Kent Ashton

I am seeing some really nice work here and there, nicer than my early effort. I will post a few ideas. First, nice seat bulkheads by Joe Polenek. His jig is a work of art (pic). It appears he added lower back support in the final version. I don't urge anyone to copy the effort because (1) Cozy seats are very comfortable as is, and (2) it just turns a 4-year project into a 6-year project. Still, it could probably be done without the jig.

BTW, the Varieze plans are here under the Open-Vari topic, but not the engine section.

Scovel reports selling his project a few posts back in this thread. No price reported ------ The Ft Worth EZ originally seen here at $24K relisted on B-stormers at $18K https://www.canardzone.com/forums/topic/21972-sales-ive-seen/?do=findComment&comment=85699 ------- The EZ with the Titan 379 seen here in June at $53K https://www.canardzone.com/forums/topic/21972-sales-ive-seen/?do=findComment&comment=84534 relisted today at $49K with new instrument panel. 2 pics.

A search of the Canard Pushers for "separator" suggests using one if your oil consumption is over 1/8 qt per hour and to keep the cowl clean Search here http://www.cozybuilders.org/Canard_Pusher/CPs_1_to_82_Sections.txt but a lot of folks just run a hose or pipe out along the exhaust or past the aft baffles. I don't have a firm opinion on them except that I would like the moisture to go out of the crankcase and some say what is recycled is a milky oil/water fluid--I dunno, never had one. It strikes me that if you are having high oil consumption from blowby past the rings, it might be best to get those cylinders fixed. Lycoming allows 1 qt in 2 hrs but high oil consumption also reduces the detonation margin. I suppose it is the same for Continentals. My advice is pretty milky, eh? 😞 A quick wipe with mineral spirits takes the oil off my prop. Lead needs a bit more abrasive cleaner. Cerama Bryte is one I have used.

Data point: I must have missed this project but it seems to have sold for $7K Canadian, $5340 US. Reported on the Cozybuilders list

I can see why oil separators are a good thing on tractor airplanes to keep oil off the bottom but they seem like an unnecessary doo-dad on a pusher. Maybe if you are planning over-ocean flying and concerned about oil consumption but otherwise . . .. Either way, they are not seen much on pushers AFAICT.

Wrong airplane for what you want to do and making it so would be impractical. Look at a Mustang II (or Zenith!). Maybe one of the early Lancair 320s. I think they had detachable wings our wings and canard come off in about 1+30, remount in about 2 hours and it can be done solo with practice but trailering an EZ is at least a half-day job and a helper is pretty-much required

Just talking to a chap about Long-EZ weights. He really wanted a 750# EZ. I think they are rare. In an AVWEB article, Terry Schubert, who knows as much as anybody, said that an O-235 EZ should weigh about 850# and an O-320 version about 1050#. https://www.avweb.com/features/kitplanes-buying-a-used-long-ez/ I do not recall the weight of the O-320 EZ I built but 1080# seems to come to mind. With an O-320 you would like likely lengthen the nose and put the battery up there. That entails a run of heavy copper cable both ways, a starter, starter solenoids, maybe a backup battery too, then you use improved brakes and 500X5 tires, heavier prop, tool kit, so that's how 750# turns into 1050# . I do not know if Burt used a starter on his first Long-ez. Yeah, a light Long-ez is great but the ability to takeoff and climb is determined by "excess power" over what is required for cruise flight. I'm guessing that the cruise power required for an O-235 EZ versus an O-320 EZ are not too far apart but the higher HP is really handy for takeoff and climb.

Seller Scovel above is on Ebay today, item 125489708856 More pics in the ad. Decent price if it goes for $9K. He probably has a lot more than that in it . . . plus his labor. Ya know how they say when you want to sell your house, remove all the family photos and personal items so the buyers see visualize it with _their_ stuff? 🙂 https://www.ebay.com/itm/125489708856?

--more: I saw this homemade compressor for a Continental made from 1" channel and washers. Builder says he can hold it compressed with a bolt in the perimeter of the head. (pic) It was appealing but I had already broken down and ordered a Valve Wizard tool, much praised by the RV crowd. At $160 it is expensive but an adjustable tool from Aircraft Tool Supply is about $60 and a little fiddly, they say. https://valvewizard.com/index.html Trouble is, there are different wizard models for the parallel-valve and angle-valve Lycomings. (pic 2, angle-valve model)

Valve spring compressors - I got ahold of a scrap cylinder with valves and thought I would take the valves out for grins. It's good to tool-up for this job because if your engine develops "morning sickness" (sticking valve), you will need to drop the valve into the cylinder to perform the rope trick. I saw this valve compressor at Spruce (pic 1) and tried to make on (pic 2). A day's worth of fiddling later, it did not work because it does not compress the spring evenly (pic 3). I have seen several homemade compressors similar to pics 4) that seemed to work but got tired of trying to fabricate tools --continued

I used the bundle Marc suggested. The antenna is embedded in the foam just underneath the instrument cover. It works in the "sniffer" mode

I will just add that the Cozy III was not designed for heavy people. (used to own one). Nat and Shirley Puffer were little people. It is just a Long-ez with a side-by-side cockpit so visualize two people in the front seat of a Long-ez. I was about 215 and I flew with a few people that size or heavier. However, I didn't want to have to do an off-airport landing at that G.W. I don't recall the weight but I suppose I flew it in the "takeoff only" zone a number of times. I did everything I could to reduce the G.W--smaller battery, moved the battery aft, removed the starter (later used a Skytech starter), lightweight alternator, but there is only so much you can do. Mine used an O-320 also.

Cozy III first seen here at $15K, reduced. More details in the first ad https://www.canardzone.com/forums/topic/21972-sales-ive-seen/?do=findComment&comment=87652

Ad says it was "flow [sic] for many years" so it was probably registered. Someone with a FB account could query the seller. Yeah, it'll be a headache if they try to pass a previously registered aircraft as a "project". Your saving, Mike, is that there is no evidence in the existing FAA records that your airplane was ever registered, right?

My non-engineer opinion: If they didn't slice into the UNI spar caps, the spar could be repaired there. Hard to say, though, without seeing what else is wrong. In that particular area there are a lot more BID layups. If worse, maybe the price justifies hauling the spar to the dump and building a new one. We must think creatively. 🙂 I can't believe why the seller allowed someone to do that without cash-in-hand. Guessing that the current owner is not the original builder.

Good price. I wonder if the EAA Chapter has a good title they can convey?

Sad to read of the death of Cozy designer Nat Puffer at age 96. https://www.startribune.com/obituaries/detail/0000434649/ I have kicked around homebuilts long enough to hear many guys talk about ideas to design an airplane and market it but when you consider what it takes to develop those ideas, draw up the plans, build a prototype (twice!), revise plans, market the plans at airshows and devote thousands of conversations to builders and potential builders , collect information and publish a newsletter . . . not many individuals have the follow-through to do all that. I do not know what motivated Nat to do that. Certainly he could have just built his own airplane and been quite happy with it but he chose to do more. Maybe the income was decent. 800 plans-sets at $500--if that is how many he sold before selling out to Spruce--is a good motivator but perhaps he saw it as a legacy. I'm only sorry Nat did not offer the design to a builder who was really interested in supporting it. I wonder where we'd be today if we hadn't had the support of Marc Zeitlin. In 100 years, will the Cozy Mk IV be a thing? Folks are still building Long-EZs nearly 50 years after they debuted, so maybe.

I updated the link, try it again. The aircraft looks pretty good for all that banging around. If the repairs have been well-done, it should be OK.

Ah, here’s the report. Only had 4 hours. I guess he was having too much fun. 🙂 https://app.ntsb.gov/pdfgenerator/ReportGeneratorFile.ashx?EventID=20001213X27785&AKey=1&RType=Final&IType=LA

Today's B-stormers: Pretty reasonable price, I'd say. 30 years ago I paid about that much for a similar VFR C-III with a 1700-hour engine. I had a lot of fun with it but the Mk IV was a better fit (2 inches wider cockpit). I think it cost me about $7000 to rebuild the engine before I sold it so maybe pencil-in $10K to refresh the engine (if needed). Still a fair price if there are no big surprises. A/W certificate issued in 2020 so it is a fairly recent completion. The older one I bought had been painted in a brittle lacquer over a black, waxy anti-UV primer and I had to strip and repaint it. Yep, I learned some hard lessons with that airplane. No interior pics in the ad here. Heavy people >200 lbs need not apply 🙂 N611CZ

Ha! No I wouldn't do that. Here are some pics I saved. Folks have trailered them flat with no problems but if I were you, I'd build a frame that will support the aircraft on its side, nose down, or on a 45 deg. angle. Until the strakes are added, I'd be a little cautious about putting a lot of stress on the centerspar attachment. I think I would support the airplane on its side

I saw an email response from Mike Busch today saying helicoil inserts that are 1/4" long are a problem and should be replaced. Apparently, Lycoming makes special Helicoils and inserts them with an expensive kit but it is not hard to do. See https://www.aircraft-tool.com/shop/detail.aspx?id=4260-18 There was an old Service Instruction (I cannot find it in the current list) that discusses replacing spark plug helicoils. See S.I. 1043a here https://support.cessna.com/custsupt/contacts/pubs/ourpdf.pdf?as_id=50867 I don't find any curent S.I. on the subject. However, this current S.I. 1042AH discusses short and long reach plugs https://www.lycoming.com/sites/default/files/SI1042AH Approved Spark Plugs.pdf Also confirms to use copper anti-seize

SPARKPLUGS - I have not had a spark plug blow out but others have. A recent post on the Cozy list described an 18 mm adapter + 14 mm auto plug blew out of an IO-360--top one in pic1. His other adapter had cracked threads. I have used adapters with 14mm plugs as well as 18mm Autolite 386 plugs and 18mm Bosch M8ACO. Never had any problem with any of them but the adapters are a bit fiddly and I can't tell any performance difference between the 14mm and the 18mm. Using 386s at the moment. It seems that the 18mm was mostly developed for tractors. They are cheap enough that you can toss them every year or so. I looked at some scrap cylinders I have as well as a new Superior Millenium and they all have very few threads in the sparkplug holes--about 5 threads (pic 2). An 18mm Autolite 386 has a 1/2" reach and it only has about 5 threads too so I suppose it is a good match (pic 3). An aircraft plug has about 6 threads with the copper washer used (pic 4, an REM38, electrode removed). None of them stick very far into the cylinder (pic 5). You can buy Autolite 388s with a 9/16" reach but they do not seem necessary. Lightspeed says torque the insert to 25 ft-lbs and the 14mm plugs to 15 ftl-bs, Lycoming torques 18mm aircraft plugs to 35 ft-lbs. I gather some brass inserts are of higher quality than others. Don't know which, though. With inserts or 18mm A/C plugs I keep a string of copper washers handy and anneal them after a couple uses. Get them cherry-red and allow them to air cool which softens them. Somewhere I read to use copper anti-seize on sparkplugs and don't get the anti-seize on the business-end of the plug. I do not know if heat-range is very critical in these old low RPM, low compression engines. If your plugs are fouling it can be lead, oil, or carbon. Lead must be blasted off with a machine, carbon can be removed by a lean runup and running lean when able. Oil, you can't do much about except refresh your cylinders. Reasons why a plug might blow out? I'm guessing old, beat-up inserts, improper torque or maybe an old copper washer which does not seal as well

Wikipedia says the Rutan EZ was 710. The one I built with an O-320 was 993. I see that Phil camarda shows his 0-320 model at 1006. https://www.longezpilot.com/N6PC page8.htm I suppose an O-235 airplane with no starter, small battery, small wheels and brakes, small canopy, small alternator, manual gear, short nose, carbon cowls could be quite a bit lighter but I’d say most are at least 800-850 with the smaller engine. That is just a W.A.G.