marbleturtle

Whoa! My birthday is Dec. 17th!

This has got to be a sign...

Which is better... a Ferrari or a Porsche?

Its not a decision that can be made rationally. John has it right... just go for which one appeals to you the most. Go for the one you love!

It's not just theory...

One of the first Cozy's I had a chance to see in person, I won't mention names, had a fuel vent issue.

On a cold morning, he opened up his T hanger and let the Sun shine in on his grazing Cozy IV. Pretty! The conversation was going well until I slipped trying to figure out a graceful entrance to the pilot seat and fell sprawled sideways across both front seats. Then the conversation turned to "I don't give rides", something about liability. After more discussion... I also remember something about letting me use his plane for getting checked out after mine is built. Somehow the liability is different after I build my own plane, or maybe he just figured I would never make it that far.

Now for the part you would be interested in. In the middle of ranting about how all the bad information available on unofficial cozy sites on the internet is going to kill someone, fuel started pouring out of the lower cowling.

After spending about 40 minutes in the Sun on a cold day, apparently the air in the tanks expanded enough to push the fuel out the vent lines. He scrambled to pop open the gas caps and the waterfall of fuel stopped. He said his was one of the first IV's completed. I don't know if the vents have been relocated to allow for venting in the parked position.

It was a good lesson for me though... actually the best kind. One I didn't have to pay for!

Hey John,

Do you think your weight savings came from your "poor man's vacume bagging" technique?

I run 80 miles up and down I-75 every day. Every day I see a commercial enforcement vehicle with the scales out and some poor truck driver loosing $0.50 a minute while an officer gets his paperwork in order. They're not always paying real close attention...

I wonder how accurate those scales are.

Its the same company that builds Rotax engines.

John! I need a part number! I can't find it on the HF website.

As for going someplace without autogas, I plan on renting a car and making a few trips to the gas station. A little pump and 20 ft of rubber hosing doesn't take up much space.

He told me... but I forgot.

As for the jet, I think it will be done in January.

I'll certainly make the trip down to FL! I'll throw the GIB, kids, mother-in-law into themepark madness and go from there... the only problem is I think my first ride in a Cozy is going to be a Jet Cozy. How twisted is that!

What about those of us who plan on using auto gas? John said he's going to pump it out of his own tank with rubber tubing. I was thinking about keeping a 60 gallon tank with a small electric pump in the middle of the bed of a pickup truck. (Plastic of course)

So is this a bad idea?

Oh... the humanity!

So why doesn't my lawn mower blow up when I fill it's plastic tank from my 5 gallon plastic gas can?

Not trying to start something here... just curious!

I asked the man himself what his experience was with his rotary conversion for his Cozy III... this was his response.

<quote>

Hi Tim,

The rotisserie working just beautifully in the plane, and I was very happy

with the performance I got. Tracy's redux drive and EC2 injection system

is flat out _the_ way to go.

I still maintain that the Wankel engine is the best solution for turning a

propeller. If I build another prop-driven airplane, which is likely, it'll

be Mazda powered.

The real issue I had with the whole thing was that since I flew one of the

very early and I think the first successful turbo aero-Mazdas, I had a

rather a lot of developmental engineering to do that resulted in a lot of,

well, half-assed parts that worked, but were hell to work _on_. Getting

the cowling off was a two man job that took an hour, for example.

To finish the install and make it as easy to wrench on as it should be

would eat up several months time and a big stack of bucks. Robert and

Valerie came across a reasonbly priced (well, sort of) jet engine and I

thought why not? Hence, now the Cozy Jet. Here's a pic from last month so

you can see what we're up to.

Mazda power is a good solution, as is Diesel, but jets is jets, you

know? Stop in in a few months and we'll go for a serious canard ride!

-G

</quote>

Jets is Jets? You gotta love this guy!

Hey John... that means next year you can stop by and pick me up! My airport is on the way!

I was a little confused myself... then came the generalities which makes me question the math.

You mentioned that at the speeds the cozy flies at, the reduction in drag from retracts only increases speed minimally. But since drag resistance is geometrically related to speed, any reduction in drag at high speeds has a major affect.

I don't want to sound hostile... but I am curious where some of the numbers are coming from. I would like to see a few more specific calculations to compare notes.

DOH!!! Guess who has an anniversary this weekend!!! Guess who's wife does not think an air show is a great way of spending an anniversary weekend!!! @#%@#$@#!!!

*cough*SICKO!*cough*

Just don't drill those holes in the speed brake! I hear that can REALLY slow you down!

Are you allowed to come if you drive?

Dust... what weight do you want me to use?

Should I add 500lbs over gross for that Cozy O2 and Pressurization system?

Hey dust... has the MT been difficult to set up or work with?

With some of the numbers I've been going through... a prop coarse enough to take advantage of low drag and high power would be a problem on take off at gross.

Step 1: Clean out garage...

I almost agree with you that we have time... but some of the decisions have a cascade affect.

Let's assume I decide down the road that an adjustable prop is a bad idea... okay. Did I just throw away $4000 on retracts that I installed early on? Do I now need a fixed prop so coarse (to take advantage of the reduced drag) that it cavitates on take off or climb?

Rats... I'm not coughing up $12k for a CS prop!

Now I need to rip out the gear, the center 5 gallon header gas tank, build fixed gear bulkheads (installing those after the fact should be easy!), put the foam block spacers back in the two primary gas tanks...

Some things should be worked out in advance!

I was planning on the same... but in a previous post you mentioned that with the lower drag with retracts, and the higher power of the rotary (both of which I'm planning to do), you would need a adjustable prop.

If you go fixed, what pitch are you going to use?