Jim Stone Posted January 24, 2007 Share Posted January 24, 2007 Greetings, I just registered after finding a link to this site on the Yahoo Jabiru Engines group messages board. I fly a Jabiru J450 (N450SJ) from St Petersberg-Clearwater Int airport (KPIE). We are on the west coast of Florida on Tampa Bay. I have about 160 hr on N450SJ, after building it over a period of 14 months. I have also perviously owned a Piper Cherokee 140, and a Cessna 172L. My background is 30 years of aerospace manufacturing with Honeywell Space Systems Division. My J450 took 503 hrs for standard features and 702 hrs of customization before the first flight. It continues to evolve as I revise my objectives. I am a biased Jabiru owner and volunteer at the Jabiur boothes at the Oshkosh and Sun-N-Fun airshows, discussing the build experience and aircraft operation. I have posted photos on the Yahoo user group site of some of my customizations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Posted January 24, 2007 Share Posted January 24, 2007 G'day Jim & welcome. I'm building a J230 and have just clicked thru your total hours with a month or 6 to go. Look forward to your contributions to this forum. With the CT clique here we need all the Jabiru supporters that we can get. Regards Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigPete Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 Hey Jim - welcome to the forums. I have aJabiru J160c. How abou a few photos of your J450 - especially the modifications. regards from "down under" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulN Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 With the CT clique here we need all the Jabiru supporters that we can get. Regards Geoff Hey Geoff, did you see the great news article Turtle posted today. Makes a good read . http://www.recreationalflying.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7087 Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 Sorry Paul. Haven't seen that one, nor am I going to look at it, and I have no knowledge whatsoever of the CT winning that award. Perhaps "clique" was the wrong word and it should have been "cloister". Or a "coterie" of CT owners. Now listen here Paul. This is Jim's post and he is obviously a very discerning bloke who knows a good thing when he sees one based on his years in space systems, then months and months of building and all that flying. Well done Jim & welcome again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulN Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 :black_eye: . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest aeroclub13 Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 Well, this is getting philosophical! Are cliques good or bad? What a about a Jabiru clique? Well. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Sabre Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 Welcome Welcome friend...ahhh Oshkosh and Sun-N-Fun both Meccas for aviators..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Stone Posted January 25, 2007 Author Share Posted January 25, 2007 Sabre, Here is a URL for a couple of photos. And I'll try to attach a couple more here. I haven't exploder how to use this site yet. It doesn't look like the icon above can sucessfully retrieve the shots via the link. http://ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/jabiruengines/photos/browse/2096 [url=http://ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/jabiruengines/photos/browse/2096][/url] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Stone Posted January 25, 2007 Author Share Posted January 25, 2007 Attach N450SJ Photos Here is a second try to provide a couple photos of N450SJ. I did the attachment icon and selected 5 shorts, then hit the upload button. It looks like they are listed correctly below. #1 is my PCFlight Systems MFD based instrument panel powered up.#2 is a short of the plane I use as a business card. #3 & #4 are of my Toyota Camry belt driven 90 A alternator. #5 is the wing quick disconnect latch mechanism I added. I have a list of about 35 customizations, excluding then the avionics, that I'll attach to another message. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 Jim having a look at your pic's and seen the clamps around the engine mounts could you tell us about this. Is it to stop the mount distorting? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Stone Posted January 26, 2007 Author Share Posted January 26, 2007 Yes, I'm on the second set of rubber bushings. I found that the engine sagged and distorted the top bushings if they didn't have the clamps. I also tried turning the top bushings around per the latest Jabiru instructions, but still had more sag then I liked. I have a rather tight fit between the cowl and spinner, so sag is not a good thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Stone Posted January 26, 2007 Author Share Posted January 26, 2007 List of customizations N450SJ I am attaching the list of customizations I've done to my J450. Feel free to ask questions or make comments. Customization N450SJ Rev C.txt Customization N450SJ Rev C.txt Customization N450SJ Rev C.txt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilfred Posted February 6, 2007 Share Posted February 6, 2007 Nice aircraft. I especially like the panel. Very well put together. If you dont mind i have a few questions How do you find the sensenich prop. Do you have any comparison with the wooden Jab prop Did you use the Jab wooden one first or go straight to the sensenich Was there any issues with the fitting of the sensenich eg cowl clearance and also was there much experimenting to get the pitch right. what model is the prop Cheers Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yenn Posted February 6, 2007 Share Posted February 6, 2007 G'day Jim It's nice to have a Yank on board, but I believe the Jabiru is a success story in USA. With the pipe clamps around the engine mounts, do you need them on the front of the upper mounts, which would be in tension on the ground. What is the equipment behind the starter motor? It looks like an alternator? Ian Borg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Stone Posted February 6, 2007 Author Share Posted February 6, 2007 Peter, I like the Sensenich prop. My Jabiru prop lasted about 3.1 hours/2 flights. I then broke 4 of the 6 prop bolts and destroyed the prop during an extended 2 flight test. The first was just around the pattern. Failure mode was probably due to under torquing the AN4 bolts. I was probably reading more side well surface drag then clamping torque. Net result was severe vibration leading to fatigue fractures of the mounting bolts, burned surfaces on prop, elongated drive socket holes, and a pair of soild shorts. At least it stay attached till I got back to the hanger. I didn't really fly that much with the Jabiru prop to have a clear recollection for comparison. I flew a J400 for 18 hours with an electric Air Master prop and performance with the Sensenich is just as good. I replaced the Jabiru prop with a Sensenich W64ZK51G which works very well. I also did the first flight tests with the Sensenich carbon fiber ground adjustable prop. We recorded 24 channels of vibration data and went through about 4 configurations before they settled on the current product. There was no significant rework required to switch to the Sensenich. I do have a new Carbon fiber prop to install but am refining the cooling before I make another significant configuration change. I also have a new Jabiru cowel set to test on my list of things to do. Jim Stone N450SJ Clearwater FL USA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Stone Posted February 6, 2007 Author Share Posted February 6, 2007 Ian, The equipment behind the started is a Toyota Camry alternator on custom mounts, and now a custom power takeoff shaft (PTO). The standard Jabiru vacuum socket lasted about 100 hrs before the teeth shelled out from ware by a metal vacuum pump drive plug. I just installed a solid steel PTO shaft with double bearings to drive the alternator with a toothed belt. This also addresses the JSB 12 action. I'm doing my annual condition inspection this week and will probably get some flight test results next week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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