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Kent's Long-EZ project


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I'm trying to figure out what size of prop to build.  Below are some props I gleaned from discussions, websites and Cozy newsletters.  Some are for tractor aircraft but they are all from fairly fast airplanes.  I assumed that the stated the pitch was in inches at the 75% span--the usual spec--and used that to compute the chord angle at that station.

 

Steve Hill pointed out in the previous post that there is not much consistency in how prop builders measure pitch so don't trust this calculation too much but it probably reflects what is being used.  The "Hertzler" and "Catto" props are what owners said they were using or what I read that these gents were recommending for various horsepowers.  If anyone wants to send me their prop brand and size, I will add it to the list.   kjashton AT vnet dot net

 

PropCompare.pdf

-Kent
Cozy IV N13AM-750 hrs, Long-EZ-85 hrs and sold

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  • 4 weeks later...

Unngh, yawwnnn.   This website is so roomy and comfortable--got it all to myself.    ;-)

 

COWL AND WINGLET MODS:  Finally got to check my cowl mods.  The two exit scoops look very promising.  You will notice that I have a fairly tight opening around the prop hub; I did this because I do not believe there is good exit flow around the hub of a pusher based on oil flow I have seen inside the cowl and other indications.  Originally (2nd pic) , I believed I would get good exit flow from large openings around the exhaust pipes at the edges of the cowl but that did not seem to pan out. 

 

The new exits allow air to blast out of the cylinders and return to freestream by the most direct route with the minimum turns and turbulence, I think. (pics 3,4).  In addition I think I've added a few sq. inches of exit area.

 

Before, I was only getting about 4 to 4.5" of water differential across the cylinders.  I am now seeing about 6" and 330 deg. at moderate cruise speeds.  I will have to wait for a hot day for a full test.   Manometer setup, pic 5.  I added an adjustable door on the oil cooler.  At current temps--about 55F--I have the door cracked a bit to get 180 degree oil temp.  This oil cooler duct system is not the easiest to install but it seems to work well.  (pic 6)

 

I had to change the orientation of the starboard pipes because a hot curve was too close to the cowl and beginning to fry it.  I also closed down the exit area round the pipes.

 

As for the new winglet, it stayed attached during some full skids.  After a year, I'd forgotten I had washers in the left wing bolts when I was diagnosing my winglet misalignment so the aircraft wanted to roll.  Will reset the wings and try again.

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Edited by Kent Ashton

-Kent
Cozy IV N13AM-750 hrs, Long-EZ-85 hrs and sold

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ah!  A few thin washers in the wing bolts have zero'd out the roll.   Nice not to have to hold the stick the entire flight.  I still have a bit of rudder adjustment left to do but it it almost flying straight.

 

I was able to get a speed test at 8500', 3 deg C, 2600 rpm leaned to about peak power and got 133KIAS/152KTAS (on an uncalibrated ASI).  I suppose this is about right for an EZ with relatively large wheel pants and canopy as well as downdraft intakes that could be a little oversized and not well faired-in.  The downdraft cooling here is much better since I revised the exits than the two Cozys I have owned.  I would probably do that again.  Possibly, the NACA-style intakes I used originally might work now that I improved the exits but I will probably keep what I've got and leave that to another owner.  I am seeing at least 6" of water manifold differential vs barely 4" before I revised the exits.

 

One thing I might do differently next time is to mount the oil cooler on the back of the engine and use some of the downdraft air for the cooler.  There is room for a cooler behind the engine (pics) and it would simplify a lot of things below the engine.

 

BTW, this is an O-320-H2AD (160hp), not an engine I would recommend due to many oddities compared to the vanilla O-320s but I got it pretty cheap and it runs well so far.

 

Earlier, I would get an engine-hesitation at certain lower rpms.  I added a flow straightener that fixed that.  Now at WOT operation at high speeds the engine does not run smooth unless the Ellison TBI is retarded slightly off WOT.  I see the same on the Mark IV but not as bad; only a slight reduction needed.

 

Lastly, here is an idea for an aux canopy latch to prevent canopy-warp at low temps.  The problem with it is that it needs to be unlocked before you can open the canopy.  I have it in my Before Landing checklist.  I tried a cable-operated aux latch linked to the normal canopy linkage but couldn't make it work very well.

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-Kent
Cozy IV N13AM-750 hrs, Long-EZ-85 hrs and sold

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  • 4 weeks later...

Aileron trim:  Nothing against electric trim but in my experience, the Rutan canards are relatively trim-insensitive and don't need one.  I remember flying Cessna 172s where you had to retrim often against strong out-of-trim forces.  In my Cozy, I might adjust trim once during the flight.  I never touch it in the pattern although I might retrim if loitering at a slow speed.  On a long flight, I might tweak the aileron trim once or twice as the tanks burn down.  For those reasons, I don't favor electric trims, wires, motors, fuses and buttons.

 

Here is a spring-wire aileron trim.  It uses a 10-32 hardware store long-bolt.  Soak the bolt in mild acid to remove the cadmium plating and weld on a small tab.  Drill a hole in the tab that will move the spring wire; make the hole slightly oversize to keep the wire from binding.    I use 3/32" spring wires but 1/8" might give stronger centering.    Form the spring by drilling a hole through a suitable pipe, insert the wire in the drilled hole, and wind it around the pipe.  (There are some interesting videos on winding spring wires on a lathe).  The spring is clamped to a control rod with parts made from round steel rod the same diameter as your control tubes.  The framework is fabbed out of thin (.032 to .040) 4130.  It works pretty well and is easy to adjust.  The one behind the control stick (first pic) is handier to adjust but the control tube must be removed to install it.  The one at the nose of the control tube is easy to install but needs a removable armrest.    One of my earlier posts discusses a spring-wire pitch trim. 

 

BTW, here's my transponder antenna and ground plane.  The GP is glued to the floor with hot glue.  Yeah, you need removable seats for that too or plan in advance.   There is lots of room below the seats.  I also have a PWM dimmer there for instrument and cockpit lights.

 

 Great fun making these little bits!  Post your own ideas.

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-Kent
Cozy IV N13AM-750 hrs, Long-EZ-85 hrs and sold

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  • 2 months later...

What's up fellow babies?  Here is a another way to mount the canard.  I found with my Cozy that to remove/install the canard off the standard pins, it has to be pulled forward.  That means you have to build a bigger opening to allow it to move forward.  My opening was barely wide enough and it is not handy to do.   On this Long-ez, I embedded some female threaded fittings in the longerons and screw two long AN3 screws through brass bushings floxed into the locating tabs and into the embedded longeron fittings.  To remove the canard, I only have to remove the two screws, unbolt the lift tabs underneath, disconnect the pitch rods and pull the canard up and out.  Much easier to do.    These screws have really long threads so there is no need to safety-wire them.

 

With this setup, I needed a removable cover over the canard.  I have the Dynon magnetometer there and I can insert long pins to hold the instrument panel on (pic).  To expose the instruments, remove the canard cover and pull the two long pins.  I wish I had done that on the Cozy and often think of redoing that area.

 

BONUS FEATURE:  Here's an idea for how to use an Ipad Mini in the Cozy (for a right-seat pilot).  The mount fits in a hole between the seats fab'd with a metal holder, it brings the Ipad close to eyes, the angle is right to prevent most glare and it can be swiveled for the pax to see it.  

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-Kent
Cozy IV N13AM-750 hrs, Long-EZ-85 hrs and sold

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  • 2 weeks later...

This is a BD-5 project I have had for many years.  I pulled it out of the hangar to make some repairs with the thought of selling it.  When I put it aside to build a Cozy, the nose was mounted off center.  I found some new nose skins and rebuilt the nose using driven rivets.  Added some nose access covers which are not in the plans but it almost impossible to do anything in the nose without them.  One thing led to another.  Rebuilding the nose led to rebuilding the canopy frame and fiilling and redrilling canopy holes, otherwise, it would've been $1000 for a new canopy.  I have mostly completed the bare instrument panel and instrument cover.  Now that I am back into it, it's rather fun to work on.  I doubt I'll get it flying but that isn't always the goal, is it?  You might not think you could haul an airplane in a short-bed Ford Ranger but look.  :-)

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-Kent
Cozy IV N13AM-750 hrs, Long-EZ-85 hrs and sold

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I'm not sure that's a look of approval by the Mrs. 

 

 

She just got through whining that it was too heavy to lift her side.    I'm lucky that she will help lift and tote but if she has 10 seconds of wait-time to kill, she is off to the garden.  :-)

-Kent
Cozy IV N13AM-750 hrs, Long-EZ-85 hrs and sold

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Gardens are good -- I fully support my better half's green thumb.

 

I'll have to take a peek at the next BD-5 I get near to know what you're up against.  Looks like you can make any parts you need in that shop of yours...

Jon Matcho :busy:
Builder & Canard Zone Admin
Now:  Rebuilding Quickie Tri-Q200 N479E
Next:  Resume building a Cozy Mark IV

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  • 2 months later...

Hi Chaps,  The EZ with an Ellison EF-4 has shown distressing airbox turbulence in 8500', WOT tests.  I get this when well-leaned and attempt to advance the throttle; more throttle gave lower RPM to the point where the engine would drop down to maybe 1500-1800 RPM.   It was interesting because I use almost the same sort of airbox and identical-sized air filter in the Cozy (with EF-4-5) and it runs very well.  The EZ would also give a minor rythmic hesitation at low speed and RPM--just a slight drop in engine sound every few seconds and then recovery.

 

The main difference in the two airplanes is that the Cozy airbox intake sits back in the NACA opening while I made a dedicated air intake on the EZ.  I ovalized the filter in the EZ to make the airbox narrower (pic 5); in the CZ it is round.  And in the EZ, the airbox outlet hole was offset slightly aft in relation to the filter; in the CZ, the outlet hole is centered.  The filter is the same size.

 

I tried several things.  First I tried an air straightener similar to that sold by ACS.  It only helped a little bit, probably because it sits inside the air filter and creates its own turbulence.  Next, I put a divider in the airbox ahead of the filter (pic 1).  Got no change from that. Then I revised my existing filter and centered the outlet hole on the airbox and the filter.  No change.  The biggest change came from blocking off about half the air intake opening so I conclude I was just ramming too much air into the opening.  (pics 4,2,3)   Also, my oil was also running too cool even on a 95F day.

 

So I raised the floor of my NACA about an inch to shallow-out the intake and made a new airbox with about half the intake opening area (Before: 2.5" X 3.25", after 1.5" x 3.25").  I also bought a piece of honeycomb MAF air flow straightener from these folks    http://www.saxonpc.com    and made a block straightener to sandwich between the airbox and the Ellison.  (pic 6)  This helped quite a bit although it doesn't run and lean quite as well as the CZ.   The low rpm hesitation went away.  I still need to do some high alititude and fuel flow tests.

 

One other point.  My EZ has no mechanical fuel pump--uses two low pressure Facet pumps.  I was happy to find it will run on only gravity flow at most power settings that you would need to get home and land.

 

 

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-Kent
Cozy IV N13AM-750 hrs, Long-EZ-85 hrs and sold

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I put my second crankshaft seal on my engine this week within 50 hours of use.  Here is the reason IMO, why most people will recommend a continuous crankshaft seal vs the split seal for the Lycomings:

 

The split seal is certainly easier to install; the spring (not shown) and the fit in the crankshaft bore do a good job of aligning the two ends of the seal but there is a narrow area (shown by the pen) that must be sealed with adhesive or it will leave a small leakage path for oil.  I'm not sure that's why my crank began to sling oil but when I pulled the leaking seal, it appeared I had left a small dry area there.

 

Also, apparently it is a mistake to polish the crankshaft which I did last time.  This seal manufacturer says that these sorts of seal should have a .23-40 micron finish.   See p. 116 et seq    http://www.rlhudson.com/media/RLHudson-Shaft-Seal-Guide.pdf   The roughness aids wear-in of the seal.  

 

I hunted around on the net and that seems to equate to about a 600 grit finish.  Read the PDF and decide for yourself but I used a 1" strip of 600G sandpaper, some light oil and a shoelace to lightly refinish the crank.  The PDF says to avoid screw-type swirl marks.  We'll see how the new continuous seal does.

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-Kent
Cozy IV N13AM-750 hrs, Long-EZ-85 hrs and sold

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I don't recall how if found this website about a fellow who lives WAY up north and makes a living repairing Cats and doing odd jobs.  Check it out once in a while.  It's a different way of life.

http://www.kingofobsolete.ca/King_today_webpage.htm

-Kent
Cozy IV N13AM-750 hrs, Long-EZ-85 hrs and sold

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  • 2 weeks later...

NOT MY AIRPLANE but interesting

 

Saw this pic today of a Long-Ez with fuel damage to the wing.  It has happened to folks in the past, although I've only seen damaged wing foam that near the strake.  

 

Most of us seal the wing-to-strake joints or tape them.  It might be wise to leave some drain holes along that joint so that if the strake leaks, you would see fuel dripping on the ground or blue stains.  If I was building again I'd apply extra epoxy to that hidden inboard wing glass, i.e., seal it as you would seal a tank, and hope that any seepage out of the strake would not find it's way into the wing styrofoam.

 

The question is, of course, what's wrong with the tanks that they leaked fuel.  :-(

 

 

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-Kent
Cozy IV N13AM-750 hrs, Long-EZ-85 hrs and sold

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  • 1 month later...

Made this smoker from a hazardous chemical storage container and a propane bottle and tried my first ribs today.  Very pleased with the result but I need to mod the air intake door to make it easily adjustable.  The hazardous container has an inner and outer shell;  I thought it would act as an insulated smoker.  These ribs were 2 hours in smoke (charcoal and apple wood) and a further 1+45 in tinfoil with an apple juice baste.  The ribs were fall-off-the-bone tender but the rub was a little too peppery.  

 

Here's an idea for some jumbo sparkplug desicant plugs.  I plan to use these where cylinders have open intake or exhaust valves.  The desicant plugs you can buy do not last very long when a valve is open to ambient air.  I turned down an aircraft spark plug to remove the inner insulator and turned them down just a little more to fit a small Coke bottle.   I put a washer in them to retain a piece of scotchbrite pad to keep the silica get out of the cylinders.

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-Kent
Cozy IV N13AM-750 hrs, Long-EZ-85 hrs and sold

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  • 2 weeks later...

Keep up the posting and info... It'd be great if we had one good site with this information that was active, BeechTalk has done well - how to we duplicate that (even on a much smaller scale) here...

 

OMG, a reader!   You and me gotta be the last on earth who haven't been absorbed into the sucking maw of Facebook.  If you are doing anything interesting, start a thread.

 

I reset my canard incidence recently.  I was showing 7.5-8 degree down-elevator in cruise.  Marc Z. suggested adjusting the canard nose higher by about 1/3 of the error which would be about 2.6 degrees on the canard chord.  I set the canard about 1.7 degrees higher (meant to get it higher) and the elevator is still a couple degrees low in cruise but good enough for me.  This airplane is flying very nicely now.

 

I allso faired-in my wings with my strakes after adding washers to counteract a roll.  (pic)

 

One problem I still need to fix is low CHTs in the winter time.  The temps won't even get to 300.  My downdraft intakes are too big for even North Carolina's cool fall weather although sized about right for the summer.  I am going to make some reducing plugs that will fit on the intakes and close them down about 30%.  Here is my wife after her first EZ ride.  

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-Kent
Cozy IV N13AM-750 hrs, Long-EZ-85 hrs and sold

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Kent,

Keep up the posting and info... It'd be great if we had one good site with this information that was active, BeechTalk has done well - how to we duplicate that (even on a much smaller scale) here...

Keep the good info flowing!

Andy

Well... there are at least two separate email lists (Canard Aviatiors and Cozy Builders), two or three forums (Canard Zone, Canard Aviation Forum, and Canard Community Forum).  So, there are at least FIVE ways to communicate.... we need just one.  There are fewer builders than there were 5 or 10 years ago.  Inactive forums may sway new builders to other options such as the RV kitplanes.

Andrew Anunson

I work underground and I play in the sky... no problem

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OMG, a reader!   You and me gotta be the last on earth who haven't been absorbed into the sucking maw of Facebook. 

 

Kent... Hey yeah!! There are a bunch of us out here following along with your unusual and interesting posts.  Keep it up!

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Andrew Anunson

I work underground and I play in the sky... no problem

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Kent... Hey yeah!! There are a bunch of us out here following along with your unusual and interesting posts.  Keep it up!

Thanks for that feedback, Andrew. I encourage everybody to start a thread. Generally pilots are doing lots of interesting things. I like reading what others are doing, too.

-Kent
Cozy IV N13AM-750 hrs, Long-EZ-85 hrs and sold

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A buddy just showed me this oscilloscope-on-a-chip that he uses with an Arduino to test various things.  He says he can write an Arduino code in a few minutes to display what the oscilloscope reads on his PC.  Cool!

http://www.bitscope.com

 

Then another friend pointed out this palm-sized device.  Lots of interesting stuff out there.  I wish I had a use for them but I am sort of oriented to the mechanical world.

http://store.digilentinc.com/analog-discovery-2-100msps-usb-oscilloscope-logic-analyzer-and-variable-power-supply/

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-Kent
Cozy IV N13AM-750 hrs, Long-EZ-85 hrs and sold

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OMG, a reader!   

...

  I am going to make some reducing plugs that will fit on the intakes and close them down about 30%.  

Silent readers are out there, too!

 

If you can throttle the outlets you might achieve the same result with a bit less drag, if the inlet edges are rounded (so that excess air flows smoothly around the inlets).

  • Like 1

Aerocanard (modified) SN:ACPB-0226 (Chapter 8)

Canardspeed.com (my build log and more; usually lags behind actual progress)
Flight simulator (X-plane) flight model master: X-Aerodynamics

(GMT+12)

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If you can throttle the outlets you might achieve the same result with a bit less drag

 

Are you thinking of cowl flaps on a tractor airplane?  I imagine it'd be hard to make those work on a pusher.   I'm thinking about an intake plug with a smaller opening that I can stick in the existing intake and secure with a dab of silicone sealant or something; then pop them out in the summer.  Just thinking how to build them.

-Kent
Cozy IV N13AM-750 hrs, Long-EZ-85 hrs and sold

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An intake plug will work to increase temperatures too. Tin cans use simple inlet block-off plates in very cold weather to reduce cooling.

I've never flown in cold enough climates to have one installed, though!

Aerocanard (modified) SN:ACPB-0226 (Chapter 8)

Canardspeed.com (my build log and more; usually lags behind actual progress)
Flight simulator (X-plane) flight model master: X-Aerodynamics

(GMT+12)

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