Alan

The handbook says the seats in the J230 are rated for 85Kg. Does this mean that If I have a passenger who weighs more than 85Kg that I'm illegal even if my all up weight is within the 600kg limit? Alan

Interesting thing the variability of the effects of the Jab 230 cooling mods. There have been four Jab 230c's, that are about two years old, up here that have had all the required mods. The lip extension (at the time it was a copy of Brentc's mod and not the Jabiru fit which came out later) on the lower cowl brought about very varied results. Some saw no change at all in oil and CHT temp, one actually got worse, while the effect on my engine oil and CH temperature was quite a dramatic improvement in both. The difference would seem to be the angle of the lower lip extension; mine only had a shallow deflection the others had a more severe change causing a greater deflection of airflow. The others have now had the angle lowered and all have subsequently improved operating temperatures. Changing the oil cooler ducting lowered the oil temperature even further. There must be a sweet spot for the cowl extension/deflectors where there is a maximum veturi effect drawing the air out of the lower cowl. Too high an angle may well cause turbulence that could hinder the exit of the air. We have never chased the optimum angle as what we have now is good for us. As we are probably the most Northerly 230c's in Australia the original cooling problems made us keep an too much of an eye on the gauges (see and avoid!). The situation is much better now. Now if only we had some way to make the motor less lean when we have to slow for the inevitable turbulence up here------- Alan

I have been intending to buy and EPIRB for my aircraft for some time, just never got around to doing the research for what I need. Now I have to as the time has come to replace the one I have on my Trailer Sailer (Cole 23). I am not sure what registration documentation is now required for the EPIRB, but does anybody know whether one 406 Mhz EPIRB can be registered as to be used to service both a boat and an aircraft? Alan

Anybody know any details of a rumoured new type of propeller (curved leading edge) that is becoming available for the Jabiru 230 (3300 Engine). Is it true? What are the gains? Any more rain resistance? Alan

I lost one of these when my J230 was only just over a year old and the only option from Jabiru was to buy a complete set of the new fairings. Not only circa $250, but also involved drilling a new set of holes in the Fuse. Incidently, the same applied to the front spat which developed a crack; I had to buy a complete front and back section replacement as mine was an obsolete design! Pretty sad these things are not available so soon after production. For the missing cover, I just made a replica of the remaining panel (vacuum bagging worked well). While it was opposite handed, once I had re drilled it to match the missing pattern it fitted well. The panel fit of all these covers is pretty poor anyway with much rippling between the screws so my replica blends in well. I think Brentc suggested previously extra screws and white race tape are added security for these items - have not lost any since. Talking of Jabiru Spares, I must contact them as all my external labels have gone. Do not know about other Jabs but mine were only paper! This also seems a poor option on what was a $120K+ purchase. As I currently do not have this labelling, no doubt I am outside LSA regs! Alan

Thanks for the info all. I now have two fuel clamping tools from Repco in my toolkit. Alan

Glenns, I was actually referring to the red low tank indication on the two tank LED bar fuel level indicators on the dash. In turbulence on of these these can come on when you have significant (50L+) fuel remaining. My best guess is I believe:- The tanks are long and thin and poorly baffled, the fuel level sender is in the wing root. When partially empty the fuel can slop away from the sender. There appears to be significant damping both in the wing root gauges and even worse with the dash indications. The cross flow path between the tanks seems to allow rapid fuel flow. As several, with much more experience than me on this site have said before, the Jabiru J230c fuel gauges are really only a true indication when the AC is at rest on level ground! In flight the fuel gauges are at best a gross indicator (that can be distracting). I say bring back the free flowing sight gauge and watch it slop! Mind you my fuel pressure warning light is also a vexed question - I will not quote what I was told by Jabiru when I was told to adjust it and I complained about its functionality. I have had the local Lame adjust this at each service and I still get a flickering light - another red light to ignore! Perhaps I need a new sender unit. Alan

Matt I too also use Oziexplorer on a laptop. Great value for money program and it connects well with the Garmin 296. I have the windows CE version on an Ipaq, but can only seem to find a North up orientation. Do you know how to get track up? Alan

Yes I would concur, mine always seems to drain the tanks unevenly and does not seem to favour one tank over the other. I used to do some ridiculous crabwise flying to attempt to move the fuel to balance them out. I now just keep an eye on them and frown! But despite the red light indications I have (so far) never had a real (cough splutter) fuel feed problem. - Dip the tanks calculate the usage conservatively and use the gauges to show nothing is leaking. Talking of fuel leaking, at the last service I noticed heavy fuel staining of the protective hose where the fuel pipe connects to the carb. The hose clamp would only take half a turn more before becoming very tight. Despite much running and leaving the electric pump on I have seen no further leaks. Mine is a factory built LSA J230 anybody else had trouble here. Alan

Thanks for that. Can anyone recommend a suitable tap and supplier. I will ring Jabiru for an official "can this be approved?" (rather than play ducks and drakes with the "Ass"). I am not keen to have fuel slopping everywhere again (Pipe bung came out!), but if them's the rules. Alan

To change the fuel filter on my J230 all the tanks have to be emptied. What a pain to say nothing about a potentially hazardous operation. It would seem logical to me for there to be an in line valve after the ventral tank and before the filter. I realise the risk in placing another method of shutting off the fuel, but it would be hidden away and not touched between filter changes. Mines a factory built LSA so I cannot add a valve anyway. What method does everybody else use when changing the fuel filter? Alan

Just wondering whether anybody had a definitive answer to the question of whether an active Bluetooth (2.4Ghz?) mobile phone can interfere with anything in the cockpit such as a transponder or GPS devices. Alan

I also operate a 230c (145 hours) up here in FNQ with the high ambient, but have never really had temperature problems that were not controllable - increased speed for climb out keeps the CHT down and if required to climb to height just level off every so often to bring oil temp back into line. When I saw Brentc's comments some time back, I added similar aluminium deflectors to the lower exit of my cowl. This made a significant difference to oil and CHT temperatures. Although, I would add I did not use too high an angle of deflection, some up here, one 230 and one 160 actually made things worse with too high and angle of deflection. There must be a sweet spot. I have the additional kit from Jabiru to duct the oil cooler, but have not had the additional mods fitted yet due to either work and poor weather. Alan

I balance machinery in field both 1 and 2 plane - generally heavy ID Fans (several tonnes) so I have the correct balancing machinery. However, I will not be balancing any A/C props as I have nil experience of this and being attached to an in-phase reciprocating engine worries me. But just a thought. Where on say a wooden prop would you attached the test weight and final solution; under the hub bolts? Alan

230c (140hrs) - I am the same; it varies as to how many good compressions out of 6 I get during a cold pull through. I just put this down to the varied piston stop position with some valves open some closed etc leading to a variation in retained oil/fuel vapour. When hot the pull through evens (subjective decision) out. Alan

Blue Water - North of Townsville There is an landing strip just North of Townsville at Blue Water, but I have no knowledge of whether it is operational. When flying around Townsville under ATC level via the Pinnacles, I have over flown Blue Water airfield just North of Townsville on many occassions. From the air it seems a very serviceable strip and there is an aircraft parked off to one side by the hangers. However, there is no entry in the ERSA nor the country airstrip guide. Does any body know any details about this airfield, who owns it, is it serviceable. I know that in the past it had a flight training facility based there. Alan

Yup going over to retained nuts and race tape seems the way to go. However, being a factory 230c built to LSA regs, is an allowed mod? Seems counter intuitive not to allow this type of work, but I will check. Alan

Spat/streamlining design changes I had one of the streamlining panels of my main undercarriage legs come off in flight (another good reason to not fly over towns!). It seems the forward screws had come out and it cantilivered back breaking off. In the attached photo it is just the outboard panel marked in yellow that went missing (while we were under there we also removed the main cross fairing to re-check the UC bolts;) ). The difficult point is that the Aircraft is only just over a year old and Jabiru no longer make that style of streamlining and cannot supply a replacement panel; a set of the new style covers is circa $250 not too bad I suppose, but it will involve drilling a new set of mounting holes - not nice.:yuk: Thankfully, it is a relatively simple panel and I will make up a replacement:sad:. Now what ever happened to that spare time, I had hidden. Have now rechecked the rest streamlining fairing fixing screws on my Jab and several were not firm. They are now loctited in place. Make sure your fairings are tight or you may end up like me - covered in styro foam dust and sticky with epoxy or worse drilling some extra holes. NB. The two piece front wheel spat is no longer available either. It is now one piece. I cracked the front part of the fairing - don't ask:sad:. Even with prompting (telephone & email) Jabiru took so long getting back to me to tell me it was not available, it had been repaired and refitted. Maybe all the speed variations reported with and without spats are also influenced by which variety of spats are fitted. Alan

Not sure if this should go here or in the Engines With all the discussion about correct jetting and keeping the revs up to reduce the heat stress on the exhaust valves with Jabiru motors, why are EGT gauges not a recommended option or even a standard engine instrument (included in even the lower cost instrument panel options)? They are not that expensive when compared to the consequence of running lean. Are they not the lean run indicator I thought they were? I,m LSA so I am not sure if I can retro fit an EGT gauge anyway. Alan

Ian, Matt and others make a very good point about not knowing what is available from the shop. Also your spare time availability must be a precious commodity what with this site and all the other items you seem involved in. I have bought a few items that have been listed on the shop as these should be automatically handled, but feel reluctant to enquire if X or Y was available as it has to be replied to individually and you seem so busy; with your low prices it is hard to see this being a cost effective use of your time. As somebody who is also short of "personal" time, I feel guilty to seek a good deal from you if it is at the expense of yet another thing for you to answer or organise. Regards Alan

Had to remove my main wheel spats for some minor repairs and also found a 3 to 4 knot cruise speed reduction without them. Could the variation in effectiveness of the spats from plane to plane be a function of how true they sit with regards to airflow when in place? Alan

Recently I have had the opportunity to try two other similar aged factory built Jab 230s. I found both of them required significantly less rudder pedal pressure when taxying. ( Did not try in flight) than my own aircraft. I have not had time to look, but I thought the front wheel strut was in nylon bearings (The manual does not show the steering bearing) and so does not require lubrication. I will get the local lame here to have a look when he gets time and is over the flue :yuk:. In the meantime any suggestions from the forum - is there any lubrication or adjustments that can affect the stiffness of the rudder controls? Incidently. Finally lower cowling air deflectors have been fitted as per Brentc and I can report they do make a significant difference. I still have to manage CHT during a long climb to keep to the lower edge of the amber, but I can now climb steeper if required. The oil temperature is down at all times and in the cruise (2850rpm) the CHT is well out of the amber. Thanks all. Alan

Brentc Help I am struggling here! I though the high lead in avgas would help protect the exhaust valves and seats? Also "valves about to break off sounds alarming". What is the mechanism or evidence of impending failure. Are new engines from Jabiru fitted with the new richer jet/needle settings? My 230c engine (#33A 1089) plugs seems to offer evidence of a reasonable mixture, but due to poor weather up here AC has mainly done circuit work before being checked. Suppose I should ask Jabiru, but the collective knowledge here seems a better source of info. Due to nasty turbulence over inland Northen Qld in the summer, I used to cruise at about 110 knots (well below 2850rpm) getting very low consumption figures of about 18l/hr. Also cooling of my Engine is poor with care required to control both oil and Ch temps - Not fitted Brentc'c mods yet, but will just have to find time. Looks like I may be killing my engine prematurely. The collective experience on this formum is invaluable I feel. Alan

There are 3 X J230c, 1 X J160 and a Calypso? Swamp dwelling at Innisfail FNQ

There is always shocking rain at Innisfail. Approach with caution!