New member

[bushcaddy105]

Greetings- I've just logged on and am finding my way around, albeit slowly!

 

I have recently finished building a BushCaddy R80, and have flown 32 hours of my 40 hour test period. It's currently based at Port Pirie, Sth Oz, about 30Km from home.

 

Am interested in what others have done with the Subaru EA81, as this is what I am flying in the BC

 

 

[Ed Herring]

Hi John

 

A big welcome to the Forums! Love to see some photos of your project. I am about to do a google search and find out just what a BushCaddy is. Sounds interesting.

 

Regards

 

Ed

 

 

[Ed Herring]

How good is this.....! Looks great....

 

Ed

 

BushCaddy R 80 all metal Light Sport Aircraft

 

With the new Light Sport Plane rules now finalized in the U.S. a number of Canadian manufacturers of light aircraft are beginning the process of certification in order to make their craft available to U.S. customers.

 

Canadian Light Aircraft Sales and Service brought what looked to be a brand new factory demo to Airventure 2005. In fact the plane was actually a two place trainer that had over seven hundred hours on it and had made several long distance flights into Canada's remote north

 

Sean Gilmore President of CLASS had a BushCaddy R 80 nicknamed "Uppiapik" which means Little Owl on display. The R80 is an all metal aircraft using solid rivet cabin construction, with all of the construction pre-jigged, pre-punched and pre-drilled.

 

Making it an easy aircraft to build, with the average building time being 1500 hours. Normal tools used for sheet metal work, such as rivet gun are all that is required, and the kit can easily be built in an area the size of a two car garage. A large pictorial building manual is supplied with each kit, and a 1-800 number is available for answers to builders questions.

 

The R 80 has a wide comfortable forty four inch cabin, uses standard aircraft stick and rudder tail dragger style controls with a center mounted stick and dual rudder pedals, and throttles.

 

Power is supplied by the Rotax 912 series of aircraft engines in either the 80 or 100 hp versions. Take off runs take approximately 180 feet, cruise speed 90 to 95 mph, climb rate at gross 800 to 900 feet per minute and stall 38 to 40 mph.

 

The BushCaddy R 80 is well suited for float operation, and can easily be fitted with ski's for winter flying, making it an excellent bush plane.

 

The plane comes either factory built under the Basic and Advanced Ultralight Categories in Canada or in kit form.

 

CLASS is building a plane for a U.S. customer and has all of the paperwork etc. done for it to fit into the Light Sport Aircraft Category in the U.S

 

Ed Herring

 

 

 

[Admin]

Welcome to the forums Bushcaddy - we all hope you enjoy your stay.

 

That will go really well on some bush strips and micgrace here would be your world of advice on Subaru engines - have a look in the Engine forum as well.

 

Ya there mic...........???

 

 

[Guest micgrace]

Hi

 

EA81 good choice. Keep the inhibitor up. There is a couple of somewhat weak points, but heaps of aftermarket parts with a little hunting to increase reliability.

 

I believe some company (can't remember who) even makes dual ignition for them.

 

Better rods/bolts. Top quality head gaskets ACL monotorque (blue)seem to last the longest) forged pistons. Decent vavles (exhaust ones seem to burn out easily) New rocker gear a must.

 

Plus very careful attention to connecting two crankcase halves together. There is a water crossover passage with one measly "O" ring and not a lot of metal. (when dismantled make sure any corrosion here is repaired.

 

For those that dont know how to assemble a subi. Attach the rods to the crank on the bench. Install bearings, cam followers/cam. Join halves. Then insert piston throughtop of block. Push pin through side of block to rod circlip (make sure you have one in. Then install the other circlip using special pliers (very long needle nose pliers.) To remove, you use a slide hammer. Can be difficult. The rest of assembly is normal.

 

You also need a special tool to adjust the tappets. It is very difficult without it. And needs to be done every 50 hours. And don't get carried away tightening the hell out of the tappett cover bolts to stop them leaking. Get a new gasket (2) each time and use appropriate sealant.

 

Ian could please transfer this to a more appropriate spot.

 

Micgrace :)

 

 

[Guest MMax]

Gidday John,

 

Arthur here I caught up with you at the Snowtown Flyin. I flew the Minimax in. I have passed the info we discussed about the EA 81 on to Roy building the 601 Zenith. The engine photos came out well. Roy was quite impressed with your standard setup. He would like to know more about your cam.

 

If you email me at

 

artsjodel "at" yahoo.com.au

 

"at" is @ replace and no gaps....stops spammers..!

 

I will forward you on to Roys email address.

 

I have a post of the Snowtown Flyin with a couple of pics....under the 'anouncement' banner

 

And Welcome to the group John. Hope to see you at Truro Flatswhen the hours are flown off?

 

Here are a couple of Photos of John's great Bush Caddy.It is a very impressive aeroplane.

 

 

 

 

 

[Ed Herring]

Good on you Arthur. I was looking forward to seeing a photo of Johns aircraft. I had heard that he had done a good job with it!

 

Regards

 

Ed