Here is another installment of my inventory increase series. The subject here is the Ultra Lightweight Starter, Part Number 2401.
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This has been my standard starter for the last decade. In my conversion manual, everything to do with the starting system is Group #2400.
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Pictured below are 9 starters I just finished assembling and putting into inventory. The center of the of the starter is a complex 3/8′ thick, 6061-T6 plate machined on my CNC.
‘Group 2800’ is the section of my conversion manual for Heavy Duty oil cooling systems. The cooler itself is part number 2801.
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These are very popular, nearly 90% of corvair powered aircraft use the 2800 oil system, opposed to the Group 2700 system, built around the stock GM oil cooler. Every engine I have built for nearly 20 years as been equipped with a heavy duty oil system, they just make sense for the great majority of aircraft. As a general rule, the slower a plane flies, the bigger the oil cooler needs to be (because it is seeing lower velocity cooling air and slower planes have more drag and are frequently flown at higher % power settings. )
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Because I have been a recognized engine builder operating the same business for several decades, I have been granted OEM status (Original Equipment Manufacturer) by the Aero Classics parent company. This gives me the ability to buy the coolers in quantity from the factory on the west coast, at good pricing and with quick shipments.
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An example of this: I sell this cooler for $26 less than Aircraft Spruce does, and I frequently have it in stock when they don’t. ( I also sell this particular part to non-Corvair homebuilders ). The Aero Classics 10 row cooler is a good value and a quality product.
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Above, the markings on the Heavy Duty oil cooler. Although these are just for experimental aircraft, they are made side by side with models that have a TSO ( Technical Standards Order ) for certificated aircraft.
Again, this is another part of my program to increase the inventory to give better part availability to builders. As I explained in my previous story, Price is an important factor, but builders primarily need availability . In this case, I provide both.
Over the last 18 moths, and particularly the last 5 months, I have put a great effort into upgrading the tooling in my hangar and workshop. The goal has been to bring more manufacturing in house, to have better control over costs, timelines and quality. The first two factors play into a very important issue: Availability.
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Its no secret that all kinds of mechanical items have been selling really well, and this has caused long lead times in our industry, and material price increases. I listen to builders everyday, and frequently ask them what their concerns are. Many people would guess prices, but in a word, the greater concern is availability. Builders are concerned about budgets and costs, but in the end, the parts have to be available when builders need them, and as long as pricing stays reasonable, available remains the paramount goal.
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Just deciding to increase the levels of stock will not cure availability. Just increasing stock requires price increases, because the costs of carrying more inventory is not offset by discounts for quantity manufacturing at our volume. Even getting machine shops I have worked with for decades to produce more is difficult, as they are now flooded with lucrative orders from companies cut off from overseas suppliers. The real solution in more in house manufacturing, and that means heavy investments in tooling and time investments in bringing these systems into productive use. Good news, we are almost there, and the next 90 days before Oshkosh will see a steady increase in availability of all catalog items, as more and more of the production comes from raw materials I put into my own machines, here.
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Above, a look at the centerpiece of my machinery investments. This is my MillWright 48×48 CNC. I have had it a year, it required expanding the climate controlled section of my hangar to house it. It was a good machine, but to really have it produce parts unique to my product line, it underwent very extensive upgrades and modifications in the last 3 months. The start of the video pans over its control system; This was designed and installed by 601/Corvair builder and pilot Ken Pavlou. If you know this stuff, it is a 2hp 220V 3 phase spindle controlled by the VFD in the cabinet. It is a 5 axis Masso controller, as it needs 4 controllers because it has 2 screws on the y axis. Ken when out of his way to design systems and controls that made sense to me, a technology imbecile. He was a bit tired of hearing me whine about the non user friendly software that originally came with the unit. If you look close, the fixtures from left to right are for machining ring gears, top covers and alternator brackets. This machine can now do many tasks efficiently, not just flat shapes.
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The CNC is just one of the machines that I have brought on line here, starting with My boring bar, continuing on to the Winona seat and guide machine and the latest, the Sunnen precision hone. There will always be further additions and refinements, but now, I’m switching to production as the primary work in the shop.
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The next few stories will cover inventory increases, many of which are made directly possible by the machines here, or made possible by the increase in business providing the resources to carry more inventory. If you are one of my builders who has waited for a part to become available, thank you, know that I take providing all the parts you need, very seriously.
Im going to share a series of notes here about catalog items which I will be increasing the inventory on hand of. Let’s start with something simple: Conversion Manuals.
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I have these printed locally, and I just picked up a batch of 25 yesterday and put them in inventory. In my catalog, you can actually see how many of any given part I have on hand. Yesterday, manuals went to 36 after I put this box in inventory.
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If you would like a manual, here is a direct link:
I took the afternoon off so Vern Stevenson and myself could go over and look at the workshop of a highly skilled and respected automotive machinist. I leaned a lot about the mans craftsmanship and reputation from looking at his shop and listening to stories of Vern and John, the latter having been a close friend of the man for decades. I was late to meet the man in person, as he had passed away seven years ago.
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Above, the mailbox outside the man’s home and workshop. The post, probably meaningless to 95% of the people who passed it on the rural dead end street, told many people in the mechanical world they were at the correct location. The man’s widow lived in the home until a year ago. His friends had assisted her in the sale of a small fortune in tooling and engine components. When we visited, our guide, loyal to a trust, was going through the final clean up, although his friend and spouse were now long gone. The promises some people make don’t expire with the passing of the person to whom they were given. This may seem archaic to todays social world, but it is common place enough in ‘Quiet America’ to be assumed as expected conduct of ones life.
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The mans work and expertise centered on high performance Fords. While modern complex engines like the modular series and the 5.0’s have their fans, the mans work was of big FE engines, 390’s, 427’s, 428’s and 429’s. The outer buildings once contained driveline components floor to ceiling. The have been sold over the years, and during our visit just a shadow of what once was remained. The ring and pinion here is from a Ford 9″, the axle so strong and versatile that it popularly appears as an aftermarket installation in all brands of muscle cars. There were a dozen of these on near empty shelves, a small hint of what was once here.
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Above, the primary subject of my visit. Our guide knows of my work with Corvairs, and asked if I would like one of the few remaining pieces of equipment from his friends shop, This Sunnen LBA-650 precision hone. It is 1950s vintage, in need of restoration, but can be set up to hone connecting rods to .0001″ bore size. ( That is the correct amount of zeros, yes, it sizes holes to one ten thousandth of an inch. ) In the everyday world, this might be seen as antiquated stuff that isn’t desirable because its currently dirty, you would have to learn how to use it, and it isn’t two of my least favorite phrases ‘Plug and play’ nor ‘high tech!’.
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Conversely, I saw this not just a a fine piece of equipment, but much more importantly, our guide, who has been to my hangar, has concluded that I was a worthy recipient of a piece of the shop of his deceased friend. I don’t know how main stream people think, but to me this was a humbling validation of my mechanical work and character………..In 2016 I was awarded the EAA Major Achievement Award for my work with Corvairs. It was presented at The Zenith Homecoming dinner by Charlie Becker. I was not told in advance, and I was both moved and dumbstruck. There as a standing ovation and I stuttered through a thank you to everyone who helped me along the way. …….. Ironically, standing in outside and empty, shuttered home and shop, the breeze blowing the dead leaves around the yard, the only sound, being given a seventy year old machine, made me feel the exact same way. being understood as a fellow craftsman by a full time resident of ‘Quiet America’, was moving to me.
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The man was an accomplished welder, this canister of rods was on the shelf. They are unopened, date coded 1981. You know you are getting older when it takes a moment to sink in, that is 41 years ago.
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This property tag was on an incubator style welding rod heater and dehumidifier. Duval county is the greater Jacksonville area. This is the pre-1970s name for the school board. This is from an era where welding was understood as a viable trade to teach students. I was in high school at the very end of the industrial arts era, where every guidance counselor was getting on board with the idiotic myth that factory jobs would all be sent overseas, but of course computer jobs never, ever could be. Its impossible to explain to such people that the average refinery or power plant has thousands of miles of welds in it, and it has to be built here, it can’t be outsourced.
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A cabinet of ignition parts, the kind you would have found in most neighborhood gas stations, before they made cars so high tech they were essentially granting the dealerships a maintenance monopoly and making sure they were a disposable product after 10 years. I have always loved the artwork of this era.
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This is the data plate on the Sunnen hone. Sunnen is the world wide leader in the modern version of all kinds of industrial hones. It started out of the back of Joe Sunnen’s car 98 years ago.
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We stopped at the little mom and pop diner in Baldwin for a late lunch on the way back. When you write a story about this kind of day and place in America, there is a near instant assumption on the part of people trained by urban focused media, that because I live in the south, I’m getting nostalgic over some red neck era. When you say anything positive about rural, simple life, and add anything blue collar or industrial to the story, there is a conditioned Pavlovian response to label it as bigoted, because that it the only way they know to attack people who’s life they don’t get. This bulletin board was in the diner, notice that just like the patrons, it is people of all backgrounds, who are more likely to see themselves as Americans, rather than some artificially divided subgroup.
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Direct Connection to your Airplane: If you don’t yet know that the mailbox post in the first picture is a crankshaft supported by a camshaft, that is perfectly OK, I was taught these things by people who cared to share them, and I actually regard it as an ethical duty to share what I was taught with others, lest I be some kind of ingrate. There are plenty of people, maybe even a majority, who don’t care anything about the ideas of understanding the mechanical things they use, simplicity, nor self-reliance. Thats fine, I’m not here to change their world or worry about their choices. However, if you care about these things, and want to spend your days in aviation among a people who do, then the world of Corvairs may be your home in homebuilding.
“As I sat down on a milk crate, I realized that this is the exact same thought that this man has with every single person, every day. The distinction being, in my case I thought I was doing some charity, and in his he is living as a genuine human being.”
“That isn’t false modesty, it is just an awareness that comes from learning that the largest mistakes I made in life happened when I had the least doubt about which path to take. “
I am a very lucky guy, I just got to spend most of a week working on special R&D projects in my hangar with some really talented friends…… who are also great company.
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Above, your humble narrator, 601XL builder and Panther pilot Phil Maxson, Scott Leveque, from the legendary Corvair racing family, and 750 STOL builder and pilot Vinnie Maggiore.
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We drank coffee on my front porch every morning, wrenched and fabricated most of the day and into the night, ate well, sipped beer told stories and shared laughs. Toped it off with a trip to Sun n Fun yesterday. It was all great stuff, and really recharged my batteries.
I took a day out of the shop to spend it at Sun n Fun. I have missed only two years since 1989. As always, the best part was seeing friends, and the first spot I go to find them is the Zenith display.
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Look at the picture below: A global IT expert from Hong Kong, A southern Technical director, An international project manager for the world largest private company, an environmental engineer from Upstate NY and a grease monkey from Florida. What could we possibly have as a common bond? We have all built and flown Corvair Powered Zenith aircraft of course.
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Throughout homebuilding, there are people from tech counselors to magazine writers who think they can tell who will finish a plane. They all have some pet theory of the personality and characteristics they quietly, or not so quietly, believe the ‘anointed’ builders must have. Thirty Three years in homebuilding has conclusively shown me all their pet theories are crap. You know who finishes planes? The people who like the learning process, and are resilient and have a bit of determination. Thats it, nothing else required. Success has no look nor socio-economic status, it only has a perspective on how to address a challenge.
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Anyone ever try to discourage you with a comment or even a negative reaction? You probably didn’t fit their pet theory model for successful builders. F- them, they don’t fit my personal pet theory for people worth knowing. If you need information and encouragement, welcome aboard, I have a very diverse group of successful builders willing to share it.
Over the last 18 months, we have been doing a lot of behind the scenes prop testing on slower aircraft in the fleet of Corvair powered planes. With the help of five builder/ pilot data contributors, I have distilled another very good option to supplement the 66 and 68″ Warp Drives that have been my standard recommendation in this speed range for the last 25 years.
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The prop in this discussion is a Sensenich WZKL- 64 x 35. This is a modern prop in planform and airfoils, it has a helical pitch distribution optimized for these aircraft; It is a very good match to the Corvair’s higher RPM operation (compared to other direct drive engines). The prop has a wood core, but it is jacketed in fiberglass, and it has urethane leading edges.
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I have been a Sensenich dealer for almost 25 years. While I have tested and sold a number of their designs for different applications, This particular prop, in this pitch, is very well suited for Pietenpols, Zenith 750 STOL’s, many classics like my Wagabond and others. It is also applicable to Zenith Cruisers as a prop with strong climb characteristics.
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The design and Configuration has been around a long time, Our original testing with it was back in 2005 on the Wagabond. Back then the design was natural wood and varnished, but the aerodynamics were the same. In 2006 we tested the same prop on 2 Pietenpols. The results were good. We went on to test the same ZKL 64″ props in 41′, 43″, 45″, and 47″ pitches on my 601XL 2004-08. You can see pictures of this in my manuals. I sold a great number of the 41″-43″ pitch models to Zenith 601 builders. For builders who preferred wood, it was a very good option to compliment the ground adjustable Warp Drives.
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In the last 4 months I have ordered a number of the WZKL64-35’s, and they have all sold. On Friday afternoon, tomorrow, I’m placing another batch order. The will be done in 5 or 6 weeks. If you would like to get in on the order, you need only text or call me. When the props are close to done, I will invoice you $1,349 + the shipping cost. The props are drop shipped directly from Sensenich. The two colors I’m ordering are black with red tips and gray with white tips. Take your pick. These props have seen about a 20% rise in cost in the last year (Sensenich’s website is not yet updated to the new price) , I don’t expect it to change again, but if you order one now, you no longer have to be concerned about it. Besides, you can display it in your living room until your plane needs it, because they really are works of art.
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Above, a Gray with white tips that I ordered for my own personal plane. Im just checking it to order the correct length prop bolts.
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Above, same prop, Black with red tips. You can see the careful packaging job Sensenich does, they are very sturdy boxes, I have never had one damaged in shipping. Boxing and shipping costs run $50-70 depending where you are in the country.
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Above, Vinnie Maggiore’s Zenith 750 STOL. This is the aircraft that flew from NY to my hangaring Florida a year ago to get a 2,850cc engine transplant. Vinnie did the lions share of the flight testing for this project; He flew extensive tests with five different brands and models of props. The WZKL Sensenich, shown in this picture without a spinner, was the best climbing prop, and has the highest top speed. (the Warp Drive was a close second) Notably, the three other designs which proved to be less of a match and lower performers where all advanced hollow carbon fiber props with advanced shapes. When it comes to props, the only thing that counts is honest testing.
I had a long talk with Mike on the phone tonight. He now has 3 flights on his Pietenpol, and it is working and flying great. The plane has a 2700cc Corvair installed, and it utilizes a Culver 66×32 prop. I saw the plane uncovered in California in 2016, it has outstanding craftsmanship, and the photo below shows how well it finished.
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Guys new to Corvairs may imagine that Mike and I spent the hour talking about power plants, but it wasn’t so. We spent only a few minutes speaking of his engine, as there was nothing much to talk about, all the learning and understanding had taken place years before, the flying now is just an affirmation of Mike’s craftsmanship. His is a contrast with people who install engines they know little about, and try to understand them in a rush during the test phase.
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Almost all of our conversation was about Mike’s 20 year path building his plane, where the idea came from, things that he knew from his dad, builders who had inspired him, memorable hours in the process, and how he feels connected to the timeless elements of flying in the plane. I had some tings I was working on in the hangar, but none of it seemed important given the chance to spend an hour listening to a friend share some really moving things about twenty years of his life.
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Below, a short note from 2016 when Mike brought his plane to Corvair College #38 for a test run:
