bushcaddy105

Another thought! Carefully check the diaphragms in the carbies - even a slight split in one could produce similar symptoms. Hours of use is not an indication of their condition, but age and particularly lack of use causes them to deteriorate. Hope you soon get to the bottom of your problem

Just a thought - what ignition system are you using? Is it over-advancing in this rev range? Some years ago I experimemted with timing on my EA81 and found that it needed both centrifugal and vacuum advance control, just like in a car. It runs a Bolly 3 blade through a belt redrive and is silky smooth from 1000 to 5000 engine rpm. It runs a single big SU carby, torquey cam and 1mm off the heads. Now done 550 trouble-free hours. Another thought - what flywheel do you use? In my experience, EA81's need a bit of weight in the flywheel to remain smooth. I use a lightened steel one - are you using a superlight aluminium one? Otherwise, it sounds like you may have a torsional vibration issue brought about by the relative rigidity of the Rotax gearbox and what sounds to be a very modified engine. Torsional vibration will quickly break critical parts - beware! I wouldn't dare think of running up to 6500 rpm, even if I could! 1500 rpm idle sounds very high for an EA81, even a modified one. I trust these comments will give you some ideas.

D Ditto from here I just thought it was my usual slow satellite problem, but 2 tries failed in succession. Satellite must be OK as I'm posting this message!

Talking about bird stories! My workshop is currently host to two bird families - a Grey Shrike-thrush is sitting on eggs in a nest in the C-section frame, right at the apex of the roof. 3 bays further along a house swallow sits on her eggs in a similar location. The problem:- Neither family appreciates my tolerance and interest in their activities! The Shrike-thrushes have a beautiful, melodic call, but at what seems to be 130+ dB within the shed. The swallows keep doing low level beatups on my balding head, and also seem insistent on driving out the bigger birds. Maj, like you I enjoy watching more competent aviators than us. Well done with your Plover story.

The pilot wasn't trying! Port Pirie has Flying Doctor PC12's coming and going most days, and they certainly don't need anywhere near this distance. Runway 03/21 is 672 metres long, crossing the main bitumen 08/26 approx 300 metres from the threshold of 21. I have seen them take off on 21 and be airborne by the bitumen, and land on 21 and be taxi-ing for the approx 120 degree turn onto the taxiway to the parking apron which joins both runways. Today I watched a take-off on 26, with 20+ knots crosswind from the North, and it was well airborne by the western taxiway, approx 400 metres.

3 Screwits held my plane down at Avalon 2009 while 2 star pickets (fence droppers) failed to hold down the aircraft 3 feet off my left wingtip. I believe this was purely due to the nature of the wind event - my aircraft may have been just on the edge of the wind stream. Close inspection of the damage to 2 other overturned aircraft (I helped dismantle one of them the following day) suggests that had they been tied down any more securely the wings may well have been torn from them, such was the intensity of the sudden lift forces. Both had struts torn from the wing spar at the attachment point. My conclusion is that there is a limit to what you can expect from portable tiedowns, and there is little that can be done to combat freak events of nature, hence the option of insurance!

Likewise, my 7 yr old grandson asked if he could go flying with me last week. As he is usually full of bravado until the action is imminent, I just took him for a quick circuit before attempting a longer flight. He just loved it, pointing out cars moving, a ship moving out of the harbour, etc. A longer flight with a landing on a farm strip confirmed his enthusiasm. It just took a cushion under him to raise him a bit higher in the seat. Why not encourage early interest in aviation?

My dearly beloved tried flying with me on 2 occasions:- The first was a quick and gentle loop around the local patch. She was apprehensive, but interested. The second was a cross-country run to spend several days at a holiday destination. The result was the rest of that day and evening in hospital getting her head to work again! Turns out that her inner ear balance mechanism just couldn't cope with banked turns in circuit and she just lost the plot. Needless to say, she hasn't and won't fly with me ever again. Not that I mind, because I don't have to go to choir and yoga with her. Status quo happily remains!

3 point 95% of time, (also counting 2 point in crosswinds, ie the upwind main plus tailwheel). Wheelers usually result from too high an approach speed on short final, plus wind shear causing a loss of headwind down low - without flaps to play with, there's no option for slowing down so wheel it on and wait for the tail to come down. The old story- it takes the right approach to produce the right landing!

Your thoughts are too general! Some of us think that selected car engines make excellent aircraft power plants, eg the venerable Subaru EA81 Reading about the issues which regularly occur with some "aircraft" engines (and their maintenance costs) confirms our opinion. The Mercedes based engine used in the FK aircraft seen at the last 2 Natflys should also encourage you to look objectively at the technology available in current auto engine conversions.

More info just discovered - When I use the "next" button to move to the next page of a thread with more than one page of posts, I have to wait while the counter winds down through "downloading X items" where X starts at about 179. Just the same as when first logging on and reading the first post of a thread. Hope this helps with the diagnosis- hopefully just something about my computer setup that I know little about!

Likewise, Ian I've just tried the "aviationenthusiasts" site, and there's no problem with delays. Thanks for your efforts - I had raised this issue with you some time ago, and you had put it down to the satellite internet I use. (or have to use, as there's no alternative available here) I've only stuck my head up again when I read rgmwa's post and discovered that I am not alone!

Usually just the first thread that is opened after going to the site, although occasionally when changing to another thread

Same problem here, except longer times to wait! Using satellite "broadband", Windows Explorer. Has done this for months, now. Have tried to find what this Cache business is about, but no joy. The count down is from about 179 items. Likewise, other sites don't do this. ???????

I bought a Citizen WingMan pilot watch (with all the bells and whistles) in Singapore in 1994. Still use it daily and it keeps near perfect time. Goes about 3 years on a battery. I only really use the time, date and occasionally the stopwatch functions, so I agree that the rest is "fluff". UTC is on a cheap digital clock with large numerals mounted on the panel where it is easily read.

Gooday Louis I have spent a great night on the banks of the Murray, at the point where the Murrumbidgee meets the Murray. Land on a vehicle track across the floodplain, but not right now! My flight home from Natfly last week showed that there is a HUGE amount of water just upstream from from Balranald, so this campsite won't be available for some time.

David I've only got this news when I got home today from Natfly. I've tried to PM you, but this forum has changed so much (and so frequently) that I haven't been able to work out how it is now done. If this is the couple I presume, they stayed with us on their 2010 Kangaroo Island trip. Can you please confirm this? Thanks

My kit came with Matco hydraulic discs, with toe operated master cylinders. Independent L & R braking is pretty well essential on a tailwheeler, and this setup is excellent - plenty of stop for short landing rolls, but not enough to cause a nose-over on a ground run-up. At about 75% power the brakes creep, even with quite strong pressure on the pedals.

Gooday Bill, I caught up with the owner today and yes, it's available. PM me for contact details, or ring me on 08 8636 2333.

Gooday Bill, There was one in a shed near me - it was replaced with a Jab 2200, and to my knowledge was a ruuning concern at the time. I'll ring the owner tonight to see if it's still there and get back to you.

Engine (complete including mounts but minus exhaust), 4 litres oil in sump, redrive weighed 92Kg (200 lbs). Add prop, radiator and coolant to get the final figure.

Murphy Renegade Spirit VH-LFZ Rego clearly shown on Ch 7 Adelaide news tonight Rotec 2800 radial powered. My feelings go out to the owner/builder. Must be like losing one of the family.

For what it's worth - I've now flown over 500 hours in the past 6 years on my EA81/Foxcon redrive combo. I chose this redrive because the engine coupled drive sprocket is supported by bearings front and rear, and the drive from the flywheel is through 8 urethane bushed pins, providing a degree of vibrational isolation between the engine and the redrive. This totally isolates the crankshaft from both side loads and axial loads. The crank only provides rotation to the drive sprocket. Because the front and rear prop shaft bearings are individually adjustable for belt tension and tracking, it is vital to get this set up properly from the outset - a bit fiddly but once done will go for 100's of hours without further adjustment. One (minor) advantage of a belt redrive is "conventional " direction of prop rotation, i.e. the same as direct drive engines. I hope this helps with your decision!

I flew 5 hours this morning to get home before the heat (I didn't beat it then!) with my first real tryout of OzRunways on a secondhand iPad 1 3G version, and with the 3G function turned off. The inbuilt GPS never missed a beat, and the flight planning made it SO easy to set up the 3 legs of the flight. Just having the flight following (with HSI if you choose that option) overlaid onto a VNC provides real-time monitoring of control boundaries, frequencies, PRD areas, etc. For the record, the battery monitor showed 34% remaining at the end. Way to go!

Lots of info on American auto conversion websites. The coolant referred to is Evans waterless coolant. It is totally non-compatible with water -based coolants, and in my opinion, the jury is out as to its effectiveness and the need to use anything but water with an anti-freeze, antiboil additive. I have always used a good quality auto coolant concentrate, mixed 50-50 with clean rainwater out of a plastic tank. Good for 4 years before replacement.