Another NEW Savannah XL on its way

[Kyle Communications]

Hi Xavier.

 

I went flying this morning finally. Still hot here...not like in Darwin of course but stinking for here. Got away early and did some flap and stall testing with the new positions. They are pretty much spot on on what I thought they would be. I love the new second stage position its no where near as aggressive as full flap but still gives you a bit of extra bite. Better speed control and not the waffle you get with the full flap position. I am really happy with this mod now. As you say many more options. I love the new first stage for landing especially at Caboolture as we have a long runway. Its just enough flap to take that edge off as compared to a no flap landing. It allows a much shorter flair. Dont you love it when a plan comes together :)

 

Mark

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

I have been doing research on fitting the BRS and in the XL the chute is fitted on the inside wall of the std baggage area which is closer to the CG but still behind which will give it a arm moment. The extended baggage area can take 20kg so now 13.5 will be taken back up with the chute. To get that back I will have to rebalance the aircraft. The XL needs the battery mounted in the back to make the balance much better but the S version requires the battery up behind the pilot. The reason of course is the rear fuselage of the S is more complex and thus heavier so the battery needs to be forward.

 

I will need to shift my battery to a more forward position than it is now. I would say 2/3 of the way forward maybe. I will fit the chute then move the battery manually while its on the scales. I will get Cuz (hi cuz on the bum again) to bring his spondooly racing car scales over so we can do it properly then I can reagin my 20kg in the baggage area

 

Mark

 

 

[eightyknots]

I have been doing research on fitting the BRS and in the XL the chute is fitted on the inside wall of the std baggage area which is closer to the CG but still behind which will give it a arm moment. The extended baggage area can take 20kg so now 13.5 will be taken back up with the chute. To get that back I will have to rebalance the aircraft. The XL needs the battery mounted in the back to make the balance much better but the S version requires the battery up behind the pilot. The reason of course is the rear fuselage of the S is more complex and thus heavier so the battery needs to be forward.I will need to shift my battery to a more forward position than it is now. I would say 2/3 of the way forward maybe. I will fit the chute then move the battery manually while its on the scales. I will get Cuz (hi cuz on the bum again) to bring his spondooly racing car scales over so we can do it properly then I can reagin my 20kg in the baggage area

 

Mark

That is the first I have ever heard that the S is heavier than the XL! The icp website shows (in the specifications section of the S and the XL) that both aircraft are 286 kg.

 

I had always thought that the rounded S fuselage would take less sheet metal on the surface but a bit more in the internal structure and that the two must balance each other out.

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

There is a lot more structure in the rear of a S...that is why the battery goes behind the pilot in the S but needs to be down the back in the XL

 

 

[rankamateur]

There is a lot more structure in the rear of a S...that is why the battery goes behind the pilot in the S but needs to be down the back in the XL

My battery is down the back, that is why I swapped the side sheets to put the door on the other side, gives more room to work on the battery.

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Just be careful when you finally get to your W&B you may find she is a bit tail heavy

 

Reg hopefully getting all my parts away today for Mabel....just finished making the longerons today at work ready for when the frames arrive

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Thank you, Steve. I bought rivnuts for all round, then belatedly realised they wouldn't fit at the spar. So I was part way there!

I was going through my posts for pics of my oil sender refit and spotted the bit from IBob about the rivnuts and the tank covers. Originally my tank covers were riveted to the bottom of the spar and it was a pain pulling the covers back and wiring them back but it was difficult to work pulling the tanks out. So I carefully drilled the rivets out as not to increase the hole size. I made up some 3mm alu strip to perfectly fit the bottom of the spar and it fits nicely under the solid rivets there and tapped 4mm holes at the correct spacing in the 3mm alu and made them the full length between the 3 ribs for each tank. The front of the covers are now screwed with stainless bolts and clamped essentially to the bottom of the spar this actually makes the spar section much much stronger than before. It worked a treat and now makes it easy to totally remove the tank covers. These are the only pictures I took at the time but should explain what I did

 

 

 

 

[IBob]

I was going through my posts for pics of my oil sender refit and spotted the bit from IBob about the rivnuts and the tank covers. Originally my tank covers were riveted to the bottom of the spar and it was a pain pulling the covers back and wiring them back but it was difficult to work pulling the tanks out. So I carefully drilled the rivets out as not to increase the hole size. I made up some 3mm alu strip to perfectly fit the bottom of the spar and it fits nicely under the solid rivets there and tapped 4mm holes at the correct spacing in the 3mm alu and made them the full length between the 3 ribs for each tank. The front of the covers are now screwed with stainless bolts and clamped essentially to the bottom of the spar this actually makes the spar section much much stronger than before. It worked a treat and now makes it easy to totally remove the tank covers. These are the only pictures I took at the time but should explain what I did[ATTACH=full]48484[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]48485[/ATTACH]

Good info, Mark.

It's hard to see how one could remove the tanks at all without entirely removing the tank covers.

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

The only pain is there is a crap load of screws ro undo )..thats why I use a electric screwdriver to do it :)

 

 

[rankamateur]

Just be careful when you finally get to your W&B you may find she is a bit tail heavy

Heavy weight Airmaster on the front will sort it out. Reg's maroon XL has a 4kg block of ballast above the tail skid, so the battery placement will hopefully get me back that weight.

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Never thought of that..yes that big extra weight at the front. Right move with the battery on yours

 

 

[IBob]

Hi Mark.

 

I made it forward of the firewall, and I'm reading up on the various mods that have been done to beef up the nosewheel support where it cracks.

 

(As a low hour pilot intending to go bush, I'm thinking this would be a very good idea.)

 

I took a look at what you did, replacing the al. outer brackets with stainless, have also seen pics of additional al. plates bolted on the outside.

 

Do you have any further thoughts or suggestions on all this?

 

Thanks.

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

When Mike had the mishap with my Sav the SS brackets stopped the firewall from being bent thats for sure. The original reason I made them when I built her was I had seen the alu std ones were cracking across the small curve at the bottom of the std bracket so I made the SS ones so it wouldnt crack not for any other reason. I have ordered the newer style bracket for Mabel's rebuild and I was looking at it yesterday actually and trying to decide whether I would use it or make SS ones again. It certainly looks stronger and seems a lot stiffer but it hasnt been out long enough to get get any feedback on how effective it will be. So I am still undecided yet on what I will do. The SS ones I know work very well..so well the originals I made are still in the girlfriend as they were totally undamaged and so was the vertical section that it supports.

 

Mark

 

 

[IBob]

Okay, thanks for that. I don't know whether I have the new bracket or the old...I'm not sure which part it is they upgraded?

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

I would imagine you have the new one. I will take a pic and post it here

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Pics

 

 

 

 

[IBob]

Thanks Mark. Mine looks almost the same but has a sort of chined 'curved' front, whereas yours is flat fronted. Otherwise, I can't see much difference.

 

inin

 

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

looks the same. Interesting on that curved front..maybe to crib some space in front of the noseleg. Will check when I get that far. Will be pulling the reudder pedals out this weekeend to extend them like the last one. Makes it soooo much better to fly

 

 

[IBob]

So, is this instead of the two L shaped brackets that used to go on the outside?

 

Because this bracket doesn't appear in my manual (so far as I can see) and I also have the two L shaped ones.

 

 

[IBob]

looks the same. Interesting on that curved front..maybe to crib some space in front of the noseleg. Will check when I get that far. Will be pulling the reudder pedals out this weekeend to extend them like the last one. Makes it soooo much better to fly

If I recall, my rudder pedals are longer than your original ones (20mm?), but not as long as you then extended them to.

I have sort of short broad feet (okay, duck's) so I'll see how I go with what I've got...

 

 

[IBob]

And, finally, before I go back to deburring:

 

There was some plastic bearing (friction?) setup on the throttle bar that you didn't like and were going to replace.

 

Are you going to make some of those, as I would like to buy one/some from you? Thanks.

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Yes the blocks I have made a few protos so far..just need to clean them a bit and check the fit on Mabel to make sure its perfect. Yes the new bracket replaces those 2 original side plates like in my photos in this blog back at the front

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

 

 

 

[JerzyGeorge]

than ks guys , I like the new fitting with orings , have you got dimensions , I am prepared to do it tat way to solve annoying problem.

 

I took today original fitting out and could not believe that someone could design it that way , It has to leak sooner or later .

 

Total disaster and needs to be modify during construction . I wonder how many Savannahs suffer from this problem?

 

George

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

George I can tell you a lot do suffer fuel leaks. I didnt do any drawings for it...I made them freehand as a trial to see how they would go. I fitted it to my tank which I took out and filled it full of fuel and stood it up so I have the full 36 litres resting on the fitting with the outlet blocked off and left it for 3 weeks and it has been back in the aircraft now about 4 or 6 weeks with almost full tanks sitting on it and no leaks at all. The main thing is make sure you get the correct depth of the slots for the Orings this info is in the data sheets and make sure the Orings are Viton type so the fuel does not break them down. My fittings I made a bit larger as my stuff up was the original hole I drilled was too close to the inner tank mold curve on the corner. I used the dimensions in the manual but this tank was maybe not molded correctly and the hole ended up elongated do I opened the hole a bit larger and made the fitting to suit. From memory it was a 14mm thread. I just turned it down from bar stock alu and just used a tap and die to do the rest.