Build Mods

Mounting the Water Pumps

Date:  11-19-2023
Number of Hours:  45
Manual Reference:  23

This is a liquid cooled engine, and that means I need a water pump…or two. I thought I had paid for two water pumps from the engine builders. They didn’t come with the engine. After some discussion they sent, along with a few other overlooked items pumps. I thought that one was to be engine driven as discussed but it didn’t happen. Probably electric is better except for the needed electrons.

What arrived were two BMW pumps weighing in at 4lbs 7.7ozs each, and they were big. I’m sure they would do the job, but there was no where to put them and I just couldn’t live with the weight penalty.

Well, after a few emails and discussion with various people, I ended up buying two Davis Craig EPW150 pumps. These weigh in at 2lbs 10.7oz each almost half the BMW pumps. One has the controller system which covers the pump and any fans. They are rated at 162liters per minute each, although probably less when hot. I need between 100 and 130lts/mt… or so the guesstimate is.

This is the install weight with the joiner and the pump mounts. 6lbs 7.4ozs. Two hose clamps are still to come.

Again, a lot of thought on how to set these up. In the end I decided on plumbing them in series. One pump would have the controller and just adjust itself according to the coolant temperature. The other pump is going to have just an on/off switch. This will be for redundancy and in a pinch, extra cooling.

The issue is already the current draw. These pull around 4amps each and I am right on my 60amp limit. I may even have to load shed to use two pumps at once.

Now where to put these pumps and all that weight?

They just did not fit anywhere except in my precious hell hole space. You can see above I had to buy a rather long set of three fittings to join the pumps in series. This is quite a problem. They don’t really fit as you see above and they would be extremely difficult to remove for maintenance as well as taking up space I need. There is a small fitting made that would work well, but it only comes in -12 and these are -16 size.

I looked overseas and found steel fittings, which would rust. I was looking for at least stainless as aluminium was not available anywhere. I negotiated with US companies to send me something but it was all too hard for them to export. I finally found something locally but it was the same size at my initial three joiner fittings and weighted more! So worse than useless..

I gave up and spent $6.95 and got a silicone sleeve that works a treat. The engine designer, Andrew Higgs suggested this. I wanted AN fittings but this sleeve solves the problem to some degree. I will use quality hose clamp fittings. In fact the sleeve allows me to get the pumps closer together than any other solution which gives back a little bit of the precious hell hole space.

My plan is to mount the pumps on the inside of the hell hole and push them through the firewall without a pass through fitting. I will seal around the pumps with RTV for fire protection. I do like the pumps here, on the plus side I have the 6lbs 7ozs of combined pump as far forward as I can get them,

Even one pump is a LOT of real estate.

This is where the pumps go. Now I have to somehow mount them like rocks! They are sitting in rubber cradles so all I need to do is hard mount to the ‘front’ or hell hole side of the firewall.

This simple one fitting took a full days work. It is flat aluminium bend on a hand brake at just the right angle. I have glued as well as screwed  and used AN4 size fitting for strength. These pumps really …pump so I want very secure mounts.

Another days work. No one will see this except me. Again this was bent to an exact fit.

The pumps have to be removable in a ‘relatively’ easy way. This has taken a lot of thought. So now you can see the fruits of two whole days work!

This weird fitting works for the lower corner.

Here we are with the pumps partly mounted. I still have two more on the (photo) right side which are so hard to get to, I need mirrors to even see where to put them.

Here the one I’ve just made for the top right side. I have installed it with glue and followup with adding the screws after cure.

..and here we are, that mount is in place. The long screws you see are where I was going to have an oil pump for heating. It looks like thats not happening now. I’ll leave them in for the moment. I just know if I cut them off…I might have used them for something else.

This is the bottom right bracket. Much easier to make than all the others.

This one will not get screws so as it is floxed in place I’ve added a few dimples to help the glue ‘grab’.

Here’s the bracket in place. Easy to make and really hard to fit! I got it in eventually. After the cure, I’ll take the pumps out and tidy up a bit. I think a little glass might be a good idea on top too. We are not done fitting these pumps yet!

These are the mounts without the pumps. Odd placed for sure but everything fits well. I just have one fitting to go.

Weird shapes eh? It took a few hours to make this work. The ‘paddle’ has a slight bend to it and the piece with the nut plate was also flat until this afternoon.

After this cures I’m going to clean up and then add a couple of plies of glass for extra strength. A final pic or two will make sense.

Well now this is cured and cleaned up, I’m not going to bother putting glass over the top. It is absolutely rock solid.

So the two pumps are mounted. I’m happy with this one. Another job done and I can move on to the firewall penetrations now I know what room I have left.

 

 

Radiator Planning

Date:  10-20-2023
Number of Hours:  20
Manual Reference:  23

The replacement sump finally arrived. I’ve removed the old sump and temporarily installed this new one. There was an issue with the entrance to the induction. I spent 6 hours on that alone smoothing out the area that had been attached with a rotary tool. The air needs a smooth introduction to induction after all!

A few more hours sorting out other issues and I have my new sump so the work can begin. It does fit the plane beautifully and gives me much needed space that the other sump was taking up. I can even put the lower cowl on with decent clearances.

The first major task is to size the radiators so I can get them made.

I worked with cardboard to try and find what I thought was the maximum shape possible to see what I had.

The two sides are quite different due to the offset cylinders and various pipes slightly in the way.

I took the cardboard, after many hours of fiddling, down to my radiator guy. He said my shapes were not possible. Woooow… So I returned to the workshop looking for plan B.

As you might see, lots of changes get made to my cardboard shape.

This is getting pretty close. Unfortunately all I can do is a long thin radiator. About 6″ wide by 19″ long, give or take.

The same on the other side, long and thin when I have only a 4″ triangle of incoming air to somehow get to the face of this.

Here you can see the inlet size.

After quite some work and more fiddling I have come up with my two radiator shapes in foam. The right is only slightly smaller than the left. These are 68mm thick which is the size of the PWR high performance radiator cores that I hope my radiator guy can order. I did take them down to him with my measurements, but he was away until next week racing cars interstate. Good for him!

OK, not exactly a computer model in CAD.

In summary. We have the cores at 68mm plus about 10mm more thickness at the ends where the tanks go on. These will be cross flow radiators and include the tank size which needs to be large enough for the AN12 fittings.

They should work out at around 210 square inches of radiator face area.This might be enough IF I could get the air evenly over the full surface. I am going to build an enclosed plenum which should help a tiny bit. I’m also moving pipes and things on the engine to get maybe an extra inch back from the openings. I am really going to have to work on getting the air out which might help a little.

To be honest I am concerned about this cooling, I will be delighted if the first iteration is successful.

 

 

Header Tank and Firewall Planning

Date:  10-05-2023
Number of Hours:  6
Manual Reference:  15

There are lots of things I do that don’t make this blog. Here are a couple, first up, Firewall planning.

My high tech planning for the firewall consists of blue paper and tape. (CnC = cardboard and crayons)  I can move these around faster than a well caffeinated graphics designer with a mouse. I need to see the options before I start drilling holes as what is happening on the other side, feeding things in and so on is also important. Now I have a plan, the water pumps have arrived and it may all change again as the pumps might even go on the firewall somehow!

I will need an expansion tank, sometimes also called a header tank or incorrectly, an overflow tank. I will need one of them too. 

I found this one on line for a low price. The quality was surprising, really great welds.

You can see it is too high and the sight gauges are on the wrong side. The attachment tabs are in the wrong place and the inlet is on the wrongs side.

The pressure cap also has to be moved and a larger one used so I can get nearer 27psi for the pressure release. You can see here it will clear the oil filter and still allow its removal. This expansion tank also needs to be positioned above the water cooling system and the level viewable when I also check the oil.

After confirming it can fit it was off to the custom radiator shop with my list of mods. Hopefully we can get it right in one go.

 

 

Piss Tube, Hammer, Fuel Run and Brake Fluids

Date:  11-04-2022
Number of Hours:  12
Manual Reference:  no ref

A few more little jobs while the wait for the engine continues.

The piss tube is in place now with velcro and some soft surgical line at the end of the PVC tubing.

The soft section of tube takes bends really well and allows the tube to be stored out of the way easily.

Here’s my canopy breaking tool which I don’t expect to ever need. That’s why I have it. Its well within reach if I ever have to bust out of the canopy after an accident. Its also well out of the way for normal times.

With so little to do while I await the engine I put a few fuel lines back in.

I had to have a think about where things went. Its been a while since I worked all this out.

Its really a very simple system, until you have to make the hoses and get them in place.

This is what I used for the canopy seals and any other rubber parts that need fixing in place. I just wanted it somewhere in the blog… sorry for the interruption.

This is the brake fluid I will not put in next week. It is very much standard aviation stuff they use at the airport. Its the old MIL-PRF-5606  BUT I do have something better that I will use instead which is much safer for high temperatures should I have a brake heat issue.

Here’s what AC-43.13-1B  says about brake fluids…

Royco 782 which is MIL-PRF-83282

Bottom Line: MIL-H-5606 has been replaced with MIL-PRF-83282 (good to -40F/C) and MIL-PRF-87257 (good to lower temps). Each of these fluids, and their associated systems, are compatible and miscible with each other. You can mix any combination and/or amount of these fluids together without any ill effects.

If, and/or when, you change over from MIL-H-5606 you can either:
1. drain your hydraulic system and refill with MIL-PRF-83282 or MIL-PRF-87257, or
2. merely top off the reservoir with MIL-PRF-83282 or MIL-PRF-87257 as needed.
Both methods have been used with great success with no reported problems.

That said, I would ASSUME mixing the two would reduce the fire protection you get from straight MIL- 83282

This unit lets you pressurize the line. I added a stop valve as I’m filling bottom up and need to check in the nose how I’m doing before I get brake fluid everywhere.

I did get a scare as this is my first time and it seemed like the line was blocked, which would have been an issue. I did blow some compressed air through and got a bit of advice and someone else to watch the bubbles and eventually the fluid come through.  It needed about 15psi which required that I hold the fitting in place. Yes I did have a little spill to clean up.

Here we are at the nose. I didn’t fill the reservoirs all the way as when the nose in lowered they might spill out the top breather holes. I will be watching the first time I lower the nose all the way to the ground. That will be the MAX line which I will mark. For now, I have brakes!

 

Roll and Pitch Trim Update

Date:  09-16-2022
Number of Hours:  15
Manual Reference:  no ref

Its September 2022 and I’m still waiting on the engine. It is time to do some ‘final’ set up work on various systems. Here I spent hours on the canard and put the servos back in. Both Garmin servos have been replaced as they were faulty from day one. We didn’t find out until we hooked it all up to the installed avionics. The warranty goes from the purchase date, not the installed date on ‘experimentals’. Certified purchases get warranty on THE SAME item from the installed date. Hmmm.

I ended up paying a relatively minor amount after much ‘discussion’. Now Garmin will replace any servos as so many have been showing up faulty. They will be fixing their production issues I’m told.

The pitch servo now in place. The blue torque seal is a ‘code’ to say ‘I have done this bolt and nut up to spec’. The idea is that when i am ready for inspection I’ll know what needs to be tightened or checked and what has already been done.

The blue lines on the tubes are in case I have to disassemble them so I can get things back to the same place without a lot of refitting. This setup with the arm ensure it can not lock over center. Its on the inner bolt hole of the arm according to other canard flyers who say this is the best place.

I had to tweak the hard stops for the servo which guard against runaway. There is a very wide throw in both directions on this elevator system. In flight with JZE I use very little of it.

I had these apart a while ago and it was very easy to put bolts in different holes. The problem is everything nearly works…but not quite. The blue paint lines should help if they have to come apart in the future.

There is some friction in this elevator system that I am not happy about. It might make no difference.. or maybe it will. The fix is to reduce the excellent fit of the phenolic runners. That’s where its grabbing slightly. To do that I need to get the hinge pins out…again.  Its a horrible frustrating and difficult job. Did I mention, horrible.

Ok I am thinking about doing the fix… or maybe see if it is in fact a problem during test flying. It will either feel a little stiff or not be noticeable at all. It will not be a safety of flight thing. it MIGHT be an issue near the onset of flutter. I don’t know… so I’m seeking advice.

Good access for the nuts here.

This is the roll servo

Roll servo again, note the guard I have in case the rudder pedal cable gets too close. I don’t want a sharp edge wearing away the cable over time.

This is the roll TRIM servo and spring. Not yet tightened up but ready to go.

 

Cooling the Beast 3 – KW Oil Cooler Diffuser

Date:  02-18-2022
Number of Hours:  12
Manual Reference:  no ref

Now I have the oil cooler, even without the engine here I can make a diffuser to bring air to the face. Well at least the end of the duct where it will go from 3″ Diameter SCEET hose to the radiator face.

The Oil Cooler is from Airflow Systems 2008X Its a large 17 row cooler for 280HP+ It will be fitted just behind the sump but before the belt alternator at the lower center rear of the cowl. This position is a part of my cooling plan that frees up space at the sides for water radiators. I will split off air from the right armpit via a 3″ SKEET duct. The air must then be slowed and expanded to evenly meet the radiator face.

So what you want is a Kuchemann & Weber (KW) trumpet shaped diffuser. The name comes from a couple of scientists, Kuchemann & Weber, who performed a lot of R & D on this subject during World War II and published their findings in Aerodynamics of Propulsion sometime in 1953. These diffusers are highly utilized in aviation as well as in automotive racing.

All I had to do was stick some foam blocks together and get out a file and make the shape.

This took a while…

After I thought I had it I kept refining. I even filled in a few gaps that then made it harder to carve. Next time I’ll leave that until right at the end.

Once I was happy I covered the carved foam in duct tape. No pun intended..

It was an odd shape to cover in carbon fiber. I used four pieces with two each side making it all the way around. I laid it up for the ‘second ply’ at 180 degrees so I probably have a good three ply everywhere.

I overlapped the edges too with the idea it will make a good seal.

I used acetone to melt away the foam plug. After all, I only need one of these this particular size. Even with the duct tape on the form it gave a pretty smooth inside. I will run some sandpaper over it before use.

This diffuser is surprisingly light and very stiff and pretty much the right shape. 3″ hose fits perfectly in the top. It just might see some service,

Cooling the Beast 2 – Lower Cowl Expansion

Date:  01-30-2022
Number of Hours:  40
Manual Reference:  no ref

It is clear than the radiator size I need and the space available under the cowls is not a match. Some smallish changes to the lower cowl will unlock a much larger area.

Here’s where I started with the cowls. The area around the intake scoops was my target.

First up I removed the oil cooler bump that is not required for my build but was a part of the original cowls. I filled the inside with foam then cut the bump out. With a smooth foam base, I glassed (or carbon fiber-ed if there is such a phrase) the outside with two plies. Then I removed the inside foam down to the carbon filler after cure. Pretty standard stuff.

I used pour foam on the transitions. Oh you can see the foam fill for the oil cooler bump. I guess the pics are out of order.

Here was are after some shaping.

The scoop entries got quite a bit of careful sculpting. The entry needs to be away from the boundary layer.

This was a pretty conservative change and pleased with myself. I used one ply of carbon transitioned with peel ply. What followed were quite a few hours on the inside removing material right down to the outer carbon.  Then I set the cowl up and tried my radiator foam dummies to see how much space I had created on the inside.

BUZZZ. Honk!  NOT ENOUGH was the verdict. So I have to do it all again…

Second try. More pour foam and sculpting. You can see I still have a nice transition.

Here we go again with version two, another layer of carbon upper and lower of the scoops.

Now for removing more material on the inside down to the new outer layer of carbon. Its quite a long process. Then cowls back on to see if I’m winning the space I need.

OK I have more space but those edges have to go. I see possibilities with those corners gone. Every millimeter counts.

So lots more grinding and cutting. Its so noisy and prolonged that I started getting to this job after the other guys in the hangar had gone home at 4pm. I had a couple of late nights. Then its the big layup after lots of prep and sanding work.

The new two ply inner layer is now installed.

The back of the inlets got flox corners and a separate layup. I also reinforced the backs of my holding tabs with a small two ply piece as they had lost all strength with so much material removed.

You might see the space I have now compared to before?

It is hugely improved on both sides.

I am still not really sure of the orientation of the radiators or the final sizes.

This side will be smaller due to less space with the offset cylinders.

What I can say is that I now have enough room to make something, somehow work. I just will not know exactly until the engine is sitting in there and I can see exactly what I have.

The cowl of course has a slightly larger wetted area. I think it will not produce a large or even measurable amount of extra drag. I need the space to cool all those horses! This is all I can do on the water radiator install for now.

Something special is going to have to happen between the scoop and the rads. I don’t want anything attached to the cowls. I will need a clever push fit seal with the rads perhaps attached to the engine mounts. I will be as surprised as you are to find out what I end up with.

Cooling the Beast 1

Date:  12-19-2021
Number of Hours:  0
Manual Reference:  no ref

It is time to begin documenting my cooling systems for the engine. I’m treating this as a modification as this plane will have liquid rather than air cooling for the cylinders.

The engine will be an AC-Aero Gladiator X440. It should be delivered March 2022.

This is a six cylinder version with a turbo and 1000HP. Mine will be 300HP, four cylinders and normally aspirated. Think of a Lycoming 0-360 angle valve stroked out to 440 cubic inches and with liquid cooling via special cylinders. The big challenge is fitting radiators under my tight cowls.

Lets go back to basics to determine how much heat I have to get rid of.

1). 1 Horsepower = 2544.43 BTU/hr or 42.4 BTU/min.
One Btu is the amount of heat required to raise one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit. …

2). Roughly 1/3 of an engine’s BTUs ends up in the cooling system

3). Therefore, roughly 14.12 BTU/min per HP ends up in the cooling system. (42.4/3=14.12BTU/min HP)

4). This is where it gets even sketchier yet – In a single row efficient aluminium radiator, each cubic inch will cool approximately 11 BTUs (therefore, BTU/11 = approximate cubic inch of single row radiator).

5). Assuming that your single row radiator is 2” thick, then each sq in of radiator frontal area would cool approximately 22 BTUs (therefore, BTU / 22 = approximate sq in of single row radiator).

6). Approx BTU requirements 300HP X 42.4 BTU/min X 1/3 = 4,236 BTU/min.
So we need 4236 a minute with a 2″ thick radiator we get /22 = 192square inches needed
12″ X 8″ per side is 96 = 192″
Can I fit a 12″ X 8″ radiator?

7). Rad sizing is something probably better asked of your radiator manufacturer, particularly now that you have an idea of BTU requirements.

8). Going a step further with our wild ass guess, we could use the following as a starting point – 4,236 / 11 would indicate that we need an approximate 385 cu in single row radiator (or two 193 cu in rads), and if the core was 2” thick, then a frontal area of 4236/22 = 193 sq in (or two 96 sq in rads).

9). Here is where it gets even more complicated: A radiator supplier will tell you that a single row radiator is more efficient, and they are correct. However, that does not mean that it creates the least cooling drag in an aircraft. If you have good transitions and are able to control and duct the exit air, then the hotter the air and greater the velocity, the more you can offset cooling drag (closer to Meredith effect). So, it’s possible that you may desire a good flowing multi row radiator to increase outlet air temp. In that case as you increase thickness you lose cooling efficiency. A rough rule of thumb is when you double the thickness the additional thickness is 50% efficient. Therefore, if you wanted a 4” core, you might use the following calcs as a starting point A). 4236 / 11 X 1.5 = approximate 578 cu in two row radiator (or two 289 cu in two row radiators) B).  578 cu in two row radiator / 4” core = 145 sq in frontal area (or two 72 sq in frontal area 4” core rads).

10). I do not know how much margin you want to give yourself, but the size of the radiators are based upon horsepower, and since you will not be running full horsepower for long (just for take-off, and since its naturally aspirated it will fall off soon), its possible that you can even run somewhat smaller radiators than outlined above.

OIL COOLING

The numbers above came from my engine guy to get the conversation started. A big question is how much of this heat that we have to remove if done by the water cooling radiators and how much by the oil cooler? Dick Rutan has told me he found the split 45% oil and 55% water on his smaller liquid cooled Continental engines in the Voyager.  Will this be applicable for my 300HP? I am awaiting details of the pictured AC-Aero engine for a starting point.

Perhaps 1/3 oil and 2/3 water will be more accurate. I am currently looking at an airplane oil cooler big enough to do a IO-540 but with more efficient entry and exit than a Cessna. I will be feeding in cool air, not hot and should have better ducting.

This is the size I’m thinking to use including the blue foam but it seems 8″ is all the space I have there and 7.5″ would be better. I’m currently talking to a oil cooler company. Or rather I send emails and they ignore them.  Even in this position I will have to turn the air twice and alter the inlet scoop.

WATER COOLING

For the water cooling to get the square inches I need it might have to be three radiators with two extra inlets on the top of the cowl.

I have found a local guy who can make radiators to a specified size. The two big players Mezzo and PWR are not interested in helping.
These are the local guy’s thicknesses. I also need to add 10-20mm to the length for headers.

40mm 1.6”
55mm 2.2”
68mm 2.8” can be special order PWR core that is more efficient
Or two rows of 40mm = 90mm 3.6”
2.8″ is the sweet spot but it will not fit.
This is the size I need and forget about getting the top cowl on. I’d be lucky to fit smaller ones 1″ thick here. I also need to angle the radiators to make a wedge. Again not enough room. I also want to fit in a fan for ground cooling. Not enough room! I am looking at two small ones on top, altering the cowl to fit and then a thicker one on the left side.
HOW BIG?
Reading about rotary engines that go in airplanes has given me different numbers.  The first basic BTU calculations for a single row 1″ thick radiator at 385 cubic inches. The rotary numbers for my horsepower and 2/3rd of the heat come out at 745 cubic inches. This is real world rather than based on BTU numbers.
I’m going to need a bigger radiator! Obviously a 2″ thick halves my area footprint IF I can fit it.
TWO INCH CORE
19*26 = 494cubic
Need 745 cubic inches
372” x 2” for 2.2 or 55mm
8″ X 46″, 10″ X 37″, 12″ X 31″, 14″ X 26″
None of these will fit.
A strategy would be to do the oil and a special 2.8” thick more efficient radiator on the side
If this is not enough THEN alter the cowls for the top ones
A curved scoop just back from the turtle back maybe. Or two 4” diameter scoops
Map out the opening area. A curved inlet over the cowl bumps is also possible. That might give more space under the cowl forward. Then the radiator could go high here and lower at the exit. The opposite would give the cowl top as the top of the wedge.
I could lay from on top of the cowl, layup the carbon fiber and then remove carbon from the inside. A good way to easily alter the cowls.
First up looks like dealing with the oil cooling. There may be little more to do before the engine comes and I know EXACTLY what space I have.

HOW BIG? – another take on the numbers

Rotax 912S 100HP Liquid Cooled (a well proven engine)
Oil Cooler      8.5″ X 5.25″ X 1.5″ (single row)     44.6sq”
Water Cooler 16″ X 5.75″ X 1.25″ (single row)    92.0sq”
50% water, 50% oil cooling   (50HP each)
46sq” for 50HP (water)  22sq”(oil)

Voyager (Dick Rutan information)   Continental IOL-200 rear (pusher)
55% water, 45% oil cooling   (note front engine was air cooled)

Mazda 13B Rotary Engine 200HP (used in some aircraft)
Heat absorbed by water 130HP, Oil 50HP (of total 720HP for all heat)
72% water, 28% oil
In practice, 1/3 of cooling is oil with oil cooler volume about half of the water cooling

Grove AC-Aero Install 1000HP  Sizes just guessed from the photo
Radiators 20″ X 10″ x 3″ (two core?) each
200 sq” each = 400sq” (one core so 800 sq”)
Oil Cooler size is unknown (not pictured). It is probably ‘small’ compared to the water radiators.
IF 3/4 of cooling is the water = 800 sq” for 750HP  (1.06sq” for 1HP)
56sq” for 50HP
NOTE: this is about 20% over the Rotax size per 50HP
The Grove aircraft’s first iteration of the radiators as shown had more cooling than was needed.

AC-Aero 440X @300HP- My engine
with 2/3 water (200HP) would need  212sq”
If a two row (a bit over 2″ thick) 106sq” or  10″ X 11″ plus the oil cooler

Using BTU calculations as earlier in this post
For 300HP we need 384sq” of radiator (1″ thick)
If 1/3 is oil thats 256sq” for the water OR 128sq” for a two row.
42sq” for 50HP

Rough Conclusions

  • Oil cooler will be Airflow Systems AS-2008X used for IO-540’s (240-300HP)
  • Either 10″ x 11″ (106) or 10″ x 12″(128)  Two row radiator for the water
  • I will have to wait for the engine before seeing what I can fit. 10″X12″X 2″ doesn’t work the Long-EZ. I may have to do three small radiators plumbed together to get the required surface area.

Cooling efficiency relates directly to the installation which may allow both smaller radiators and less cooling drag. Most of the exact same information I have found scouring the net has been collected in Paul Lamar’s “How to Cool Your Wankel”.

Big takeaways are the Kays & London wedge for air entry and variations on the K&W trumpet diffusers for exit air.

Planning Progress – Oil Cooler Position

A new spot has been ‘found’ for the oil cooler.

Its a big cooler so fitting it here is a real problem solver.

I’ve loaded up my dummy engine with a spare alternator and starter motor. This is a great spot between the alternator and the sump that will work a treat. I’ll use a KW trumpet duct to get the air onto the oil cooler face.

My B&C starter motor rather than the boat anchor Prestolite pictured is only 6.5″ back from the mounting area and leaves a perfect gap. I’ll also have mounting points off the sump or wherever I need to secure the cooler.

The cooler will sit a bit higher than my blue foam dummy. I shouldn’t have to alter the cowls at that point either. I could if I need them just a touch wider at the bottom.  You can see a bit of a ‘Vee’ shape in front in the picture. This will squeeze the outgoing air into a funnel and should accelerate it.

Along with the previous picture you might see I can duct the outgoing air either to the top of the cowl opening OR I can make holes at the side of the boat tail for an exit. That might work very well. I’m thinking a shroud or top half of a duct on the engine side and using the cowl shape as the bottom. I would need to do a smart fitting so that when the cowl is placed on and fastened, it makes a true sealed duct.

Updated Water Cooling Radiator Plans

This cooler placement now frees up the armpit inlets for two water coolers at the sides and no extra inlets on the top of the cowl. This is a bit of a planning breakthrough. I will split off part of the right side armpit for air ducted to the cooler. The rest would go to a smaller water radiator on that side. A larger one on the left.

This is 10″ X 9″. I am now thinking I can go to the PWR 2.8″ high efficiency core. It is thick but I might be able to make it work. On the above picture, if I can get a core with a slanted bottom half say 6″ more this gives me 90+6×9/2 = 116square inches total. Given I want to be in the 120-130 range its looking good.

This all said I don’t think a cooler that big will fit in the left side. If I go to 8″ wide I’d have 80+24 = 104 square inches of top surface.

The right side is smaller again due to the offset cylinders and where the exhaust pipes start. If I’m 5″ wide here we get another 9X5 (45) so I’m up to 149 square inches. Again it may have to go smaller and this right side will have split air.

I’m still not 100% on how to turn the air to the radiators yet. I am 100% on modifying the cowl around the armpit intakes to give me more room inside for the radiators. That’s the next big task.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rudder Gust Locks

Date:  12-15-2021
Number of Hours:  9
Manual Reference:  no ref

These rudder gust locks are completely James Redmon’s idea and documented on his site. Kudos to James. Thank-you.

The first part of this mod I have documented in the rudder section.

Here’s the flashback to when I built the rudders and added an aluminium tube and found a push pin to fit.

Now with the rudders finished Its time to make the locks. I started with the usual thin duct tape.

Next up was a piece of aluminium to lay the glass on at the right angle.

Trusty hot glue keeps the plate in place to complete my “mold”.

I used four ply of BID and thought that would work.

Four ply was still a bit soft so I added two ply of carbon fiber. Probably 3 ply of carbon would have done the job. That stuff is stiff.

Final trial fit and its looking OK. Off to the “paint shop”.

Yes, a clean up then primer, red paint and some satin clear on top. These will be quite visible against the white. If I haven’t checked my rudders before taxing off they could be left on! I like to check my rudders so it should be all good. Certainly trying to taxi would also point out that I’ve forgotten something. When parked these things will stop rudder flapping.

Nearly done.

I decided that the inside areas needed padding to protect the rudder area paint. I found some thin rubber and there we are. Now its all done.

Vortilons and Wing Fences Installed (post paint)

Date:  10-10-2021
Number of Hours:  3
Manual Reference:  no ref

The Vortilons and Wing fences were painted separately and now the plane is white they need to be installed.

I used quality 5 mt epoxy with a little micro to thicken it.

After laying out the positions and checking 3 or four times I got to work.

Given its an awkward spot to clamp, I just held each of the six pieces in place one by one until they cured.

Now it looks like a Long-EZ wing that has a Roncz canard up front.

The fences were a bit easier to glue in place as they stay put.

Lots of checking of angles here as you can’t really tell by eye if they are right. I had to trust the numbers.

I’m sure this will make transport more difficult when I have to truck the build to a remote location for testing.

Another small but necessary job done.

Some Post Paint Refitting, Pant and Nose Wheel Sorting

Date:  09-14-2021
Number of Hours:  20
Manual Reference:  no ref

After Paint I found that things didn’t really fit anymore and it was time to sort out some nose wheel issues too.

After some work the hell hole hatch fitted again.

This RAM air scoop is another experimental modification that I hope pays off.

A lot of careful sanding got the paint boarders back in the ball park.

The pants look good if you photograph from the best angles. These took quite a bit of careful sanding to make them fit again too.

They do look good.

A reasonable fit and the lines are nice.

Another little job was to get the static vents placed.

Here’s one side installed. They are just press fitted for now. It will get sorted out when we plumb everything and then test fly!

Quite some sanding and fit work was needed to get the nose gear happy to retract with its Garolite G10 nose shield, now painted, in place.

This little spring loaded cover needed a fiddle as well.

I have a nose bumper and thanks again to ‘Marco’ who made it for me. I can’t say who Marco is as he doesn’t want the world to be asking him to make them more nose bumpers. So don’t ask me OK? He does great work.

Quite a bit more work went into this nose gear. It had issues. Lateral play side to side. I had to get the AN5 bolt out holding the NG6A and it was a nightmare. I ended up making a special tool just for that and spent more than a full day trying to stay …cool.

The side to side problem was because the mushroom spacers that came with the NG6 I had purchased were a little too long. There were also a sloppy fit for the AN5 bolt. I got a precision bolt and then had new spacers machined up and those a fraction less in length. Long story short… its rock solid now.

This part seems OK and has a mod I must have documented somewhere in this blog!

The next problem was the side to side play at the wheel. WTF?? I had purchased mushroom spacers for this too that matched my wheel. NOT! These got a tickle on a serious lathe and after adding a the AN960L washer my nose wheel was also rock solid.

Hinge Upgrade and How to Do It

Date:  09-07-2021
Number of Hours:  15
Manual Reference:  no ref

The hinges for the rudders, ailerons and landing brake can be improved. There is a system where Teflon is introduced into the hinge with a replaced smaller metal core. This Teflon lining greatly reduces wear and stops the flying surface become loose at this point over time from the metal to metal vibrations.

Another advantage is they will not need periodic lubrication. A trail of oil from the hinge point can be seen on a lot of aircraft including my own flying Long-EZ, VH-JZE. I’ve always hated that.

A heads up is in the Canard Pusher 39 page 7 as a ‘Builder hint’. To be fair, this is not new information from canard people, it is well known and used in some GA airplanes.

.

Two issues, its hard to know what sizes and materials to use and it is hard to do this simple mod. You have to stuff a 0.1″ soft liner into a hinge while adding a metal core AND the whole thing needs to be tight.

All the right sized materials can be bought from James Russell in the form of a kit for your airplane.  Here’s his email:- fshort@flash.net

That’s what I did. The kit comes with instructions and install suggestions. James is very helpful if thats what you need. Here’s one of the methods, with pictures, that worked for me.

Here’s a rudder hinge with the original pin. My plane has just been painted and the original unpainted perfect fit aluminium hinges now need quite a clean up. Did you spot my mistake? A smarter person would have put the original hinge rod material in place before painting. You’d need extra rod if the hinges were painted apart which is the way to do it.  This way no paint could get in that would later need removing. Maybe in my next life…

I started with small drill bits to clean out the hinges.

Then I moved to a larger pin to get more paint out.

A final tool was a piece of original hinge pin. I made some notches in one end with cutters. This made an excellent final reaming tool to ensure the holes were clean. You want this right or you will never get the teflon liner tube inserted without drama.

Lots of reaming and then a bit of work with sand paper and even a razor blade to clean off any paint so the hinge halves go back together.

Next I prepared the Teflon tube. You need a piece twice as long as the hinge plus an inch or so.

I carefully sliced off 1/3 to 1/2 of the tube just over the length of the hinge. If you slice too much it will break later. If you slice too little it will not fit easily.

Wooooh! Hold it. It is time to clean with something like Isopropyl alcohol, we need clean, rinsed out hinges to prevent wear from any dirt or grit.

Now you need to feed the cut part of the tube into the assembled hinge. As you do this wiggle the hinge up and down. That’s to help alignment, particularly at the joins. If the tube seems to get stuck, relax and pull it out again. Chances are there is a bit of tube that is not sliced through and is still a bit thick. I found a few places easily, used the blade and had another try. The tube, with wiggling should feed through pretty easily.

Be careful not to force it and kink the tubing. Have a sip on your drink and try again.

Once the tube is all the way through it should look like the above. A bit of the cut area showing, at both ends of course. I put a mark on the tube so I knew when I was almost through.

Now insert your new thinner hinge pin into the good whole tube. I straightened mine out a fair bit. However I think leaving a bit of a curve helps the pin stay put in the hinge. In the picture above the lower piece has too much curve and the one in the plastic worked for me.

Now you have to get the whole show from one end pulled through. Don’t be tempted to push on the hinge, it only makes the tubing bunch up. It needs to be pulled through. Some sort of Vaseline or aviation equivalent may help a little. You need to pull gently and firmly at the same time.

Wow. Don’t forget to wiggle the hinge a bit as you pull through. If the lining breaks at the pliers you probably cut too much off the diameter during your slicing preparation. Oh well, get some more tube, you have extra right? and try again. Out of six hinges I only broke one. You do need to go slowly.

My clean up tool for the overhanging edges was the dremel wheel. Don’t forget you need some sort of hinge retaining system as your ‘safety’.

Here’s this hinge done. It is disappointing that it looks like any other hinge, but we know it’s special.

Here it is on one of the rudders. You can see the hinge pin is retained by design of the cutout in this case. Your application might need something else.

I really like this mod. It is proactive maintenance reduction and gets you a very smooth working flying surface.