bushcaddy105

Don’t overthink the issue. My kit-supplied caps for the wing tanks are of CNC machined alloy and have two tiny holes cross-drilled at 90 degrees to each other. Their orientation to the airflow over the wing doesn’t seem to matter and depends on how tight the caps are screwed down. Fuel feed is gravity only in cruise, with a series electric pump used only in climb but shut down on leveling out. Never a problem with fuel feed or loss of fuel from the vents.

5 hours ago, onetrack said:

You just have to wonder at the number of Foxcons for sale with extremely low hours. I mean to say, "built in 2003, only 12 hrs TT"?

In addition, every single page on their website, and all their aircraft information is undated - a sure sign of a lack of attention to important detail.

 

The Subaru engine is a poor choice, they are heavy and unreliable. They're bad enough in the cars, but as an aviation powerplant, they're just not up to it.

They're notorious for head gasket leaks and rocker cover gasket leaks, excessive oil consumption issues, faulty valves (a manufacturing fault) and deficient valve springs.

 

One of the problems with Subaru, is that Fuji Heavy Industries, the parent company of Subaru is not anywhere near big enough to be able to have enough of their own factories to produce the number of vehicles they manage to sell.

So FHI subcontract a lot of component manufacturing out to Nissan and Toyota. The Toyota components are O.K., but the Nissan components are not up to Toyota quality, and as a result, the poor Nissan QC appears as Subaru faults.

 

Toyota have been increasing their ownership stake in FHI and now own 20% of FHI. But at this point, Nissan still supply some components for Subaru. The problems with Nissan products extend on two fronts.

 

1. There is a lot of internal discord within Nissan management due to a number of serious management and ownership changes over the decades. Toyota have a "familial" line of management, with less discord.

2. Nissan utilise over 100 sub-contractors to supply components on a JIT basis. These sub-contractors belong to a co-operative association, known as "Takara-kai" under Nissan.

The reason for Takara-kai is reportedly for better QC training of sub-contracting companies, and more integrated decision-making. But Takara-kai is not the same as actually owning the factory and controlling the entire production process.

So the result is, with Nissans management discord, and a less-than-satisfactory level of control over sub-contractors output and QC, Nissan products fall short of acceptable quality, more often than Toyota products do.

 

The Foxcon appears to offer exceptional performance and abilities with a highly competitive product. But the company itself obviously has a lot of financial and management problems (not unusual in aviation), and one must be very aware of this background, and a potential loss of manufacturer support, or even the complete disappearance of the company, if one becomes involved with the brand.

 

http://www.foxcon.com/Aircraft-For-Sale.html

Onetrack,

While I can't/won't say much about Foxcon, I will take exception to your generalized comments about Subaru engines being " just not up to it". How do I know? - I have worked on and driven Subarus as our family cars since the early 1980's. I also have been flying my 19- aircraft behind a Subaru EA81 for 830 hours over the last 15 years. I elected to power my aircraft with the Subaru rather than Rotax for 2 main reasons:- the early gyro musterers used EA81 engines both as direct drive and with Rotax or Hirth gearbox reduction drives or various toothed belt redrives. They literally thrashed those engines unmercifully, with very few failures. I have rebuilt engines for these gyros. The other reason is that my entire firewall forward installation at the time cost under $5,000, and servicing and maintenance costs are negligible compared to the Rotax. And I chose to use the belt reduction drive made for Foxcon, which if set up correctly and maintained according to schedule has been very reliable. My only penalty for this choice is a 20Kg weight penalty over the Rotax published weights, every item of installation accounted for and weighed in order to calculate W&B for engine mount design.

BUT, like any engineering work, the quality of the finished product depends on the quality of the workmanship and of the components used. I did my own conversion of my EA81 after inspecting "commercial" conversions including that done by Foxcon on the Terrier. I did it my way, and have been rewarded by the reliability to date. No oil leaks or excessive consumption, no valve issues, no deficient valve springs, no head gasket leaks. It is the much later EJ25 engines that suffered head gasket issues, usually after overheating from coolant loss due to poor maintenance.

I agree with you that the Terrier performance figures are not substantiated - I wouldn't dare to claim 100 HP AND reliability from an EA81 being run at the revs necessary to achieve that output. I estimate about 90 HP maximum and I cruise at 4,200 rpm maximum, closely approximating the engine revs of a 1980's Subaru 4-speed at 110 K/hr.

I haven't heard of Foxcon being in business for many years, so I don't know if their is any legacy service outlet.

An excellent quite small and relatively lightweight alternator with inbuilt 14.5 volt regulator (spot on for an Odyssey battery) is the Nippon Denso unit found on old 3-cylinder Daihatsu Charades, Suzuki Sierra's and no doubt many more Japanese origin cars of the 1980's or 1990's. I have used several over the years and they cost $5 at a swap meet. From memory they are rated at 35 amps, more than enough for as much avionics as you can carry. I've never had one fail.

I am eternally grateful that my first 20-something hours of flying instruction were in an Australian Lightwing. From day one it taught me why rudder pedals are so important. "Graduating" to an early Jabiru seemed a backward step at the time, as rudder pedals didn't take on the same importance.

Those early hours were responsible for my choosing to build a tailwheeler, a decision I'll never regret after many 100's of landings on many different surfaces. (And yes, I have ground looped as promised!) 

Thank you for the reports

Sounds like luck was on their side in this incident, but we all know that luck is totally unreliable and good airmanship is a better option. (Or should I have said "airpersonship"?

Just checked in to RF and would like to know what happened. Can someone please post a non-judgemental summary of what the video showed?

Thanks, onetrack

Apologies for the weird layout on the previous post. I kept shrinking the pics to get all the info on screen, but couldn't find a way to delete the extras. Any ideas how nto delete an image before posting?

Thanks.

Here's how I set the blades on my 3-blade Bolly. The idea isn't mine - it was given to me way back when I built the BC. The prop hub has an AN 4 bolt projecting forward from its centre to centralize the spinner up near the spinner nose. This bolt was accurately centred in a lathe. The hole in the tool fits over this bolt, a foolproof way of ensuring the same measuring radius for each blade. The square tube sits flat on the front of the prop hub. making each blade adjustment relative to the hub face. It doesn't matter what attitude plane is at. The carpenter's profile gauge is then pushed on to the reference blade to set the cambered  profile of the blade front face., and then used to adjust the other 2 blades to match. I have no interest in actual pitch angles, only that they are identical for the 3 blades. Performance in the air tells me which way to adjust, although this has been rarely needed once optimum was achieved early on.

This too, is not crude, just purpose made!

Memories of a KFM powered Jabiru! In my logbook is my 2nd dual nav exercise in Jabiru 55-678, a KFM up front. They made about 50 HP as I recall. My task was to fly my CFI (and aircraft owner) from Pt. Pirie to Woomera where he had a couple of students, spend a few hours wandering around Woomera and then return mid-afternoon in about 30 degree heat. I vividly recall being at 2,500 ft. over salt pan country, full throttle and descending at 500fpm. The instructors advice was not to worry, we'll find a thermal soon. As a previous gliding CFI he knew what he was doing and sure enough, we soon ascended back to a respectable height. The KFM's sure worked hard in those early Jabirus, but the ones I knew were soon replaced by Jabi 1600's and then 2200's.

Thanks for your suggestions, all much appreciated.

I have a tube of Inox MX6 Foodgrade EP grease which seems ideal. Its fully synthetic, contains Teflon and is recommended for use on rubber. It will only need a smear on the aluminium pegs to allow the shock cord to slide around them as it stretches. Once in place there is no significant further relative movement.

Answer: - much, much more than you would think possible. Several Avalon Airshows ago on the Saturday evening a wind storm went through the row of parked aircraft and inverted many. About 4 aircraft away from mine a Savannah was picked up and dumped inverted about a plane length behind its tied down position. It had 4 tie downs; each wing strut, nose and tail. I helped dismantle it on Sunday morning and one of the strut attachment plate assemblies had been pulled apart in tension. (Not rivets pulling out, but the plates torn apart). A Foxbat close by had been picked up, flown over the top of a Lancair barely touching its prop and then dropped tail down, bending the fuselage into a "J". It, too, had a severed strut attachment plate just below the spar. This plate is from memory about 38 X 6 mm 2021 flat. The break was clean, with no evidence of bending.

A Gazelle tied down 1 metre from my left wingtip was flown up and over the nose of my plane, landing inverted over the rope fence in front of the parked aircraft. It did not touch my wing.

I'll leave it to you to think about how much instantaneous lift it would have taken in these scenarios.

My aircraft was undamaged, the only explanation being that as a taildragger the wing angle of attack is above stall when the tail is down. All other aircraft were nosewheelers and the wings generated lift.

Somewhere I have photos of this event which I could scan and post if requested.

Any ideas please on the most suitable lubricant to help fit bungee rings. I'm replacing mine again, and want to make them slide easier around the mounts as they are stretched - no easy task as each ring has a test load of 1160 lbs (527 Kg) and they are doubled up around the mounting pegs. Current thinking is tyre bead mounting paste, but am not sure about its long-term effects on the rubber strands and cotton covering of the rings.

I hadn't heard that one Bushie, but it's so true!

 

 

Love to, but are you sure you want refugees coming from the contaminated eastern states?

No problem, if the dog's sniff test clears you. She's the boss here after all.

Definitely great advice, Bushy!

 

I have a short concentration span, flitting from one project to another. While this means my bedside table has half a dozen books I'm part way thru, our place is littered with not-quite-finished stone walls, partly-repaired items and SWMBO has a queue of jobs for me; it also enriches my existence.

 

To keep my body functional without overloading it, the backyard is my gymnasium: I can swing a pick, do a few minutes of shovelling, carry some concrete blocks or rocks, get in some tai-chi with the whipper-snipper.

 

Never waste a trip up and down the paddock; drag a load of garden prunings to the bonfire, carry up a load of firewood and attack it with the block splitter.

 

My office desk is a gymnasium for my mind, with several projects on the go.

 

I depend too much on this 8-year-old iPad and this forum as my social gymnasium.

Snap! you have described my lifestyle to perfection. The multiple concurrent projects, the computer hidden amongst all the other info being processed, the several books being read concurrently (always last thing before lights out), the firewood routine - we planted a woodlot of 260 trees back in 1992 to keep us in firewood for space heating and hot water in winter. Old adage:- cut your own firewood and it will warm you twice. It works.

We have in the past camped as neighbours at Narromine and Temora, but I don't think we have ever talked. How about a flying trip to my home airport at Pt. Pirie? We'll put you up and are sure to have a conversation starter.

I will read new posts every few days, but refrain from posting unless I have something meaningful to contribute. I have, over the years, gained (and I hope offered) much useful information from the forums (or fora?). I have also been rather peeved by speculation, nitpicking and blatant aggression in posts. I'm still in awe of what Ian has achieved on our behalf despite unfounded criticism at times, and sincerely thank him for his undying efforts. Please keep up your support to keep our contact alive.

Restoring and exhibiting old cars, stationary engines, generating sets. Electronic control design and manufacture. Heritage native vegetation preservation and maintenance on our property. Machining and welding for family and community. Active local SES member including primary response Road Crash Rescue. And I'm supposed to be retired and avoiding Covid due to to age restrictions! To quote my maternal grandparents -" I'll wear out, not rust out." Wouldn't have it any other way.

Exactly!.....pass!

So what am I doing wrong? My Subaru EA81 out of a Brumby ute has been propelling me around Oz (including outback Oz) for 800+ hours over the past 14 years. It all comes down to the details of the conversion, particularly cooling. Done properly they are just as reliable as any other properly installed and maintained engine, aviation or auto origin. The only downside is that , in my case, the total firewall forward weight is 20 Kg more than a Rotax. The plus side is that up-front and scheduled maintenance costs are minimal and there is no calendar time-out to plan for. When (and if) a rebuild is ever needed, parts are common and relatively very cheap.

If I was to build again the current crop of auto engines ripe for conversion is inspirational. It does seem that I am one of a dying breed - the number of newly built aircraft with auto conversions appears to be very small indeed.

I still use a Ferguson FE-35 petrol/kero tractor from the mid-1950's. The workshop manual gives specs for 3 different fuel versions:- Petrol, Vaporising oil and lamp oil.

Petrol turned out 38.0 BHP on a compression ratio of 6.6 to 1

Vaporising oil 30.5 BHP on CR of 5.0 to 1

Lamp oil 29.0 BHP on CR of 4.3 to 1

I assume that mine is the 5.0 CR and it starts, runs and idles faultlessly on 91 unleaded petrol. I confess that I can't recall having removed the spark plugs in at least 15 years because there's never been the need!

So there's 3 possibilities for what's in the drum.

And a good news story!

Thursday 10 am Ordered a small spool of transformer winding wire from RS components in Sydney, no charge for "postage". Friday 8 am Received phone call from Toll depot - "there's a parcel here for you." Sure was, packed in a box which could easily hold 20 spools.

I am, however, waiting on car parts from Brisbane picked up by courier on April 28th. They were sent by a courier broking setup called "Sendle". Have a look at customer reviews - 52% of the reviews canned them, particularly about missing shipments where they blamed the contract couriers and dismissed the customer complaint. I tried to find a phone number for them, but they only accept email! Shonky? You bet! DON"T USE SENDLE

If you or a friend are in to DIY electronics it's easy to add a voice operated relay to the intercom mic input. When I installed an A200 years ago I added a $15 kit from Jaycar which worked well. I still have one of these made up kits in my come-in-handy corner. PM me if interested.

I'm late to this thread, but my experience was that when building, if everything was working out well in the first hour, I could find myself still hard at it 12 hours later. If things didn't seem to go as desired in the first hour I would walk away and do other jobs until the urge to do more took over, even days or weeks later.. The only other hint is to plan the next session's work by going through the plans/instructions the night before so that the task is fresh in mind.

Hope this helps keep you going - believe me, the end result will be an achievement that will will stay with you forever.

Back to the topic -

Apparently not enough airport watchers in SA. ABC radio this afternoon broadcast the official announcement that baggage handlers at Adelaide Airport were testing positive and the health authorities were trying to trace potentially affected travellers.

Was GME until 7yr battery expiry date approached. Would have cost more than a new one to have replacement battery fitted. Bought a 10yr battery KTI for less, still meets the same regulatory requirements. Go figure?

Marty, if you are driving from Adelaide to Alice Springs you will be passing close to Port Pirie, my home airfield. You are welcome to have a squiz at the BushCaddy I built and weather permitting, experience our great flying over the Southern Flinders Ranges and Spencer Gulf. PM me for contact details.