Knighty

100 - 120hp Hi The standard EA81 are around the 80 hp mark at full throttle so to get 100 - 120 out of the block is not going to be as cheap as you like to think. Major head modifications is the main thing to look at as the engine has some breathing difficulties stock standard. One of the Gyro fellas I knocked around with years ago imported a rally engine which had twin carbs and head modifications, I was told it produced around the even 100 at full throttle and it sat comfortably on 5400rpm all bloody day without concern. Go and google you heart out as I did and its amazing the amount of information out there and engine mods for the suby to convert it to aviation. I have a Ram EA81 in my Aeropup which the outlay cost blew right out of budget so a lesson was learnt there I can tell you! Wont do that one again in a hurry. PM me if you want and I may be able to recover some of the info from my files in regards to the EA81 etc. Cheers Knighty

I have started and run a 582 without a prop just to check the timing at idle with a strobe light. I had a funny feeling about getting too close to a 72 inch 3 blade mincer muncher and dicer. No problems occured however the idle was way too high and the motor was very twitchy on throttle responses. Probably not a good idea to run the engine without a prop unless you really have to? If you start your engine on idle as you normally would if you're using choke expect it to idle at around 3500, thats the only advice and info I can give you, I hope it helps. Knighty

Hi guys Have a look at this link. http://alt.coxnewsweb.com/ajc/swf/blueangels/blueangels.swf

Hi Bill I understood your problem but didnt really explain myself by the looks of things. I am not aware of that magic screw in the radio to turn down (apart from the normal volume/squelch switches) that you mentioned however if you need that quick fix have you a volume switch on the side of your headsets? Get your Pax to adjust it in flight when the radio is blasting (I am sure I am preaching to the converted here as it was possibly the first thing you did anyway! The problem with that is that you loose your intercom volume as well.). A trimpot is an adjustable resistor which is exactly the same as your volume switch on the headsets and possibly fairly close to the resistance in ohm's you are looking for anyway if you go with the suggestion I made earlier. If you dont really know what a trimpot is (underpinning knowledge in electrical mumbo jumbo, I am not having a dig at you as I was once there myself!!) can I please suggest you contact Rod from Aerial Pursuits at Aerial Pursuits - Sports Aviation Specialists! and let him know your problem & what you want to do about it; if he cant help you out here in Oz nobody can. Raptor design has assisted me with advice and parts and has been a tower of knowledge, they are my first contact if in doubt or trouble. Also you may need to look into that live mike with the Pax when you transmit, sometimes the Pax will say just about anything at the worst time when you need to have that one on one with the radio! Also this can transmit more background noise and may make it harder for other aircraft/groundcrew to understand your transmission. I hope I helped this time around. Good luck Knighty

Radio glitches Hi I have had similar problems in the past with a couple of planes so I learnt about avionics as I went along. I have designed and fitted an interface to my VHF/UHF radio after a few grey hairs and head scratching (Xcom 760 VHF coupled with a Uniden 40 channel UHF all with music input and mobile phone Flightcom). May I suggest you have an mike isolation switch when you need to transmit if you do not want the pax to join in coupled with a 200ohm trimpot that can be accessable on the radio out (speaker) wire going into your headset (or the Pax if you are happy with the volume!). Anyhow thats how I would do it, there are some professional radio people out there who may disagree, bring it on so we can ALL LEARN! Bloody radios can be a nightmare to tweak and get right. I would rather walk 50 miles with an outlanding to town rather than pulling out the multimeter and soldering iron Ha Ha!!! Slip me a PM if you are still in trouble, I am happy to assist as I wish someone was out there at the time to guide me with the complexities of radios. Good luck. Knighty

Hi all Its been a long time since I posted anything so here goes. I had a report from a rec pilot mate who lives opposite the airfield on the river and said he heard a couple af aircraft in circuit just on dark and then an almight thump with silence following! Also got the report that a plane was cleared from the runway, placed into a hanger, covered and crimescene taped? I also heard that the pilot walked away with a couple of scratches which is good news. Can anyone forward any information or confirm either way? Knighty

Hi The floats do become saturated with fuel and loose their boyancy as I have found out first hand and the only solution is to replace the units. The floats are worth nearly as much as the darn carbies unfortunately. What happened to me is that the motor run fine on warmup and cruise but when I came in on the glide approach it become very rich and if a go around was necessary the 582 would cough and splutter until she cleared, not much good if the strip was marginal! Best of luck with fixing your problem. Knighty

unregistered plane Well if I was flying an unregistered plane (not saying that I ever have mind you!!!) and it was an elcheapo rag and tube and it was damaged and I could walk or run away from it I think I would make that very same dash. Hat off to the pilot who managed to make contact with the officials however he should have made the contact ASAP before us tax payers footed the bill for the choppers, planes, boats etc. At least no one was hurt (not reported) and I am sure there is a lesson learnt by the pilot and anyone else thinking about flying over something you cant land on safely. mud flats aint my idea of a safe emergency landing strip. Cheers Knighty

rotary valve plate Just going off memory, the rotary place can be rotated 180 degrees to get the timing closer to the mark, have you tried this??? I am thinking that you may have accidently spun the plate around as this is easy to do when you're busy worrying about the bigger picture. Cheers Knighty

Trailer wows Hi I have a semi finished project under way for my Aeropup (which also when folded is roughly on the 2.4mtr mark). My trailer was purpose made for transporting insulation batts and was 6.5 long and 2.4 wide and fully enclosed. I have lengthened the trailer to 7.2 metres and removed the roof to make my temporary hanger while I am finishing off the project (cant see myself flying the plane due to fuel prices holding us to randsom, I would rather spend my surplus on the family!) The real problem is registration and keeping the trailer under the 2.5 wide limit HOWEVER I was told by the RTA I can register the trailer 3 metre maximum and would need to have flags displayed, wide load signs and a yellow flashing light with restrictions only to transport during daylight hours, hardly bloody worth it!!!! Not mentioning any names but I have seen this done. Build the trailer to max of 2.5 wide, get it registered then acrow jack the sides out so that you have more clearance with the wings. You would have to be pretty unlucky for the transport mob to pull you over and run a tape measure over your gear, an extra 100-150mm makes all the difference between having damaged and scuffed leading edges. Another option would to have the sides on hinges to swing out from the trailer when loading then swing in pin down and lock. I think building the plane is the easy part! Another thing that you have got to take into consideration is the empty weight, over 750kgs (I think) you will need independant braking system and yearly rego checks if in NSW, same for boggie or tri axles. I hope this post has been some assistance. Cheers Knighty

Another comment if I may please. I have experienced the same on a 582 with the rear pot slightly warmer at about 75 degree's F cruise @ 5,800rpm according to the EGT. I managed to adjust this by float / fuel bowl adjustment still in accordance with manufacturers recommendation on carby fuel level. I think Rotax says that if there is more than 25-50? F degrees differnce then one must look into the problem immediately. As for my twin V roadbike engine the rear carb jets are a size larger allowing a richer burn to aid cooling unlike the Harley engine running a single carby. As for the timing on Maynard's beast and the piston melting if it was the timing then both pistons would/should be effected due to the CDI system firing continuously every 180 degrees of engine revolution. As for carby icing on only one carby I doubt, maybe a small bit of crap in the main jet or temporary fuel restriction on that pot going unnoticed for a minute os so at 6000rpm on climb out, especially when in a busy circuit???. I am sure I am guilty of not constantly watching the guages when aviating and especially after takeoff dodging power lines and trees (just using this for an example and to contextualise the subject at hand). Looking forward to hearing the actual cause of that melted crown!!! Knighty

Timing Maynard & fellow readers Have a look at the timing on the motor, egt's might read fine however other sinister things can be happening in the combustion chamber we are not aware of. However; I am sceptical if a small error in timing could melt a crown? I cant remember off hand what the specs are and cant lay my hand on them at the moment because I am at work. Rotax engines need to fire X mm or thous before TDC and to do this we place a dial guage into the sparkplug hole to determine piston placement and align the CDI pickups and the triggers on the flywheel by sight. Now here is where the drama starts on the grey engines!!! The pickups are factory set however I have ovaled out the bolt holes on the pickups to make this necessary adjustment, and I might add I've worked on a few 582's experiencing the same problems as mine. You would be surprised how much the timing was out on these engines!!! I THINK that the blue top engines have the triggers already ovaled/elongated to make timing adjustments? I have made my dial guage attachment out of an old spark plug by bashing out the ceramic guts and drilling/silver soldering a nut to attach a grub screw to secure the shaft on the dial guage (bloody rough bush cocky backyard mechanics!!), and works perfect and cost me bugger all. Just to confirm my advice I suggest you to contact a level 2 who is Rotax 2 stroke savy. If you need a hand or the right specs give me a yell and I will post the info on the forum for all to read. Also I would like to add that the engine that has the melted piston will have to have a thorough internal cleaning and thats a big job within itself, no room for rough she'll be right mechanics here! Regards Knighty

Beam me up Scotty Who Knows, he may have been transported??? Knighty

Fantastic idea Wannabigaplane But the squeeze bulb would have to be placed in a central position of the seat and Anti-Perpendicular to the cheeks of the buttocks:laugh: Knighty

Hi Teenie What did you find out about your pulse??? Knighty

Yeh that makes rough sense to me! By the time you take into consideration the distance from the gasket to the piston skirt and add on the 2 1/8 inch you probably would have the 100mm or 4 inches. Cheers Knighty

Hi Lads EGT'probes can be mounted either top or bottom however the top was always preferred due to unburnt oil leaking from the bottom causing a mess on the motor and plane etc. Distance is important where to mount the probes, I've looked on the web page on the above post and did not see any info! Probes HAVE TO BE mounted 100mm or 4 inches from the piston skirt for the Rotax. You can confirm this by contacting a Rotax service agent and correct me if I am wrong! I've done a heap of work on the 2 strokes and still remember most of the stuff. Knighty

Yes Teenie Inlet manifold matey, you will get bugger all pulse out from the crankcase breather on a 4 stroke! I will be very surprised if it doesnt work. I have a spare vacuum pump in my 582 bits and peices which is brand new never used however it has 2 outlets. Unless you have 2 carbs or decide to route the 2 into one it still can be used. Let me know if you are interested and we can work something out. Cheers Knighty

Mikuni Vacuum Fuel Pump Hi Teenie Just come on line and read your posts. Jetboy mentioned the John Deere dynamo, I have seen these used on William Wynnes engines that he builds (Corvair flat 6), they weigh minimal with enough output juice to keep the battery charged. See http://www.flycorvair.com/ for the charging system, buy local from John Deere as Jetboy suggests. As for your fuel pump why not use the vacuum Mikuni's as per Rotax, HKS, stationary 4 stroke engines, outboard engines etc. All you need to do is run the vacuum from your inlet manifold to the pump and route the fuel line as needed. I have questioned the vacuum in the inlet manifold on a 4 stroke at full throttle and told that there is more than enough pulsed suction to operate the pump. Who am I to argue! Pumps can be purchased direct from Wade Marlo (Wadeair at Orange/Springhill Airport). You wont have to muck around with an electrical systems then, save $$$ time, effort and weight. Cheers Knighty

Hi Ultralights Yes such a simple little vacuum leak was all that it took to render the vehicle useless. However now that I have replaced the idle control motor located on the throttle body she runs as smooth a babies behind. we've had the ute for nearly 10 years and I can not remember it running as good as it does now on petrol, its always been good with the LPG however. The Bitsaremissing has never started cold on LPG and has always refused to do it unless your willing to crank it over for 20-30 seconds, not sure why so I figure it needs to be run on petrol anyhow just to keep the injectors clean and in service. I hope I can remember all these little things I have learnt so I can use my knowledge base and experience at a later date, old age and forgetfulness goes hand in hand unfortunately or so I am told! Knighty (46 years of age and counting)

Fixed the problem I have got to eat my words here about my auto electrician! I took off into town this morning with the throttle body pulled in parts and thoroughally cleaned, no external sensors to clean or orifices to clean out, just 2 sealed sensor units. I was told by another auto electrician that a little electronic motor that controlled the idle speed had died so I replaced the part $120, nothing wrong with the throttle position sensor. Put the ute back together and it is still running like a hairy canary, back into town to buy a second hand throttle position sensor $35 as no one had a new unit. Put it back together again, still running like a busted bum surging and running rough on and off giving me whiplash up and down my 40 degree incline roadway. Decided to place the LPG gas flow mixer back in line and the motor would not run past 2000rpm and appeared to be in limp home mode again, MMM something restricting the airflow I thought to myself! (just as the auto electrician told me after I departed with $130 for his diagnosis) I pulled the diaphram back out of the mixer and had a closer look only to find the very well disguised problem (diaphram relies on -VE pressure 'manifold suction' to open up and let air/gas through a valve, in other words it depresses a little spring inside and relies on the -VE pressure to stay open). 3 out of 4 small internal screws had found their way loose and the suction pressure inside the diaphram was being released so the diapham stayed in the same position no matter what the throttle setting. As for the motor surging and running rough I would think that it did not like the intake tubes off it and possibly a safety feature to make the driver put it into the garage before damage could be done to the internals because of no air cleaner on it. COSTS: new idle control motor $120 2nd hand throttle position sensor $35 Auto electrician labour $130 6 hours of my time including 3 trips into town and back 1 borrowed car from a mates car yard $2 cartons of beer (Crownies) And all because of 3 little screws that took me 20 mins to fix from a total stripdown of the parts, tighten and reassemble. I hope someone out there has learnt from my sagas, I know I have! I am glad I never got that apprenticeship as a mechanic when I was 17, I hate working on things now. Thanks guys for all of your input, this forum rocks. Knighty

200 roo power NOT HORSEPOWER Well I just got it home after 15klm of hopping like a roo out along the road, the auto electrician has got it wrong as there is nothing amiss with the lpg flow mixer, I am sure he just wanted the van out of his yard after parting with $130 being for his labour to date and resetting the computer etc. Ive just sprayed some throttle body cleaner down the shute while it was on high idle and given it a quick test run. It still revs to 3500 and under full load it is breaking down and I noticed that the tacho is jumping about also??? Still could be the throttle position sensor however I will pull it down in the morning when Ive got a cold engine to work on. There looks to be 2 sensors on the throttle body, one connects to the butterfly baffle and the other has 2 water hoses connected to it with about a 6 wire plug. They make things easy to understand, dont they. I will talk to you all later. Knighty

Throttle position sensor Hi guys I have just got the phone call from my auto electician and he stated that as soon as he removed the LPgas/air mixer from the intake manifold the engine runs at full rpm when you open the throttle however a bit rough because the air flow sensor from the airbox has been removed. He reckons there is a restriction in the mixer however I can not see that somehow as I have had it apart in the past replacing the diaphram and spring assembly. I am just about to go into town and pick the mongrel up now and I have a feeling that it could be the throttle position sensor, I will get it home and have a closer look at it myself. I came out of hospital yesterday after a knee cartilage operation so its going to be fun here at home, so much for a few days off before returning to the office! Yes I also like Toyotas and always have, I have a Daihatsu 1980 4X4 diesel and you cant stop the bloody old rattly thing. I will keep you guys posted on my progress. Thanks for your input, its been great. Knighty