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kgwilson

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Everything posted by kgwilson

  1. I put Wing tanks in my S100. They are 35 litres per wing with 100 litres in the main so provides excellent range with the 3300a engine. Photo 1 is looking at the bottom of the tank after initial installation. Photo 2 shows the flap cable routing around tank bottom. Photo 3 shows flap acble installation complete & photo 4 is the top of the tank
  2. kgwilson

    J170D Production

    I use wing down in strong crosswind combined with crab on final but when close to the ground keep the wings level & crab only, kick the rudder to plonk it down straight ahead on both mains. Friction reduces the windspeed close to the ground & my wing is only about a metre off the deck on touchdown. I can't do this in the 230 & need the wing down & touchdown on 1 wheel. This is not as positive as I would like hence my preference statement.
  3. kgwilson

    J170D Production

    The J230D is one of the best high wing recreational aircraft available. Great performance, a ton of room, easy predictable handling, easy to get in/out of, one of the strongest airframes available and an excellent tourer with plenty of fuel available. It isn't STOL but doesn't pretend to be. Personally I prefer the sports car style seating of a low wing and also better cross wind landing characteristics but other than that the 230 is up there with the best.
  4. Tell the inhabitants of Tuvalu that the sea levels aren't rising. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change_in_Tuvalu https://world.350.org/pacific/files/2014/01/4_PCCSP_Tuvalu_8pp.pdf https://www.reuters.com/business/cop/tuvalu-turns-metaverse-rising-seas-threaten-existence-2022-11-15/
  5. I don't have to do any calculations. The car tells me what the range is at any time & will adjust it based on driving habits..
  6. MPG is back to front. How far can you go on 1 gallon of fuel which is either 4.54609 litres or 3.78541 depending on which gallon you are talking about, Imperial or US. So it is a measure of distance you can go for a measure of fuel.. Litres per 100km is a measure of fuel consumption over a given distance. Using MPG requires another calculation given that fuel has been sold in litres for donkeys years and land distance has been in kilometres for the same length of time.
  7. Back in 73 I went to Bransons Virgin Record shop in London. He'd organised some event for a record release & was there. He looked exactly the same as he does today, just younger. I have to admire his enthusiasm, tenacity, entrepneurial skill and consideration for his employees. Fast forward to 2007 and my aluminium fabrication business did some work on his Island in the |Noosa River. He purchased it as retreat for his employees. Not all people who become billionaires are complete arxeholes. I don't think he has much if any actual shareholder interest in the airlines that bear his Virgin brand today.
  8. It is about time everything changed to metric. The only thing that makes sense is speed in knots as it relates to degrees of latitude & even then with decimal degree settings and electronic everything now it doesn't matter. Why is altitude in feet? It is in metres in Europe. I assume it is due to the original dominance of American & British aviation. Even oil comes in quarts from Aeroshell. Shell is European (Dutch) so you'd expect litres. Again the only reason i can think of is the dominance of the US GA industry, though it probably comes in litres in Europe.
  9. It would be interesting to find out how many CEOs of top companies around the world began as bean counters. My guess is it is a very high percentage. They are always driven by the numbers. People are just a condiuit to get the numbers they want. It can come unstuck though as it did with Boeing, but even now they have an ex beancounter (Calhoun) at the top as CEO and Chairman (called President in the US). They fed the last CEO to the wolves but I don't think he cared given the multi million dollar gold parachute he got. Given her history with the company I will give Hudson the benefit of the doubt ........ for now. Joyce can now be confined to the dustbin of aviation history. Qantas now has a very tainted legacy of money before people & a lot of ex employees disposed of by Joyce will never trust the company or allow themselves the indignaty of re-employment no matter what sort of carrot they dangle. Others will of course purely for economic reasons.
  10. In my experience a partially full container will expand far more than one that is full when the temperature increases. The presence of air in the container allows for evaporation of the lighter aromatics and unless the container is vented pressure will build up and in the case of plastic containers, then the container itself will bulge. If the container is full the fuel will only expand based on the temperature as evaporation is prevented.
  11. I don't store PULP. It ghoes straight in to the aircraft when I get back from the Servo. Fresh is always best.
  12. The red Proquip I have will hold 24 litres of 98 ULP filled right to the base of the filler neck.
  13. Proquip is a good brand. They are solid and have the spout retained internally so it stays clean. I also have a small 10 litre Scepter brand, also good. Same spout system but it has a ratchet style keeper which prevents the cap from loosening. Both have capped vents to allow fast emptying. Scepter used to be made in Canada but I'd say they are now made in China like everything else. The Scepter is a squat design so doesn't tip over easily but takes up more floor space compared to the standard (Proquip) type which tips over easily but takes up less space. Both are in the $38-$40 range. BCF sell Proquip & Repco sell Scepter. Stay away from cheap ones from Bunnings and Supercheap SCA brand and anything with an external spout which can get lost and dirty.
  14. kgwilson

    J170D Production

    Then the price would be over 200k.
  15. kgwilson

    J170D Production

    It wasn't that long ago that the base model J230 was around 120k. All the flash glass stuff on the panel comes with a pretty hefty price tag.
  16. kgwilson

    J170D Production

    The J230 has proven far and away the most popular Jabiru and the 3300A engine is about to or maybe already has become the most plentful engine produced as well. When the demand for one model outstrips your ability to produce that, why keep producing another less popular model and increase the lead time on the more popular one. Add to that you have to be pretty brave to incease production capability in the Aviation market unless you have an investor with deep pockets and no concern about getting it back. The industry is littered with aircraft manufacturing crash and burns.
  17. I've been using 4 litre plastic oil containers to store 2 stroke whippersnipper & chainsaw petrol for at least 30 years & none have ever leaked or deteriorated. I replace with a new one when they get dirty or I find dirt in the bottom of the container. The only problem is the sidewalls are thin & they will expand if left half full or less in hot weather as the contents evaporate. In Summer I don't keep them absolutely airtight to prevent this happening.
  18. I thought you would know this as a 912 ULS exponent. To develop the full 100HP cool air is required to feed the carburettors. There is plenty of comment out there in google land. Rotax will not provide any guarantee of 100HP unless their genuine airbox is fitted.
  19. If you want 100HP then the airbox is required. The exhaust system including muffler is included in the weight of all Jabiru engines as well as the airbox, and Ram air ducts. Air cooled engines don't have radiators, liquid coolant or associated plumbing. Both types have oil cooler radiators & associated plumbing. The point is the quoted weight of a Rotax 912 ULS is a long way short of the finished installed weight compared to that of most air cooled engines.
  20. When it comes to weight of an engine quoted figures never seem to be the installed weight. The Rotax 912 ULS is quoted at 56.6 KG. But you have to add the exhaust system, water pump, oil cooler, oil tank, radiator, pipework, liquid coolant and airbox (if you want to get 100HP) which takes the total to over 90KG. Air cooled engines usually have the exhaust sytem included and don't have all the additional things required for liquid cooling.
  21. Jabiru doesn't make many of its own parts other than what Ian Bent (Camit) used to make with the CNC gear he had which jabiru bought when Ian went in to receivership. Like most manufacturers these days they purchase components to their specification from specialist suppliers around the world. A lot of these are in China of course. A friend ordered a new 3300A engine after his old one suffered a major prop strike as it was cheaper than a strip & repair & also 2 generations newer. The problem was none were available for several months last year as quite a few components were in short supply after nothing was made for ages during Covid. Eventually things started trickling in again and the last major component was the crankshaft & he finally got the new engine about 6 months after the order. The days of Holden, Honda and Kubota parts etc are long gone. Jabiru has produced close to 8,000 engines to date split fairly evenly between the 4 & 6 cylinder versions.
  22. The thing is that you are talking chalk & cheese here. Car engines are heavy & rarely run at high RPM and if something stops you pull over & ring NRMA. New innovations get thousands if not millions of hours testing before they are unleashed in to production models. The scale of production is thousands of times greater than for aero engines. And guess what there are still problems. We constantly hear of recalls due to a fault showing up. Start using them in a racing environment & reliability goes through the floor. Aircraft reciprocating piston engines are built light for a good reason, so the aircraft can get off the ground. They have another dimension to deal with depleting air density often with very large temperature variations very quickly. They are run at full power not long after startup every time and then at around 75% of power for most of the time.
  23. I think it is theoretically possible, but there are so many parts that would require complete replacement and the cost of restoration would far outweigh the value of the finished product, plus there is that niggling thought that something was missed and continues to corrode.
  24. Thet were originally built as Hang Glider tugs as far as I know. Try contacting the HGFA as they may know of oeners/locations.
  25. EFI in motor vehicles is very reliable these days & almost universal & presumably why it is now in many modern piston aircraft. Aircraft engine development and innovation has always been at the extreme end of the conservative spectrum with some very sound logic. If it works & it ain't broke, don't fix it till something else turns up that is better but more importantly, as or more reliable.
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