Another NEW Savannah XL on its way

[Kyle Communications]

Thanks Greg

 

I have ordered the capacitor should be here today and I will do the overflow the same I had a look at Mark Grays yesterday to see what he had done as well. Got my engine on Friday and fitted it last night so can now get onto fitting the engine cowl then I can paint it. I basically want to completely finish the fuselage to lockup stage totally then bring the wings over and finish them off with a few things I still need to do on them then paint them. Still aiming for xmas/new year for it to be ready to fly

 

Mark

 

 

[Towering Cu]

Hi Mark. I need my next installment of Savvy building fix please!!! Hope all is going well now that the engine is mounted. Still look forward to meeting you and your Savvy soon, hopefully before she is completed.

 

Cheers,

 

Mike.

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Hi Mike

 

Ok an update but I will upload a few pics today. I have been doing lots of small jobs but they do take a lot of time surprisingly . I received the motor about 2 weeks ago and its now mounted. There is quite a bit to do to get all the oil and fuel pipes cut and fitted then also the electrical to be done as well. Also as I have a Brauniger unit I have to change all the sensors and fit other wiring. I have now finished the dash and it is installed also powered up all ok. I will do a big update tonight with pics as I have changed some other things as well. I spent most of last weekend fitting the engine cowl as I couldn't do that until I had the motor mounted and the backplate for the spinner which came with the prop. I am doing a bit more wiring of the main plug today and also I am fitting EGT sensors as well so have to fit them 100 mm from the exhaust flange I will big on 2 stainless nuts and drill the hole into the exhausts for them. So lots of small jobs There will be lots of pics tonight

 

Mark

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Ok I will do this in several posts

 

These ones show the electrical the green,brown and grey wires are the Brauniger sensors CHT oil temp and fuel flow there will be another 2 green ones for the EGT when I get the stainless nut tig welded to the exhaust should be this week then I can fit the ends off to the main 16pin plug you can see on the firewall at the top. On the closeup of the starter solenoid and other parts I have turned the solenoid around 180 deg to what they show to make it easier for my main power cable to connect to also this leaves the spade terminal at the front on top of the solenoid to attach the 2 extra wires that go to the soft start you have to connect to these are at the bottom set of plugs on the ignition module also you can see the 22,000 uf cap fitted I also shifted the regulator module as using their holes the unused fork on the throttle bar was hitting the module and you couldn't get full idle position. The magneto switch cables need to be fitted as well they are much easier to get to but do them in shielded cable just to make sure of no radio interference the shields are grounded to one of the ignition modules earth mounts

 

You can also see the position of my radio antennas the VHF air band is on the passenger side at the front and the UHF CB is on the pilot side. I also have a tracking system extremely light weight that is done on the ham radio network called APRS and you can realtime track the plane or car etc but because I am using the aviation version it shows my speed and height on the map as well that antenna will be on the top of the rear fuselage section were most others fit their VHF antenna. The position I have chosen for the 2 most important comms are underneath as this gives more coverage to where it needs to be not up into space or up to the jet jockeys at FL30

 

I have fitted a isolation switch as well its out of the way on the pax side and can't really be knocked but is easy to get to it also has a removable key you can see the sturdy but light frame I made up for the switch and it is nice and solid

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

I wasn't happy with the bend and tension of the water hose to the radiator on the left side. Steve Donald had a great idea to use a right angle stainless bend and it works a treat there is no tension or squashing of the hose the issue is the SS bends don't have lips on them and steve used 2 small width clamps but I found these really nice wide and strong clamps so I used those and it will never leak.

 

My fuel tank switching system is easy to get to and will work well. I can switch all 4 tanks individually and it makes the plumbing easier as well. Also the second input to the reserve engine tank can now be used as a air bleed directly back up to the top which will make sure I won't have any vapour lock in the tank which will not give me any false readings to my reserve. So when the light comes on I can switch tanks and my light will go off as it fills and no air will be trapped in the top which has apparently happened to a few guys and has initiated a few quick unnecessary landings.

 

Steve also came up with another good idea the ventral front cover for the fin is to be riveted on this would be a real pain if you needed to take the fin or tailplane off so he put nutserts/ rivets in place of the rivets so makes life much easier I have also done the same

 

The lower cowl is supposed to be fitted inside the fuselage thats a real pain most guys now fit it from the outside. I have done the same I used floating captive nuts for the main screw attachments for the lower cowl and Zeus fasteners for the top although you need to use a combination of long and short ones also long and short spring retainers to get all of them right. I will get some pics of the cowl when I fit it up again to make some support wedges which I will show you. Also will explain a few things about how the cowl fits and doesn't fit

 

Mark

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Towering Cu]

Hi Mark.

 

WOW!! Really starting to come along now. Thanks for taking the time out of your busy working schedule to make the post and show the pics. Made for a great start to my morning here in London before I go down and have my breakky.

 

Its definately starting to look like you're in the final straight and I hope you get to keep on top of it for first flight this year. Well done and again, thanks for posting.

 

All the best,

 

Mike.

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Hi Mike

 

When you get back or when your cruising down the highway please feel free to call in I am 1 minute easy access from the highway at the burpengary turn off after the 2 BP garages south of caboolture. I am home most days as I work from home

 

Mark

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Hi All

 

Since it was a while since the last post on saturday I will try to make them a bit more often. When you are doing lots of small things you tend to forget actually how much you get done. I put the cowl back on tonight to get some more work done on it so I can then work on it and work on other stuff at the same time while paint drys. You can see how the cowl is fitted to the outside this creates a problem that the very front of the fuselage skin there is a gap and if you do up the screws in the side on the lower cowl it will distort the fibreglass. So I will make up 6 plastic wedges that will have a clearance hole in them for the cowl screws to go through. Then I can do the screws up and the cowl will maintain its shape. I will get these done this week or on the weekend. I am going to use the plastic from those cheap chopping boards you can get and just cut the triangle to the right shape and rivet them in place to the fuselage. You can see the gap where I put the ruler.

 

The other thing to do before I undercoat and paint the cowl is to make cut outs where I have marked on both sides with the muffler and fit the wire gauge from a truck oil filter its aluminium so no weight and easy to work with. The filter is damaged one I got from a friend who owns a filter sales and cleaning business...he flys ultralights as well by the way he has a Borabee. My muffler touches on both sides of the cowl and it has been a problem with the heat burning through the cowls.

 

I still haven't got the EGT nuts welded to the exhausts yet hopefully this weekend as well then I can finish off the wiring in the front and can concentrate on doing something with the throttle cables as I am not sure yet if I will use the standard setup. Hopefully more pics after the weekend

 

Mark

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

By the way I trial fitted the prop the other day and I have the large 72 inch bolly and with my large wheels and no block under the main strut I have 270 mm of clearance which I am sure is slightly more about 20mm or so than the small prop and the standard wheels

 

Mark

 

 

[Towering Cu]

Hi MikeWhen you get back or when your cruising down the highway please feel free to call in I am 1 minute easy access from the highway at the burpengary turn off after the 2 BP garages south of caboolture. I am home most days as I work from home

Mark

Hi Mark,

 

I leave Hong Kong this evening and will get back to Brisbane (via Melbourne!) around lunch time tomorrow. I have your mobile from a much earlier post, and will give you a call when I get to Brissy airport before my run home up the Bruce and see if a drop in on you and your Savvy is OK.

 

Thanks for the most recent update. Is that problem with the cowl and the muffler clearance a problem with all of the Savvys?

 

Mike.

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Hi Mike

 

I should be here all day 0408724272 just give me a ring

 

Mark

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Hi Everyone

 

Bit more work done this weekend. My muffler is pretty close to both sides and touches on one side so I decided to relieve both sides as it wasn't too hard to do. I used the wire netting from the filter I got and tried holding it to a bubble airfoil shape and it worked but it was very hard to get a nice flat fit to the cowl. I decided after a bit more pondering to just make it flat and it actually works because where it is now both sides don't touch and I get that extra bit of clearance on the worst side. I used some of my model aircraft "super glue" to hold the wire in place after shaping the holes this worked very well and now I will either run some glass tape and resin over the edges or I may just spread the super epoxy I have over it as it is incredible stuff I have used it on the hardwood wedges you can see I have made for both sides of the cowl to fill the gap to the fuselage walls to stop the cowl distorting when it is screwed in place seeing I have put the cowl on the outside of the skin.

 

The next big thing is to fit the 2 EGT sensors. The Brauniger has them so I am fitting them to the same cylinders the CHT are in which is 1 and 4. The probe threads are 8mm x 1 mm pitch...well good luck finding SS nuts that pitch they don't make them so I got a mate who is a genius with turning to make me up the 2 ferrules I need. They are done with a tiny boring bar on the lathe with the threads cut internally he did a great job seeing it was all stainless rod. They fit over the probes perfectly and I made them 10mm thick this way the probes will sit nicely inside the exhaust pipe without touching the other side. The Rotax manual says to fit them in a certain spot on the exhaust tube. it is measured 100mm from the flat exhaust outlet on the head on the outside circumference of the exhaust pipe then you transfer the measurement around at 90 deg depending on where you fit them. Number 1 cylinder is easy but number 4 is a pain as the measurement comes right at the side of the weld so will need to grind out part of the weld then Tig the nut making sure it is totally sealed and doesn't weaken the weld. I hope to have the welding done in the next day or so.

 

Also fitted the prop temporally so I could attach the holders onto the backplate for the spinner so that has been all done and fitted as well.

 

I am up the farm next weekend to fit a aircon and maybe install my windsock if I get some more time. So if anyone is flying by please call in for a coffee or a chat the strips should be fine except maybe for some cow patties but will be running the heavy bar over the strips again so it should spread them all out. Just give my mobile a ring or call me on CH26 UHF CB. I will have a permanent air band radio up there soon as well so will have all bases covered

 

Mark

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Got my gun welder mate around yesterday to Tig the ferrules onto the exhaust system. I can Tig weld ok but for this job I opted to use a person who I knew would do a great job. pics attached ...last night I have now got 99% of all the wiring done under the cowl should finish that off today or tonight.

 

Mark

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Gundy]

Mark will you be there on the 10th. If so I might come down for a fly if the weather is ok. I'll organize a few Savy's to come in. What's the most Savy's you've had there, I'll try and beat that hehe. Gundy

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Hi Greg

 

No won't be there on the 10th..... we are going up this weekend and the next time will be the weekend of the 16th Dec. Rick is going to probably fly in with a couple of mates including a Ibis this saturday if the weather is fine

 

Mark

 

 

[Gundy]

Ok I'm off this weekend so if no storms around I'll fly in. Could you SMS me the coordinates please. Gundy

 

 

[Ballpoint 246niner]

Starting to sound like a savvy fly in to Marks may be in order in the new year? By invitation of course,what ya reckon......

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

No probs we will be spending a week there from New years day so feel free to call in then but we can certainly organise something for early in the year...hopefully I might be able to fly there by then anyway if I get mine finished as hoped.

 

Mark

 

 

[Ballpoint 246niner]

You're on- now just gotta get mine off the docks!!

 

 

[rankamateur]

Starting to sound like a savvy fly in to Marks may be in order in the new year? By invitation of course,what ya reckon......

This is an idea I have considered a few times, just need a couple of weeks with no cattle on the strip and a shower of rain to dissolve the land mines, and a gas bbq under the box tree.

 

 

[Gundy]

Name the date Ranky and I'll b there Gundy

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

 

Here is the video done this morning on my Iphone 4S mainly because I forgot to bring any cameras this weekend thank god for the Iphone. No zoom so best viewed full screen. Gundy,Rick and Bob all called in for a chat it was great. Wind was shocking early pretty much 90deg crossind to the main strip at 15 to 20knots gusting heavily but it backed off a bit so Rick and Gundy used my cross strip for landing and Bob used the main strip. Bobs plane is the new Sav S I helped unload a few weeks ago when I picked up my engine....looks really nice I like the colour shade of blue too. The last to come in was Gundy he came in over the trees and did a great sideslip. My mission is to get those tress removed :)

 

Mark

 

 

[rankamateur]

Name the date Ranky and I'll b there Gundy

You will need to camp a while when you come down to make it worthwhile, did you store the co-ordinates of my strip when you were here last time?

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Hi All

 

Spent most of the day working on the throttle cables and the choke control. Earlier in the week I got some standoffs made from PVC rod to go under the air box to fit to the clamps that hold it to the engine mount this is all done and pics attached. The throttle drove me mad for a while trying to get it smooth enough and also so that each carby was exactly the same movement. I experimented with different paths for the cable that goes to the pax side carby the long one its a real pain. Anyway I finally found the path and the radius of bends to make it smooth and not catch anything also by offsetting the spacer where the cables come out of the firewall bracket with a piece of conduit this also helped. Also my throttle bar must have been a monday or friday job for the guy who welded it up I had to shift this bracket almost 13 mm towards the centre of the firewall as the cables did not match the entry to the throttle bars behind the bracket. This took quite some time but now I am happy with it.

 

The choke splitter thats a whole nutha matter.... I put it together and wired it all up with twist wire and found it was too stiff inside with the plunger that converts the single choke control to the twin cables. The choke springs are quite heavy so thought this would be ok but when testing the chokes would not return to their start positions. So I cut all the wire off and pulled it all apart again and shaved the plastic plunger so it was a smoother fit then put silicone grease inside on the plunger and its as smooth as a babies bum now.....one other thing I did was drill the alu outer then tap the plastic end caps so the whole assembly is fitted nice and firmly together and I dont have to use the twist wire to hold it all together this makes a huge difference for assembly and also if a wire breaks it just makes the whole mechanism easier to get at and service. One downside now is that its so good I will have to actually hold the choke on when starting as the springs pull the choke back to off now with their tension. Not sure if I want to mod the springs for lesser tension

 

In my kit I was not supplied the brass bushings/fittings to attach the choke cables to the carbies also the carby heat switch on the air box so I had to make these up on the lathe. I made them from brass and tapped them at 3mm...they worked out really well and fit nicely. I went over and had a look at Mark Grays Sav S and had a look at what they are like because they are a little weird. The choke lever has 2 plates the cable goes between these 2 plates into a brass ferrule that just basically passes through the 2 holes of the plates and a screw holds the cable into the ferrule and the ferrule just sits in between so it can rotate....I am lucky to have acquired some nice machinery over the years if you have a problem you can usually whizz one up on the mill or lathe. Tomorrow I will put the prop back on and pitch it up ready then if it isn't raining I will sand and undercoat the cowl and spinner

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Hi All

 

Been pretty busy last week and I would say it will be the same this week as usual for this time of the year so haven't been getting a lot done but slowly slowly catchy monkey they say. Went up to the farm on thursday night and got back saturday night so had yesterday to get some odd jobs done on the Sav. Last week I did the Rotax procedure for getting the oil into the engine with the air pressure into the oil tank and turning the engine over by hand. I got up to 50psi on the oil pressure so at least I know all that works and the oil level is set now and no leaks. Got some Castrol antifreeze anti boil yesterday made it up at 50:50 and put that in the cooling system...so far so good no leaks anywhere. I checked the prop pitch setting also yesterday and it was out a little so after quite a few attempts and checking the prop is pretty much spot on and all three blades are exactly the same. I rang Bill Grieve as he has the same prop and the measurement distance he used was 525mm from the edge of the prop hub and set the blades at that point to 20 degrees so that is done. Will go for the first start this week after I get the fuel system finalised and then I can test the electric pump to make sure the overflow back from the engine is working.

 

I wasn't that happy with the plastic throttle lever holders and tensioner. I went to Jaycar and got the metal versions and fitted them they have a much better inner support and I think it it heaps better the only thing is when you want to tighten them up for throttle creep the metal nut is a little smaller and its difficult so I drilled and tapped a 3mm thread into the cap housing on the hexagon nut peaks opposite each other and put in a 3mm x 6mm long pan head and a lock nut as you can see in the pics...this works out fantastic and you have heaps of grip to be able to lock the throttle into any position with ease.

 

There has been a lot of talk about the corrosion in these later Savs so as well as running a separate earth from the battery to the firewall then off to the motor I have decided to put in a "ERPS" these are very successful in vehicles and also are used in aircraft. It is a Couplertec and comes with 6 pads I have one on each side of the fuselage at the front up near the firewall there is one on the Pax side of the rear fuselage side opposite the rear battery door and I have one halfway up the pilot side in the rear the other 2 will of course be in each wing. The couplertec needs to be powered all the time even though they draw tiny current after a few weeks of not starting the engine you could get a battery that is down a little so it could be an issue. I have got 3 anderson plugs and a dust cap so I will be installing one under the fuselage inside directly connected to the battery. It will be mounted internally and a hole in the bottom skin and the dust cap will fit nicely over it. This way when the plane is hangared I can plug in a AGM charger that is designed to charge then float for eternity this will always mean I have the battery fully charged and I will carry another small cable that has a anderson on it to a couple of clip leads that I can keep onboard incase I get a flat battery and I need a jumper start so it caters for all situations I will post some pics when I get that done.

 

Mark

 

If I don't post before please have a merry xmas to you and all your families but most important of all is please remain safe in all you do this holiday period