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Kent's Long-EZ project


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I took Mr. Z's advice and cut and epoxied my landing brake to take the warp out of the forward edges discussed here   https://www.canardzone.com/forums/topic/18661-kents-long-ez-project/?do=findComment&comment=64376.  Seems to work.  Two layers of BID used.  

Looking forward to testing this annular slot antenna with my transponder.  Brass (.012") came from McMaster, black support from a scrap modem case (ABS plastic), plan from Del Shier who scaled it for the transponder/ADSB range.  He says it should give a 4-6db gain over a quarter-wave antenna

 

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

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Came across this good writeup on keeping the interior of the engine dry to prevent rust.  http://www.longezpush.com/engine-dehydrator/      If you can keep the interior relative humidity below about 40%, the steel won't rust (pic).  I have made these from an ammo can but almost any container will work.  Circulate the air through the oil filler and the breather tube.  I have also found the dessicant gets oily on an engine that has run.   These days I blow the oily moisture out of the engine for 30 seconds with an air mattress pump, then hook up the dehydrator.  Plug the exhausts.  Not much you can do about open intake valves but I doubt that cylinder rust is as big a problem and cam/lifter rust.

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

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The landing brake repair made it all nice and smooth on the bottom.

I flew in the Cozy with an old friend who has bought an EZ and wanted some time.  Looking in my log books, I had flown him in 1999 before he became a pilot.  I think he has about 150 hours in Cessnas now.    He did pretty well.  After a bunch of landings the only thing I was concerned about was the "falling leaf":  get slow approaching the overrun, rounding-out early and high, reluctant to let the airplane land.    That's tough on my landing gear.

When the canard is maxed out (about 63-65 KIAS in my airplane), there is nothing left to arrest a sink rate, hence the name "falling leaf".  I like it much better when a pilot maintains final approach speed (75 for me) until the landing is assured but continues his descent to the numbers.  The final approach speed will decrease a little but there will be adequate speed left to break the descent and round-out just above the runway surface.  I would rather have a guy do an incomplete roundout and land a bit hard than drop it in from a high round-out and try to catch it before it prangs.  In my airplane, he had to look all the way across the cockpit to see the speed but still . . .

Fortunuately it was an almost calm day.  We talked about flying patterns in a crosswind.  If a base turn takes 25 seconds and you have 20 knots of crosswind, the wind will move the airplane 843 feet downwind during the base turn (1.68 fps * 25 * 20 = 843) so it is important to start the base turn aiming for an imaginary runway 843 feet upwind.  As the base turn continues, you bring the imaginary runway closer to the actual runway.   If you don't think of that, you'll have an angling final or overshot final and you can't figure out why.  It is the same for 20 knots of headwind: you would begin your base flying to an imaginary aimpoint 843' down the runway (upwind).  This is particularly important in engine-out landings where failing to take the winds into account is one of the many errors that will cause you to land short or long.

For me, a Cozy pilot is proficient when he can regularly reduce the power to idle on downwind and land on the numbers or slightly beyond without touching the power again.

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

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Funny story:  I had a buddy with a new-to-him Cozy III that decided one day to fly out to this high altitude (5737' MSL) Arizona airport with his lady friend   http://www.airnav.com/airport/KSJN

After a mexican lunch, it was summer and the temperature was warmer.  The winds slightly favored the shorter 3400' runway rather than the longer 5300' runway so my friend automatically chose the (shorter) runway.  Also my sea-level dwelling buddy did not think about leaning to peak power before takeoff.   He had taken on enough fuel and tamales to get back to California and had his lady in the left seat which delays rotation.  As a result of all this, he barely got airborne before the end and scared the heck out of himself.  

The long runway was 1622 feet wide.  The shorter runway 1037' wide.  I don't think the wind was a significant crosswind for the wide runway but if it had been, he could have used the canard-airplane strategy of lining up on the upwind side of the runway and beginning the takeoff roll angled away from the crosswind.  As the airplane accelerates, any crosswind weathervanes the airplane to align it with the runway.   This allows you (maybe) to use less brake early in the takeoff and by the time the rudders become effective you may be aligned with the runway.   Of course, we do not have the tractor-airplane advantage of a prop blast on the rudders to give us rudder authority early on takeoff.  Using brakes to control runway alignment in a canard airplane will significantly increase the takeoff roll.

But IMO the big error was forgetting to lean to peak power.  At 5737' MSL on 85 deg F day,  the density altitude could be as much as 8800'     http://www.pilotfriend.com/pilot_resources/density.htm      A carbed engine leaned to peak power is only putting out maybe 75-70% power at that density altitude and at full rich, it was probably putting out much less than that.   Fun, huh?

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

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37 minutes ago, Ron Springer said:

These are some impressively wide runways! Maybe they do things differently out in Arizona?

Wait, I got that wrong.  They are a more-normal 60' and 75' wide.   I was reading the length in meters.  :-(  

The widest runway I have heard of was at McDill AFB (Tampa) which was about 360' wide but has since been resurfaced.

Edited by Kent Ashton

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

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Grant County airport at Moses Lake Washington has five runways.

The longest is 13,500' (14L/32R) and the  shortest (14R/32L) is 2936'.

The entire airport is 7.3 square miles.

It was a training base for the Army Air Corp in WWII

Use is mainly general aviation.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I talked about the airmanship involved in flying a circling approach or low pattern here  https://www.canardzone.com/forums/topic/18661-kents-long-ez-project/?do=findComment&comment=63773  

The Lancair accident below is a textbook example.  The pilot had electrical problems but in the end, he put himself on a downwind displaced 1500' from the runway at only a few hundred feet above the ground and attempted to make a 180 deg, 750' radius, nearly-level turn to final, stalled the airplane and killed himself and his passenger.  Why would he do that?  Because at 325' AGL, on a downwind displaced 1500' from the R/W, the "look angle" to the runway is about the same as for a 1000' AGL downwind displaced 5000'.  However, not only is the turn significantly tighter, it is almost level.   When I flew Tweets, 80% of students attempting their first circling approach would make the same mistake.  When you are out flying sometime, try flying a 300' AGL pattern and see what I mean

http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2020/01/loss-of-control-in-flight-lancair.html

 

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

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  • 2 weeks later...

Working on a cockpit-adjustable oil cooler air control.  This is what I have come up with.  Just waiting on a 6"-travel cable to install it.    It is shown with a spare cable which is too short.  I am planning on mounting a push-pull lever or knob under the longeron above my forearm.  The metal is .040" except a thin spacer between the sides which is .050".  The cable is from  https://www.cccables.com/Home.aspx    300-036CC-0099 (99 inches)

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

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just thinking about this post I saw on a FB site where the chap has cooling problems.  It looks to me like his exit area is inadequate.  I do not think there is any great suction created by the prop at the cowl exit.  A 2-blade prop spinning at 2700 RPM has a blade passing through the cowl exit flow 90 times per second (45 Revs per second X 2) so my guess is that the spinner and hub are just a big ol' block to exit airflow and in fact might be creating a high(er) pressure area ahead of the hub and spinner.  To illustrate this, one time I had a fuel leak from the vent at the top of my fuselage and I found fuel had been blown aft along the top of the cowl, then back under the top cowl and forward 8-10" resulting in fuel stains on the inside of the upper cowl!  It blew my mind to find that airflow was being blown into the upper cowl (with standard updraft cooling).

I think the air exiting the fins in the upper cowl and exiting the cowl is very turbulent and disorganized and has to be pushed out of the cowl by the pressure of air coming out of the fins.  Any restriction of the exit area resists the flow of air out of the cowl, and thus, resists flow through the fins.  It is in our interest, I think, to make that exit resistance as low as possible.   When I look at this fellow's exit (pic 1), I would guess he is trying to push the exit air through fairly small openings at the sides of the cowl exit.

In my downdraft EZ project (pic 2), I had terrible cooling until I installed exits just below the fins and set forward from the prop.  I surmise that with my new exits, there was very little resistance to the exiting air.

The best way to troubleshoot cooling problems is with piccolo tubes installed above and below the cylinders.  A Lycoming takes about 5.5" of pressure differential to cool adequately and with the piccolo tubes and a manometer, you can quickly see if your changes are improving the differential.

 

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

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More on the chap with the cooling problem (above).  I see that he has some armpit intakes which appear to be adequate (pic 1).   The armpits appear to feed up to the bottom of the cylinders (pic 2).  Good so far.   However, I wonder if he is losing air pressure through the big open triangle (arrow, pic 3) or letting air out of the fins prematurely which exits through the triangle.  Also, the exit air from his oil cooler and the exit air from the right-side cylinders are trying to get through a small cowl exit on the right side depicted above.  That can't be good.   He has reduced the cowl exit by partially blocking it with the oil cooler exit.  We might think that would raise the right-side temperatures but air can cross-flow to the left exit so the difference from side-to-side may not be great, however, the total exit size is smaller than it looks  because of the cooler sheet metal.

I have laid on my back under the engine and thought about how to make a plenum for updraft armpit cooling such as his.  I decided there was too much stuff under the engine--exhausts, for example-- that would have to be sealed or closed-off to make an airtight plenum.  I wouldn't be surprised if he has some big leaks in that lower plenum and he is losing lots of air.   Maybe he has no seal at all--just air directed to the bottom of the engine.   A piccolo tube manometer would tell the tail.

Another thing: the oil cooler has a surface area 3-4 times greater than the exit for the oil cooler which is likely restricting the flow through the cooler.

None of this may be valid of course, but it's fun to think about.  🙂

BTW, Lycoming cylinders have a restriction on the aft side of the right cylinders (pic 3, dashed line) and the forward side of the left cylinders which ought to be allowed for, otherwise there will be no flow up those sides if the baffles are very tight.

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Edited by Kent Ashton

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

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I got my oil cooler adjustable blocker installed.  Had to cut off some of it off (dashed lines) because it hit the upper cowl and vent lines when fully open.   It moves pretty easily from the cockpit.  I will take another picture when I clean up the engine.IMG_1768.thumb.jpg.ec0cea99afebdc5683432bb23c40107f.jpg.07e137dc59fa8390ba62fd318f479a2e.jpg

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

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Here's an example of the moisture that comes out of an engine after flying.  My oil temp was the Lycoming-recommended 180°F.   After having had experience with spalled cams and tappets (i.e. rust), I blow it out with an air-mattress pump after landing unless I plan to fly again soon; not sure how much it helps.  I'm sure the moisture, left in the engine, condenses on the parts.  Maybe they are protected by the residual oil film, maybe not, but the film slowly drains off.  If you are using a dehydrator it will help that too, otherwise the desiccant has to extract the moisture, which is also oily and coats the desiccant.

Recently it had been cold here for several days and a warm front blew in.  Everything in the hangar was dripping as moisture in the warm air condensed on the chilled airplane.  Even the fiberglass was dripping.  😞

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

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Made a cover for the Cozy.  Fabric is 9 oz., 60"-wide Sunbrella Marine fabric.  60" will just stretch across the fuselage from side to side.  It is probably too heavy to sew on your wife's machine unless she is a hard-core sewist.  The fabric is somewhat expensive at $35/yard.  Took 6 yards. 

To make the canopy shape, I am using a crude pattern made from craft paper (pic 2) but good way to make a pattern over the canopy is to use a "flexible shape pattern".  Google it or check out this one   https://cyclesource.com/flexible-shape-pattern/  Make the pattern on the airplane and mark cut-lines so it will lie flat.  Make reference marks across the cut lines so that the fabric pieces can be matched when sewn, then cut the pattern until it is mostly flat and use it to cut fabric pieces.  The rest of the cover is mostly flat pieces.  A flexible shape pattern would also come in handy if you wanted to duplicate a wheel pant or cowl shape or confirm one side of the nose is symmetrical to the other.

It is always a head-scratcher how to attach straps--I must take a better picture of that.   Pic 3 is one I made for the EZ.   Time or money, take your choice!   🙂

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

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Just noticing this ad for the Rotec line of Throttle Body Carburetors.   Something you might consider.  The price for an O-360 version is reasonable $899--about the same as a refurbished Marvel carb.

https://store.rotecaerosport.com/rotec-mkii-tbi-48-4-5

I have had TBIs on an O-320 and O-320 and like them a lot.  Compared to the Marvel carb I've used, a TBI can be leaned smoothly until the engine will just about die.  The atomization is better than a Marvel and the TBIs don't exhibit the roughness you get when over-leaning a Marvel.    Consequently you have the choice of running very lean (when below 75% pwr) or richening to go faster.  I estimate that I save around 1/2 to 3/4 GPH over the Marvel.  My Ellison TBI was expensive to overhaul--$415.   I see that Rotec sells an overhaul kit which Ellison did not.    NVaero.com has taken over the Ellison system but these days, the Rotec looks better to me.   http://website.informer.com/visit?domain=nvaero.com

With a TBI you would still need carb heat but they are not as affected by icing conditions as a Marvel.  You can't tune the cylinders like you can with fuel injection and I believe FI gets slightly better fuel consumption but I doubt the difference is appreciable.

The Ellison TBI I have on the Cozy runs smoothly as installed.  On the EZ, the engine would hesitate slightly when running very lean.  It was uncomfortable.  I installed a homemade airflow straightening block (pic 3) between the air filter and the TBI which helped a lot.  It was pretty easy to make: stainless honeycomb, 2 pieces of aluminum, 4 spacers between the aluminum to keep from crushing the honeycomb and all held together with epoxy/flox.

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

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Ground loops:  One time I had a fuel pressure that would mostly read OK, then sometimes when starting the airplane it would be zero or 1 PSI, or go zero in operation then recover after flying for a while.  I changed the Facet pump, the fuel pump, and checked the fuel system for obstructions.  Turns out that it was likely a "ground loop".

Those senders employ tiny currents. My gauge was grounded to a ground block behind the instrument panel but the sender was grounded on the engine.  The difference in ground potential between the two grounding points created a conductive loop as this article explains.  After re-wiring the gauge and sender to the same ground point, my problems disappeared.

http://everything.explained.today/Ground_loop_(electricity)/

Another time I got high oil pressure.  I don't recall the final diagnosis but along the way I learned that a Lycoming is very unlikely to show an unexpected high oil pressure.  The oil pump pumps as much as it can pump and the excess pressure is relieved by a spring-loaded relief ball in a device above the engine (pic).  The relief ball resistance is adjusted by using extra washers under the spring, a bigger spring, or an adjustment screw.  It will almost never go high for no reason unless perhaps debris has jammed the relief ball--(then your engine is coming apart!).  I think my problem was a ground loop there too.  OTOH, low oil pressure is often a real indication of a worn out engine, worn out pump, engine running very hot, or loose bearings.

Anyway, if you are wiring a pusher, ground those senders and gauges at the same point.

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Edited by Kent Ashton

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

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This is about the best way I've seen to plumb an armpit cooling setup (pic 1).  Hat tip Don B.   He also has a smaller NACA on the bottom for carb air.  I like it because the area under the strake is a relatively high pressure area in a climb, i.e., when the engine is making the most heat, and the air is directed right to the bottom of the cylinders.  Air is heavy and you don't want to admit it to the engine compartment then have it change directions several times to get to the fins, or swirl around in the cowl, or pile up against the aft baffle as it tries to find a way out.   The inlet edges are a bit thicker than seems necessary, though.  The only thing I would change is to build a sharp-edged divider in the intake that would split the incoming-air horizontally, taking half to the forward cylinder and half to the rear.  You can see other armpit intakes here   https://www.berkut13.com/berkut28.htm  but I think the first is a better idea.

Pic 2 is a nice duct by Steve Velovsek.  I don't recall what he had in the cowl itself but he said the duct worked well

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

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Just pondering if I can re-use some rings I took off at 100hrs.   At that time the cylinders seemed to use oil and were glazed.  I suspect the overhauler did not hone the cylinders properly but maybe I didn't break them in right.  Pics here http://forum.canardaviation.com/showpost.php?p=69231&postcount=40

I honed and re-ringed the cylinders with new rings and they worked better.  Now I'm wondering if I can reuse those 100 hr rings.  Pics 1 & 2 are new Superior (Lycoming) rings on some other cylinders.  Pics 3 & 4 are two of the 100 hr rings.  I can barely see any difference--maybe a very slight wear in pic 3.  I think I would re-use them, but I would feel better if I could find a picture of a 2000 hour ring to compare.  Must look for one.

Of course the ring-gap might be too great when fitted up.  We'll see.

 

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

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Saw these pics of a chap building a twin EZ (pics 1,2).  Not sure what to think about that.  The standard Long-ez main gear mounts are nowhere near stout enough for such a heavy airplane and that's just the first question.  It has been tried before (pic 3).  http://forum.canardaviation.com/showthread.php?t=5252 and  here http://stargazer2006.online.fr/derivatives/pages/two-ez.htm (pic 4)

The example in pic 3 never flew and was bought by a chap who extensively rebuilt it as a single-engine airplane and killed himself in the test phase.  The example in pic 4 was apparently converted back to a single-engine.

If I wanted a twin-engine canard I would beg some Defiant plans: a proven design with no unknown unknowns.  I can't recall the name of the fellow who flew his Defiant to Australia and back a few years ago--but he did without much fuss.  The interesting thing is that he didn't go through all the rigamarole of getting permission to fly his experimental in various island airspace.  He and his brother(?) just went and had no problem where they stopped.  I guess the locals were too agog at his airplane.

tags: twin-ez, twin ez, twin Long-ez, two engine long-ez, defiant

 

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Edited by Kent Ashton

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

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Some final pics of my oil cooler door.  Nothing cosmic here but it works well and can be adjusted from the cockpit (I am a right-seat pilot).  The cable is mounted below the canopy rail with a couple of small angles

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

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11 hours ago, Voidhawk9 said:

Have you flown with the new oil cooler door? How much difference do you see between closed and open?

Yeah it works fine.  With a Lycoming, you have to entirely block-off the oil cooler at cold temperatures to get the desired 180° oil temp.  On a cold day with no blocker it might only get to 120° which will not readily evaporate the moisture in the oil.   It's nice to be able to block it for takeoff, let it warm up a little faster, and open it a bit to maintain around 180.  Yesterday at 9-10°C inflight air temp, putzing around at 2250 RPM, I opened it about 1/4. 

I got along for years just setting it before takeoff.  One time I had to land and reset it--oil was getting too hot.  Another time I didn't land and the hot oil cooler melted the drive ears on my vacuum pump!  😞

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

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