Builder Hints
October 1982
A good method to form the foam for the top and
bottom fuel/baggage strakes is as follows: support the foam appropriately; place two
layers of dry bath towels at the area to be curved, soak the towels with 4 to 6 quarts of
boiling water. The foam will easily form to the desired shape. Allow to cool.
Remove the towels and be certain not to glass over the foam until it is completely
dry.
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Sam Harris suggests leaving the hardener out of acrylic enamels on parts such as
elevators and ailerons. The weight of the finish will thus be reduced by almost 50%.
Sam also suggests substituting 601 fuel hose for the 303 called out, It is easier to use
in the small space.
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Brent Parsons suggests taking a coat hanger wire, bend it to form a 1" wide
‘u’ shape about 5" long and install It into a 250 w soldering gun. This can
be used to rapidly and cleanly remove the blue foam in the canard for Installation of the
high density foam blocks.
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Gerald Collins reports that he had a problem with his nose gear retract system.
When he taxied over rough ground, occasionally he noticed the handle would turn
perhaps a half turn. He paid no attention, until taxiing at no more than 10 mph over rough
asphalt, he was suddenly looking down at the taxiway. The retract mechanism had
bounced out of the over-center position. This put all the loads on the cast iron
worm gear, which stripped and let the plane down hard on its nose block. Nose damage was
minimal. To minimize the possibility of this occurring, be certain that your nose
gearbox is mounted at the correct angle so that when it is down and locked, it is well
over center as shown in the plans. The installed system generally had adequate friction to
prevent back-off. However, if your mechanism becomes loose and allows your gear to extend
a little in flight, you can install a spring loaded friction lock. (See sketch)
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Ray Cullen reports good success with small "mud flaps" on the wheel pants.
After three months of hard operation, prop nicks are minimal. The small mud
flaps are made from plastic coffee can lids pop—riveted to a 3" x 1’
bracket made from .018 stainless (firewall material ). These flaps should have at
least 1/4" of clearance from the tire.
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Gary Hertzler has had a "fender" on his nose wheel for some time and it, too,
is a big help as far as prop damage. Gary made his fender from 3 plies BID and it
has a small "mud flap" of engine baffle material (neoprene/asbestos) or the
plastic coffee can lid would probably work fine. These mud flaps should be quite
close to the runway, if they are too long, they won’t be after one take off!
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Mag Switch Location = Ken Clunis sent this in and it is an excellent idea. Ken
put his mag switches on the left side of the roll over structure. In this position
they are easy to see from outside the plane, particularly if you hand prop your engine
and, they are convenient to operate with your left hand while seated in the front seat. Of
course they are accessible to the back seat passenger, should the pilot ever become
incapacitated.
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28 Volt Electrical System — The main advantage of going to a 28 volt system is that all of the wiring is 1/2 the size (actually 3 wire sizes smaller). This is a considerable weight savings. All lamps, strobes, radios, etc. are available in 28 volts and the used market prices are generally less than the more popular 14 volt. Two motorcycle batteries wired in series do an excellent job. They should be manifolded and 12 V -15 amp hours minimum, such as you would find in a Honda 350 cc. All of the wiring can be pushed through a lightweight plastic or teflon tube 1/2" to 3/4" diameter installed down either side, from the aft seat bulkhead to the instrument panel. These can be floxed or siliconed into place. If you ever have to add a wire or two, it is easy.
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Ken Clunis mounted his transponder vertically in the right forward baggage strake, against the fuselage side. It is easy to read and easy to operate with your left hand. His antenna (RST type) is in the right side of the centersection spar, as far outboard as possible, ground plane must be horizontal with the antenna vertical and pointed down.
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Spar caps — wings, canard and centersection — Be sure to peel ply these spar
caps, or you will wear yourself out sanding prior to installing the skins.
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Brake torque plates — Check to see that the torque plates fit flush on to the axle
flange. Occasionally the hole in the torque plate will interfere with the radius
between the axle and flange. Careful filing or grinding of the corner in the torque plate
will allow a perfect flush fit. See Sketch.
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If you are installing a VariEze cowl on your Long-EZ, you may find the bottom cowl does
not match well to the wing root after cutting the cowl to the correct width. Paul Adrien
came up with a neat solution. He simply glued a piece of Styrofoam or urethane foam to the
wing root. Then shaped it to fit the gap between the wing root and the lower cowl. Glass
over the foam with 2 plies of BID. This makes a nice transition without reshaping the cowl
and leaves more room in the cowl for the exhaust. See Photos.
CAUTION — Ray Cullen painted his exhaust system white using Krylon high temp paint, per the instructions. After about 3 hours of flight, the engine abruptly stopped on the take off roll and could not be restarted. Complete disassembly of the carburetor disclosed the problem. The carb induction tube and venturi area were full of white paint chips, which had flaked off the exhaust system. Apparently when carb heat was used, the paint chips were drawn into the Induction. The air filter was clear. Ray blew the carb out with air and sand blasted the exhaust. The engine started immediately and he has since flown 60 hours with no problem. The moral: do nothing to your exhaust system that could possibly introduce foreign material into the carb heat system.