Ross

Geoff

I can see that I have not been keeping up with the necessary strategies to really nail this project.

I would agree whole heartedly. When flying the Griffith factory built Jabwith the radio at the bottom of the panel it is a real pain keeping track of the frequencies with your head down, not a good idea, and changing them. Howeverthey could all be preset in memory for a particular trip requiring just a flick of the switch to get to the next required frequency.

Some radioscan have a remote button on the stick to cycle the preset frequencies. I haven't checked to see if this is available on my Jabiru supplied radio.

As turtle points out ithe radiois probably, even for VFR pilots once airborne, the most adjusted instrument on the panel. So it does not make ense for it to be mounted at the bottom of the panel. I have moved mine up a bit and if it is not OK then I will cut another hole and make a patch to fill the gap.

Regards

Hi Geoff K & Clem & Turtle

I know how you feel about that target disappearing into the distance.

At the moment I am doing the jigsaw puzzle of the cabin lining. Apparently the lining pieces were designed before the cabin reinforecements were introduced into the J series and the header tank under the passenger seat. As a result you have to think of where will the bits fit assuming there are no reinforcements. Of course they don't fit exactly so you have to cut holes in them and trim bits off here and there and also overlap them in some places and not in others. I was never very good at jigsaw puzzles. Apparently cabin lining does not include the top of the instrument panel or anything behind the seats except perhaps the sound curtain although it is separately listed.

I can't really do the firewall lining (foam & felt) without installing the engine again to get all the firewall holes done before applying the foam and felt. I tried drilling through felt on the back of my second hand office chair once. I don't think I will try that again.

Turtle's panel doesn't seem to have much room left on it. Mine is strictly VFR but I would like to install an electric compass and a 295 or a 296 but that rapidly escalates the cost.

Turtle is starting to rub it in a bit!

Regards

Ross

I am dreading the wings on my J160 as so far all the draw strings in the fuse have been useless as they have been epoxied to the structure. I got around that problem by using a piece of wire and a narrow diameter fairly flexible piece of pvc conduit which I removed after threading the new draw wire through it.

I also note that the wing draw strings with their paddle pop sticks attached are hard up against the inboard end of the wing with no free stringat all making it more difficult to attempt a clearance of the string.

One party told me that their draw strings were also uselessso they cut an extra hole in the wing to get access to pass the aileron cable around the bend to get to the outboard aileron anchor point.

Regards

When I do my flying in the Jab 55-3917 at Griffith I sit my old hand held Magellan GPS 320 on the passenger seat and it works fine.

It wasn't much good on a trip to Wagga though in one of the back seats of a GA singlewith no sign of any composite material in its structure.

Regards Ross

Hi Louise

Jabiru at Bundaburg, Qldsupply Odyssey batteries with the Jabiru kits. The one supplied with the Jabiru J160 is the Odyssey PC 625 see the user sheets below that come with it. Presumably they supply single batteries to anyone.

Regards

This model predates the one above by a few years.It has some advantages over the one above but has some disadvantages as well.

The seating arrangements are more comfortable but the circuitswere considerably slower and far more stressful as the two stroke motor was chronically unreliable, probably suffering from a lack of maintenance.The unqualified mechanic usually limited his job to cleaning the spark plug with a piece of thin wire,a small tin of super petrol and a piece of sandpaper.

It had the decided advantage of being able to do a restart or I should say a restart attempt while in the circuit but due to the nature of the protective footware tended to produce callouses on the bottom of the right foot. The firewall was not very effective and the fuel endurance was completely inadequate as it needed to land probablythree or four times before completing a round trip.

Ross on Atco rideon circa 1950.

Note the standard features - large dameter UC wheels for more comfortable ride and reduced rolling friction, standard four legged seat with backrest, optional full seat belt harness, standard headset,federation modelprotective footware, air type firewall,transparent guards over dangerous parts, remote controls that works without the need for electronics, pilot activated starter (engine needs to be not spinning if using the starter like the Jabiru motor), ready access for maintenance, simpledesigned aircleaner that does not require dust removal but keeps the gum leaves out of the engine.

Ross

Does the temp probe in the Rotax record the head temp or the temp of the coolant in contact with the head?

For the radiator heat transfer rate is proportional to amongst other things the difference in temperature between the coolant in contact withthe radiatorandthe temperature of the air in contact with the radiator.

A point was made earlier that Rotax cannot use leaded fuels because the combustion chamber does not get hot enough to oxidze the lead residue and thus get rid of it.

Pressurizing the radiator by having higher pressure caps effectively raises the boiling point of whatever is being used for the coolant. This means it is still a liquid and not a gas (steam) which has a lower capacity to absorb heat.It takes 540 Calories of heatper gram of water to turn itinto steam if it is already at the boiling point temperature whatever that may be for the current pressure condition. It takes one calorie of heat to raise the temperature of one gram of water one degree C.

So pressurising the radiator allows the radiator to run hotter allowing a better heat transfer from the radiator to the surrounding air. According to my old Physics book you would need a radiator pressurised to 33.6 psi absolute to withstand a water temperature of 125 degrees C without boiling.

That is about what a normal car 14 psiradiator cap does (assuming pure water)because it is already pressurised by the atmosphere to about 14.7 psi plus the pressure cap for an extra 14 psi. At 150 degrees C the pressure required is slightly more than double that example. Other coolants would have different saturated vapour pressures (boiling points).

Pure water boils at approximately sea level at 100 degrees C and at lower and lower temps at higher altitudes (lower pressures). If you went high enough you could boil a non pressurised radiator (without a cap) dry without starting the motor and getting the water hot.

The CSIRO at Hyatt in Melbourne did some research on using ceramics in piston engines some years ago. Ceramics are hard, have a low coefficient of heat transfer and a very high melting point.

The idea was to protect the engine structure by stopping or reducing the heat getting to the metal. This has two advantages. It allows more efficient combustion in the combustion chamber because it is hotter and secondly it raises the engineefficiency dramatically by virtually eliminating the loss of energy that occurs by needing to havea large cooling system to remove a large percentage of energy from the engine basically to stop the engine seizing up or melting.

Regards Ross

Hi Darren

Can you see the Warrumbungles from Dubbo at about 1500 AGL. I think I used to see them from Narromine at about that height many years ago.

Enjoy your trip

Better legs?

Hi All

I have a tail mounted strobe on my J160 not flying yet and it was interfering with the radio until I shifted the shielded strobe wire to run along the side of the fuselage cone instead of parallel and near the shielded aerial wire which runs up the bottom middle of the fuselage.

The two wires do cross in the aft end of the fuselage.

I think the strobe power box is made of Aluminium so it may also be a source of interference.

The J160 has a dipole aerial. Hence itdoes not require a ground plane.

The space between the two pieces of the aerial is critical so I made up a spacer that I placed there until the epoxy holding the aerial in place set.

Fibreglass gliders usually have their dipole aerials buried inside the vertical stabiliser but may also have a RFC (radio frequency choke) connecting the two halves in the tail. This allows the aerial to be tested for continuity at the cockpit end with an ohmeter - not a 12 volt battery. (radio shouldbe disconnected from aerial while testing with ohmeter)

You do not need the RFC for the aerial to work.

The RFCpasses electric current but not radio signals, hence its name.

It is only in the circuit so that an ohmeter can be used to test the continuity and resistance of the aerial circuit from cockpit to aerial and back. Over time the resistance should be constant. If it changed the aerial wire is broken or there is a short circuit in the wiring.

The J160 kit does not include a RFC for its dipole aerial so cannot be tested for continuity from the cockpit end easily.

To do soyou need run an extra temporary wire outside while you are doing the test to connect the other end of each half of the aerial as you test it.

The initial test w/o the external connection should show open circuit between inner and outer aerial wires if no RFC is fitted. If you want to fit a RFC find a radioexpert - I am not one.

Ground all wires to remove any static charges before reconnecting the aerial to the radio.

I am a bit worried about my undercoat paint as it appears to be mildly magnetic (and conductive???) as it picks up on amagnet from the floor after rubbing back but that could be from the abrasive paper used.

Might it therefore interfere with radio reception and transmission.

Paint is High Fill Imron brand.

Any Comments please.

Regards

Ross

It might make the pilot want to be somewhere else.or

That could affect his/her navigation!

Regards

Hi Jack

Maybe just check out Cessna spare parts might be the go. I have a vague idea it has been done before.

REgards

Hi Geoff

Looks very good.

Regards

Hi Jack

I did a search for Spring Steel on google that turned up Blue Scope Steel (ex BHP at Port Kembla etc) then their search facility for suppliers turned up theiragent in Canberraas below. I would suggest you contact the agent there and ask for engineering advice on the steel and treatment you want for it. You would probably have to find another steel fabricator or workshop in Canberra or nearby who could treat it for you.

I would have suggested Henderson Springs in the past but discovered it is a British Firm and might be harder to get untreated steel from. I think that they used to supply most of the leaf springs in Australia many years ago.

I just found another site that claim they will build springs to order. See below.

http://www.industrialsprings.com.au/aurora.htm

<TABLE =table1>

<T>

<TR>

<TD>OneSteel Metaland - Hume

John Place

HUME

ACT

2620</TD>

<TD>Tel:02 6260 1249

Fax:02 6260 1317 </TD>

<TD>Supplier</TD></TR></T></TABLE>

I hope that is some help- not supplied with current experience.

Regards

Hi Crew

My wife is always telling me to chuck things out of my office- I don't know why! Well here is a scan of a 1971 receipt that might illustrate some of the changes that have occurred in GA since then. I had to overwrite it because the original was done in very pale blue biro that dissapeared once scanned.

Regards Ross

Hi All

I saw an interesting posterad for a new model David Clarke set of headphones & mike thathad ANR and sockets built in for mobile phone use and MP3 devices. I think it was due in Australia around Nov or Dec 2006.

I don't have any more details than that except the poster wason the front glass door of Adams Aviation Supply Co Pty Ltd at Bankstown Airport.

Fernando Villalon is the General Manager, Flight Instrutor & Charter Pilotthere and his email address is

[email protected]

web site: www.adamaviation.com(scans of their catalogue)

They also have a CD available

Tel +61 (0)2 9790 7199

Fax +61 (0)2 9790 3189

Mob: 0404 379 150

[email protected]

Ross

Hi Smokey

I did not say that Jabiru approve Ethanol in their fuel.

In fact the "Jaba Chat" article on Page 11 dated December 2005 on the Jabiru Web site mentionedin my previous postneeds to be read carefully.

The only mention of alcohols (and ethanol is one of them) was in connection to the damage they would do to the sealant used in their fuel tanks - there was no mention of engine components - presumably if it could not go in the tank it could neverget to the engine.

The Jaba Chat article above then wasnot mainly about Ethanol but about the antidetonation qualities of Avgas versus non quality controlled auto fuel.

For Jabiru use I suggest a personal phone call to Rod Stiff the owner at Jabiru in Bundaberg to clarify his position on fuel use in Jabiru Engines.

Regards

Ross

Hi Smokey

That possibility had occurred to me but I have not invesitigated it.

I thought it inevitable that ethanol would be in all auto fuel eventually which would be potentially dangerous for aircraft because of the potential water problems. There was an article on the subject in one of the aero mags but I did not record the location. It mainly showed a method for deciding if there was ethanol in the fuel or not amongst other detail that I cannot recall.

Just do a google search to find more detail on the sloshing agent and possibly look up the Jabiru net site http://www.jabiru.net.au/

See P.11 of the Dec 2005 "Jaba Chat" on the Jabiru web site aboveunder news for Jabiru's perspective on fuel used in their engines.

Regards Ross

Hi All

From my research I have discovered that there are two different sloshing agents that can be used in epoxy fuel tanks one of which is compatible with ethanol blended fuel. The other is NOT.

Jabiru has an advisory on Ethanol to say that at least in the J160 serial number 14 that I own the sloshing agent used in the wet wings is incompatible with ethanol blended fuel.

I am not aware if theyhave changed sloshing agents since then.

You can have a choice of fuels for the Jab engine (with conditions - see the Jabiru web site); because of the sloshing agent the choice is removed if it involves a fuel with analcohol blend(Ethanol is an alcohol).

Regards

Ross

Hi Stuart

It might help to mention which model Jabiru you are about to fly.

Regards

Hi Rob

I don't have many hours in the Jab LSA 2200 but have flown two very different feeling ones. One is at Griffith and the otherwas at Hoxton Park.

I hardly ever seem to be able to keep the front wheel upon landing the Griffith machine whereas the Hoxton Park machine was easy to keep the front wheel off when landing.

The main other difference was the feel of the "trim" it is very solid in the Griffith machine and very light in the Hoxton Park machine.

An extra factor I just remembered is that the Hoxton Park machine has a batch of cushions available for passenger and pilot. I used one there and never have at Griffith. The Griffith machine has no extra available cushions.

I find it is much easier to steer a straight line with the rudder at 50 knots than steering the the front wheel with the rudder pedals.

When I fly at Griffith I note that my elbow rests on the divider and I have to make a conscious effort to get full back stick particularly if I have experienced any stiffness in the shoulder joint of the right arm!

I will have to try a thin cushion on the normal seat but this will change the landing view so I will have to adjust my perception there.

Regards Ross

Hi Paul

The owner of the Griffith online Jab tried it I don't know which product. We have lots of "Catheads" around this area and the original 4 ply tyres used on the Jabs were hopeless against them.I subsequently flew it with violent vibrations as soon as you were airborne cancelled by brake application. About 100 hrs TT then.

He has either discontinued using the product or changed to another.

I think it even carries a spare wheel now as well as a spare tube. I think it was up to about 770 hrs TT on my BFR on 30-08-2006.

The owner Norm Raworth (pronounced rayworth) is fairly easy to talk too is a L2 and is about to take on instructing at Narrandera once his new J160 arrives in October I think. His mobile is 0427180740.

I have heard that some people have used 6 inch 8 ply tyres on ultralights. I had once done a search to find the Jab sizes in 8 ply made in Indonesia. You would need to check that when inflated there would still be clearance from the UC particularly the front wheel.

Regards Ross

Hi All

I run an automaticMagna to a Sydney suburbfrom Leeton two or three times per year around 560 km and it never returns the same fuel consupmtion in both directions. I always check tyre pressures before leaving.

The last trip was an average one with the following figures.

The last trip a couple of weeks ago was Leeton to Sydney 9.5 L/100km.

The return trip 8.54L/100km which included diverting to Wollongong and climbing the McQuarie pass to go through Roberton and Moss Vale to return to the Hume highway.

Maybe it is the Coriolis forces but I mostly go East or West but Brisbane is either a North or South trip for the previous post!

To my knowledge no ethanol was involved.

The distance is a bit over 200 nm by air.

Regards Ross

Hi Big Pete

YTOC can even be recognised on Google Earth.

It made my instructor a bit nervous a couple of years ago with concurrent operations of gliders and tug on left hand circuits and the Jabiru on a right hand circuit on parallel runways, one on grass and the Jab on bitumen.

We left Griffith on a 39 degree C day. We were going YGTH-YTOC-YBLT. Navigation was easy until we crossed the border into Vic then there were just so many roads and towns. That was my first flight into Victoria. I had to learn to ignore the detail and look for the major landmarks - no GPS allowed. I thought I was doing a training flight - my instructor was treating it as a test!

Ballarat also was another RAAF training field and still has the leftovers of a lovely big paddock and a couple of loverly big long strips and a couple of massive hangers to go with them plus plenty of taxying space. It even has a dedicated run up area.

Next day we left Ballarat around mid day after the fog lifted to arrive back in Griffith late afternoon to be greeted by a 45 degree C day.

Regards