They are here at last

[Guest rocketdriver]

Picked up our two KR2 a/c from Moorabin and trailered them home almost trouble free .. the canopy on one popped open on a bumpy bridge and ripped itself off its hinges but was saved from breakage by the restraining cable .... Now the fun starts .....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Deskpilot]

2 aircraft, lucky you. What's the plan?

 

 

[Guest rocketdriver]

Hi Doug

 

We are gunna fix 'em and fly 'em! ... We might sell one of them, we'll see ... Want to buy one? ...:big_grin:

 

 

[Spin]

That's great news. So are they much as you expected in terms of what needs to be done? Enjoy!

 

Apologies about the promised mag article, I have had email server issues, but it seems to have come good this morning. Still got your address from last time around, I'll get it across to you this evening.

 

 

[Guest rocketdriver]

Hi Spin. Thanks for that ..... One of them is VERY UGLY but, yes, they are pretty much as described, EXCEPT. The paperwork looks like it will be a problem as there are no log book entries for the last several years but the airworthiness certificates suggest several tens of hours each year on one of them at least..... HMM. A very serious look at the engines will definately be in order methinks .... not to mention the airframes ...

 

There is a bit of skin damage too (someone has trodden in one of them at least three times where they shouldn't) and some delaminations, but nothing that looks unfixable.

 

Regards

 

RD

 

 

[Guest rocketdriver]

Believe me, I am suitable daunted!

 

 

[Chird65]

RD,

 

Do you have a copy of the plans and manual? If not I just received a new set from NV Aero. If you need to have a look at them I'd be happy to give you a look. (Maybe not this week as I am moving home) but give me a call and I could bring them down.

 

 

[Guest rocketdriver]

Hi Chris ...that might be very helpfull .... I have what appears to be a manual and drawings, but i have not looked at them properly yet ....

 

RD

 

 

[Chird65]

RD,

 

The KR2 with the S suppliment. i have only looked at them and relised I will need to know which bits from the KR2 I need to exchange for the KR2s.Of course for you it will only say what should be there not what they did.

 

Either way congratulations on the arrivals.

 

 

[Guest rocketdriver]

hi Chris ...Neither are standard. One has slightly extended wings and flaps, the other has extensions both front and rear of the cockpit and I am hoping they have been properly done ..... We will see!

 

 

[Guest rocketdriver]

Made a start on the project ...

 

We did a W&B on both a/c last weekend just to see what we've got and yesterday (my day off) we started in on things properly. We have decided to concentrate on just the one for the time being (ex C-GCJI)

 

I made myself a battery powered hot wire bow and carved into some polystyrene to make a shape around which I can form a plenum and mount for the oil cooler for the Subaru motor. This was previously just strapped to the engine mount with no directed airflow other than that which blew in from one of the cowling front openings.

 

I've also started to inspect a number of bubbles in the paint .... not delaminations as feared but just the paint lifting off the glass underneath. As it will need a repaint anyway, that is not the bad news it might have been .... I found wheelwells hidden under hatches, so the aircraft must originally have had retracts fitted, and, behind one inspection hatch, the remains of a (VERY SMELLY) rats nest ....

 

Whilst this was going on, Ray, my partner in crime as it were, started to dismantle the instrument panel. This we have decided to renew as there are a number of now redundent switches and guages, but mostly because the bottom edge of it cut cruelly into the top of our legs, just behind the knees whilst we were hanger flying the 'plane .....

 

Interesting to note that many of the screws have a square female socket head. I was told at Bunnings that these are brand new in Au, but must have been available in Nth America for about 30 years (when the a/c was built)......

 

 

[Guest rocketdriver]

No ..... nor the very small wasp nest I found ... all long abandoned but ....

 

 

[sseeker]

If you don't mind me asking, how much did they set you back?

 

Thanks,

 

Andrew

 

 

[Guest rocketdriver]

I'll let you know once we've got one flying .... then we will know how much!

 

 

[Guest rocketdriver]

Dec 20th ....progress to date

 

Things are now well under way ... We did a wt and balance on both aircraft and found both aeroplanes to be of a similar weight and CJI’s CoG to be very close to that previously recorded. However, ex ROK appears to have an aft cg but is much lighter on its tailwheel than CJI ... ... actually wants to tip on its nose when the fuselage is levelled ..... calculations showed that to get the tailwheel weight to be the same as CJI, the main wheels would need to be 3 inches further forward ... and inspection showed them to be, amazingly, about 3 inches further back than on CJI, using the wing Leading edge as a reference ..... Not sure how we will fix that .....

 

We are focussing on ex CJI for the moment. We think we have found all the major issues, and here is the current list ... before we formally do the “annual” inspection ... Here is a list of identified jobs!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest rocketdriver]

How we are fixing the oil cooler ....

 

Oil cooler. When the aircraft arrived, the oil cooler was strapped to the two oil lines that run to and from the oil filter which has previously been “remoted” to the front of the engine on the starboard side. The cooler sort of dangled in the breeze coming through one of the cowl openings and all the oil always flowed through it ...no thermostat.

 

We decided to make a plenum behind the starboard opening in the lower cowl (next to the spinner) and mount the oil cooler off that using 4 nuts on captured bolts fixed to the plenum. Means we will have to dismount the cooler in order to remove the lower cowl, but the oil lines can stay intact during that process.

 

The plenum was made by carving a shape in Styrofoam, then covering the shape in duct tape before applying a layer of epoxy mixed to a paste with micro beads of glass followed by a single layer of glass fibre.

 

After curing, A trial fit with the cowling in place on the aeroplane enabled the position for the captive (6mm) bolts to be determined and a piece of 19mm sq pine was glued on the inside of each sides of the plenum to carry the bolts. After drilling the bolt holes, nut plates (to hold the bolt heads) were made from lightweight aluminium sheet and the bolts, cut to length, were glued in place using flox to hold everything firmly in place.

 

To smooth the airflow into the plenum, a piece of dowel was glued to the top and bottom inner edge of the cowl opening to make a lip for the air to flow around, and this lip was continued around the round corner of the cowl opening using flox.

 

Before gluing the plenum into the cowling, the old oil and grease needed to be cleaned off ... lots of hot water, washing up liquid, a scrubbing brush and plenty of elbow grease did the trick ....

 

Due to the Redrive, the plenum and oil cooler needed to be offset a bit and so a ramp was made for the straight edge of the cowl opening to guide the airflow into the chamber. Again, styrofoam and glass fibre was used.

 

Then some filling and painting. The finish is not great at this stage, as the goal is to get the aeroplane flying. There is other cosmetic work needed on the cowl and this might be a project for next winter.....

 

We have also purchased and await delivery of a thermostat system that fits onto the remote oil filter housing. This works by diverting more or less oil through the cooler according to the oil temperature and will make for quicker warm up and eliminate overcooling in cold weather.

 

 

 

 

[Guest rocketdriver]

Seat works

 

Seat

 

When we first tried the cockpit of CJI for size, both Ray and I found a very upright seating position, uncomfortable and too close to the panel. Comparing CJI and ROK, we noted that ROK has a narrower parcel shelf than that in CJI. We determined that by narrowing the shelf we could rake the seat back with benefit to both seating position and controls access.

 

As of Dec 20th, we have narrowed the shelf and are in the middle of cutting out the new seatback.

 

 

 

[Guest rocketdriver]

New panel

 

Again when trying out the cockpit for size, both Ray and I found our knees to be painfully pressed into the bottom of the panel. We also noted a number of redundant, odd or out of service instruments (some with senders strapped together to part of the engine bearer). We decided that a new panel would be in order, with a new set of matching engine instruments using concepts I have previously used to create an easily removed panel with secure automotive style plug and socket connections. Using this concept, the instrument panel is almost self contained with only about 10 connections going off to various places in the engine bay, plus of course the pitot and static tubes.

 

After a trip to Burston Auto Parts we ended up with a full set of matching instruments, all electric and all with their own senders. A trip to Jaycar secured some wire, cable ties, heatshink tube and plugs and sockets....

 

Using the instructions for the new instruments, and following a longish session in the engine bay and cockpit with multimeter and test leads, we were able to work out what we needed for a wiring scheme. (Both aircraft came with very little documentation, so we are working things out as we go!) The planned wiring diagram is shown below for interest. I will be able to remove a lot of wiring from the aircraft, especially as we don’t need the landing lights for day VFR (see picture of the cockpit with the panel stripped off the ‘plane)

 

One item of interest that I haven’t seen before is an electric Carby heater. It seems to be something that will be of more help to start the engine on a very cold morning than something to prevent icing, as it is a pad fitted between the carby and the manifold ..... The pad clearly has heating wires in it as the electric circuit that feeds the heater is rated at 25 Amps .....

 

For a panel layout, we cut out some shapes from light cardboard ... instruments, switches, fuses, throttle, choke, radio, GPS, etc and shuffled them around on an outline drawn onto some scrap plywood which had been cut to the proposed new panel size and shape.

 

So now we are ready to cut wood. Yes it’s going to be a wood panel, not aluminium as was the original, and it is expensive 7 ply birch grade AB/B. We will cut it so the grain runs horizontal across the panel, and will use marine varnish to finish it. Should look nice!

 

 

 

[Chird65]

RD, you seem to be flying along. The two of you must work well as your work seems well thought out but efficient.

 

Great to see

 

Chris

 

 

[Guest rocketdriver]

Pop over and have a look ...I'll be in the shed most days between xmas and the new year ....

 

 

[Guest rocketdriver]

Well, except for the labels, the panel is now finished, with pretty much the whole electrical system for the aircraft on the back. You can see the 4 plugs that connect the switchery and instruments to the sensors etc. There are 10 signal wires, two high current connections and the instrument earth.

 

The choke cable fits into the little vee at the bottom of the panel and is secured by a little ss cover plate whilst the throttle and Battery master are located off the main panel. This makes the panel easily removable for maintenance and cockpit access.

 

After checking for short circuits, I applied a 12 volt power supply to where the battery connects into the aircraft, and lo and behold, the panel sprang into life!

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest rocketdriver]

Well.its been a while .... spent the last 4 weeks repairing fibreglass fractures (transit damage) and paint blemishes on the wings ... long job with all the rubbing down and then waiting for the wing to dry then painting, then waiting for the paint to dry then start all over ..... rub a dub dub ....

 

However we are down to the last little bits now. On Sunday my son David is going to fit the oxygen indicator electronics he has built for me and hopefully we will do a "prop off" engine run to see what if any leaks we will have.

 

Meanwhile we had a condition inspection done today. Excellent news .... only a few things need fixing. Bad news, a couple of them might be a bit difficult .....

 

Interesting how you feel when someone else is looking at your baby ..... thinks .... "no no, its perfect, there is nothing wrong with her, please say she is lovely ..... but I do hope he finds all the things that might go wrong and put me in a paddock ... I hope he finds all the problems .... but no that can't be right, she is perfect, I've put my heart and soul into this" ......

 

Anyway it went well, one oversight by me (nut and bolt not tightened up on the throttle) and a few other things, one I should have noticed and one I never thought of ....

 

 

[Chird65]

RD, I am no expert but I have heard it said that an engine must not be run without a load on it ie a fly wheel or a prop. Might be worth talking to some experts. then again you get what you pay for.

 

Chris

 

 

[Guest rocketdriver]

Hi Chris ...thanks for the heads up ... I have checked on the Suby forum and also talking to the L2 who did the condition report. No problem with the Suby motor because it has a flywheel as well as the redrive to damp out the torsional vibes ... In fact the L2 said that the suby motor was great because you could set up the timing and the carburation with the prop off and out of the way ..... sounds good to me!

 

cheers

 

RD

 

 

[pssmith]

Great work ... your progress is inspirational. Will have to finish mine off so we can meet some day at a fly-in.