A milestone event in the building experience: Your engine runs for the first time. John shares a few words over the sound of the powerplant with Grace.
Above, John’s engine, a good example of a baseline Corvair powerplant. Notice its stock oil system, including a 12-plate cooler. Internally, however, this engine is built of first-class components. If John chooses later upgrades, he will not have to do anything internal to the engine as the upgrades will bolt on externally. He made some good choices about quality components internally where it would be difficult to go back and upgrade, while leaving open the possibility of a Weseman bearing or further evolved oil system. A Corvair engine like the one above has approximately $4000 in parts in it. There will always be people who would rather buy a C-85 without logs out of the flymart for the same kind of money no matter how many times I point out that a quality C-85 does not need to be dragged all the way to Oshkosh to be sold for $5000 (only the bad ones have to be transported that far and sold anonymously), some people will still try to get away with such an alleged bargain. That’s their choice; they aren’t in experimental aviation to learn things, they’re here to try to get away with stuff. Conversely, a guy like John has put in some real work, learned a whole lot of stuff, and has an engine that is internally new and well proven for the task ahead of it. It also comes with all of our support and the camaraderie of Colleges. Not everyone values such things, but for those who do, we have plenty more Colleges lined up and I will be in this for as long as I live.
After verifying the oil flow in John’s engine, we took it back out and ran it again just for the heck of it. It sounded great, and he was very proud of building it, as well he should be.
Shipman Engine at CC#22
Above is a look at Becky Shipman’s engine before I finished the assembly. Notice that the fins extend all the way around the head studs. These are 1960 Corvair cylinders machined 1/16 inch over bore. This makes them standard bore for a 1961 to ’69 Corvair. After carefully machining a notch in the bottom of the cylinders, it is possible to mate them to a set of 1964 heads and a long stroke crankshaft. This combination produces one of the lightest Corvair engines without resorting to unreliable or unproven components. Although these cylinders have more fins on them than standard 1964-69 cylinders, the fins themselves are thinner in cross-section and the cylinders are lighter. 1964 heads are about 1 1/2 pounds lighter each than ’66 and later heads. A number of small details like this when watched closely add up to an engine that is approximately 10 pounds lighter than typical Corvair powerplants. The cylinder heads on this engine were prepped for me by Falcon. A close look shows that the pistons in the engine are Sealed Power products with coated skirts. This particular set was made in the U.S.A. before production was corporately outsourced to India. Connecting rod bolts in the engine are ARP. The valves on the engine are one piece stainless with rotators on the exhausts.
Above is a view of the engine complete with its Gold System Components installed and prepped for a test run. I broke in the engine for approximately an hour before we brought it to the College for a further run and delivery to Becky Shipman. This view shows how thin 1960 fins are by looking at the upper stud on the number five cylinder. This engine is equipped with a Weseman bearing fed by the silver braided oil line leading directly from the Gold Oil Filter Housing to the bearing behind the Ring Gear. It has the inboard section of its front Alternator Bracket installed, the gold corner of which is just barely visible. I rarely install a charging system on an engine while we are doing the break-in on the engine stand, but it is far easier to install the inboard bracket before the ring gear and the Prop Hub are in place.
Above, I stand with Becky and her running engine at the College in Texas. The engine is destined to be installed in her Zenith 650 airframe. Becky drove all the way down from Minnesota to attend the College and pick up as much technical information as possible as well as bring the engine home. Her teenage son Kyle also came down from Minnesota. He proved to be a very sharp student himself and has plans to attend the Air Force Academy.
Becky is an Ivy League trained PhD engineer who works in manufacturing for 3M company. She has a good mechanical background and a significant amount of flight experience. I am always glad to work with any builder who shows a genuine interest in learning about the engine they will be operating.
Another view of the engine during an extended run on Saturday.
After the run, the engine was brought inside, allowed to cool off and removed from the test stand so that John Franklin’s engine could be run next. At Colleges, there’s always a lot of helping hands for any task to be taken care of.
Above is another view of the same engine running in our yard in Florida. The test stand is chained down to a giant concrete block in the ground. Our neighbor Wayne, an aviator of long experience, stands next to me and enjoys the smooth sound of Corvair power.Wayneis six months away from 80 years of age, yet he is an active IA, and flies his Wittman Tailwind and RV-7 every chance he gets. I have heard many men 20 years younger than Wayne talk about not going after their dreams in aviation because they felt too old. Probably something of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Wayne never goes for such negative thinking. He constantly is working to enjoy the day at hand. Anyone attributing Wayne’s energy and longevity to clean living would do well to look closely and notice the beer can in his hand. He grew up on a rural farm in South Carolina that did not have running water, went on to raise several children as a single parent, served in the military and later as a Fire Chief in Jacksonville, has owned, built and flown a wide variety of aircraft. The common thread through his entire life experience is his outstanding positive attitude.
Here is a brief film of Becky running her engine at the College:
Corvair College #22 KGTU Texas Spring Break 2012
About two thirds of the attendees of Corvair College #22 March 9-11, 2012, gather in front of host Kevin Purtee’s Pietenpol. Kneeling in the front row is Gary Boothe of California who was attending his fifth Corvair College. Gary’s Piet is almost done and his engine ran at Corvair College 18, yet he comes back for more because the spirit and the camaraderie of the events are contagious in a modern era of aviation where a real spirit of community is often difficult to find.
Our illustrious host Kevin Purtee, above. Kevin lives two lives in aviation: His day job is piloting an Apache helicopter and his passion is his Pietenpol and his part in that community. Symbolic of his wearing two hats in aviation is the fact he’s wearing a sock monkey knit hat while making a serious point on his introduction speech.
The weather for the first two days of the event was cold and rainy, but this just kept people inside where work continued unabated. Other than being on the chilly side in the hangar, the setting of the event was outstanding. Above, Kevin has taken the cowling off his Pietenpol and gives fellow builders a tour of his engine compartment. His engine is a 2700 cc Corvair with a Weseman bearing fed by a Stromberg carburetor. It has one of our front electric starters and a gold oil system. Kevin is one of the people who gets everything out of aviation by immersing himself in it: He pointed out that he plans built his airframe, built his engine himself, and has flown it to Oshkosh twice. Hosting a Corvair College is an additional facet of an aviator who works to put back as much as he’s gotten out of flying. In the gray coat in front of the prop is Kevin’s wife Shelley Tumino; she is a very effective organizer putting most of the behind-the-scenes work into the College. They have been married only two years. Their family photo album includes lots of pictures of Shelley covering the Pietenpol’s wings. Shelley is an illustrious self-described “East Texas Girl” and is also in the U.S. Armed Forces.
A major part of what Shelley accomplished was keeping everyone fed and on scene during the entire event. A lot of detail work went into making sure that builders could remain focused while not starving to death. Above, Shelley with a big smile in front of some of the catered food that was continuously on hand for the event. 100% of the fees that we charge during registration go directly to the host to allow them to apply it to expenses directly related to the College. All the work at the College is done by volunteers, and none of them make money off an event. People outside the Corvair community are often surprised at this and somewhat incredulous. I have good reason to boast that the Corvair movement and the people involved are very special amongst modern-day aviation.
Kevin and Shelley keep a busy schedule. For example, the week before the College they were having dinner at the White House. Above, they sit in front of a portrait of First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy in the Vermeil Room. The event was to honor Iraq war veterans. Kevin was chosen to represent the State of Texas at the dinner. While his accomplishments in experimental aviation are a standout, it means a lot more when you consider that he spent most of the past eight years deployed.
Above is our foldout display table that we use at airshows and Colleges. People attending their first College often ask if we will be bringing parts for sale. The answer is that I am always bringing parts for sale wherever I am going to whatever extent the method of travel allows. At airshows and Colleges east of the Rockies, this means parts by the truck and trailer load. In years past, we were frequently backordered on a number of items, but this has long since changed and we literally brought more than 1,500 pounds of engine and installation components for sale. The Colleges are focused on learning and camaraderie, but it is important to have readily available hardware for builders.
Grace and Scoob E decided that they had so much fun at Corvair College #21 that they were definitely going to CC #22. Colleges are a lot of work and to stay in shape they have both taken up bicycling. Here on a chilly evening in Florida, the two of them log a few laps around our airpark.
When you only weigh 9 pounds, you don’t have a lot of spare insulation. When it got good and chilly, Scoob E enjoyed a pile of blankets on his chair at the College. The windy bicycle training at home had toughened him up.
This one photo gives a good idea of the size of the hangar that Shelley secured for the event. This photo was taken just after the corporate jet was rolled outside into the rain to make way for something really important in aviation. The hangar was clean and well lit and roughly 100’x100’ in size.
Above, Kevin and I talk policy by the tail of his Pietenpol, while Greg Crouchley from Rhode Island eyeballs an engine on the test stand in the background. To keep it out of the rain but demonstrate it, Kevin ran his Pietenpol in the hangar after carefully tying down the tail to a truck and chocking the wheels securely. A handful of builders present had never seen a running Corvair before and were duly impressed with the smoothness and the ease that it started with on a 45° day.
Kevin briefs other builders on his installation. His aircraft has several hundred hours on it now. Start to finish the plane took 17 years to complete. My Golden Rule of Experimental Aviation is “Persistence Pays.”
Many of the photos used in these updates were provided by Pietenpol builder Mark Chouinard of Oklahoma, at left above, to whom we extend our grateful appreciation. Standing next to him is Robert Caldwell, who ran his engine on his birthday at Corvair College 21. He is also a Pietenpol builder. It may be a little hard to scale from the photo, but Kevin’s Pietenpol sits up higher than almost any other one I have seen. Mark is a friendly and gentlemanly giant, about 6 foot five.
The award for the cleanest case at the College goes to Vic Delgado, in the center above with Grace and I. Vic is building a 3 Liter Corvair with a Weseman bearing. Grace is wearing vintage College jewelry, a necklace I made up of Corvair rod nuts strung on safety wire.
The last day of the College brought excellent weather and sunny skys. Kevin took advantage of this to give a number of people their first flight in an open cockpit aircraft and/or their first flight in a Corvair powered aircraft. Most of the people on hand were very impressed with the rate of climb available in his aircraft.
When you’re a badass like Kevin, any hat you wear is The Hat of Power.
When the going gets tough, the tough get going. When the going gets chilly, smart people congregate around the propane heater. Old school EAA builder Byron Engle sits with Grace and Scoob E and enjoys some BTUs. Byron has been in the EAA since 1972 and as an active member has seen all the changes that have happened to the organization. I take it as a great compliment when builders from his era congregate in the Corvair movement. It lets me know that we are seen as one of the faithful who remain focused on the EAA’s original motto of “Learn, Build and Fly.” Byron brought out his photo albums and shared many photographs of his projects over the years. He has a very impressive Turner T-40 in his hangar.
Norm Beauchamp, the first man ever to fly a Corvair in a Kitfox, takes a moment to goof around with an Intake Manifold. Norm is currently reworking his installation, to refine it and bring it back as a state of the art installation. His airframe is a Kitfox Model V.
At the center of this photo is Craig Anderson who drove down with his wife from South Dakota for the College. Craig is now the proud owner and restorer of the Stits Skycoupe that was our testbed 10 years ago. We’re looking at the installation of the Weseman bearing onto Craig’s case. Craig got a Set of 2850 Pistons and Cylinders from us, and a pair of cylinder heads from Falcon Machine. Along with all of our Gold Installation Parts and the existing installation on the Skycoupe airframe, he is well on his way to having the aircraft back airborne by the end of the summer. I look forward to seeing this piece of history, a part of the Corvair movement, flying around to events and Colleges.
Above, Byron Engle takes apart a core motor. Kevin and Shelley constructed dozens of individual 2′ x 4′ benches for builders to work from. They were extremely sturdy and allowed builders to walk all the way around the engine while it was being constructed. We had previously focused on 4′ x 4′ and 4′ x 8′ benches at the Colleges, but they may have started something new here.
