chuckthedog

This is the way I see it. First if you stay low,south, and in the sun. you should not have a problem. If you instal the plans type. Hot air off the exhaust muff and get a crack under the heat muff you could gas yourself. They don't work too good. If you run hot engine oil through a radiator up front and spring a leak in the cabin. You have a mess and an engine that is gonna need oil fast. It also weighs more. As for the hot water. You will have one more place to spring a leak. It also will have added weight. With the electric jacket and socks. You have no moving parts. You probably are going to take a jacket anyway and most people ware socks. So no added weight. No hot oil or water bath. no bad gas. Now the fan. with hot air,oil,water, you still need to run a fan. the jacket and socks dont need a fan. so no electric moter radiation into the radio. That is why I use the electric clothes. One more thing to think about. The cloths cost less than the other systems.

Mike, Rex knew Jim, and I met him a long time ago. After you get the holes closed it dose help , but just sitting and not being able to move around you do get cold. No sun light is the worst. I like the Gerbings cause no moving parts, no weight. (unless you fly naked) and no heavy boots to keep your feet warm. I like to fly in my tennies, or bare foot. I'm a Jack Pine savage at hart. The other thing to remember. even on a hot day when you get around 10k it gets a little cool.

Dust, A good friend of mine who passed away was from Northville, Novi area and knew about all the pickel fork drivers down in that neck of the woods. I was wondering if you knew him also. His name was Rex Rexin. He started his Long project in my hanger in 1982 and we built 2 of every thing.In 1990 I through him out of my hanger cause he had built his own. and I started flying my half of the parts. I don't remember ever seeing those big holes you are talking about. Did I miss a page in the plans?

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Aaron, Gerbing says the jacket at full power will draw 77 watts or 6 amps the socks are 22 watts or 2.28 amps. I can tell you you will turn it down a lot after a short time. These guys have been in the business sence WWII B-17s and stuff. These are made for MC. IE small alt. and batt. I know you won't need this for many years. Just go to the Gerbins web site. I can tell you I have used them for the last two winters full time and over 8000 feet almost all the time (jacket only in the summer) and they work! Everything is all set up just bolt to Batt. posts.

I have found a way to stay warm in my plane after years of freezing my A$% off. I tried the 12 volt hair dryer. A joke! I will not run hot engine oil up with me. What I have come up with is a pair of socks and Jacket made by Gerbings for Motor Cycle riders. The gloves and pants are not needed, but they got them too. They hook up to your Batt. and have a 10 amp fuse in line to a reostat then you just plug yourself in and stay warm! You can see there stuff at www.gerbing.com Living in the northern US and flying high. I know you will like this. The jacket looks cool, and you can walk with the socks in your shoes.

I put one on my long in November. Before that I ran a Prince 2 blade for years. The Catto 3 blade is smother, quieter, and better takeoff and cruse performance than the prince, but weighs a little more. Quality of work vary good. It takes some time for him to deliver. The price is not out of line.

I cant realy say what I would change. My plane has always been kept in a hanger sept when I go and stay some place and even then I have a full cover I take and use. I inspected the wing and spar attach points last summer and found nothing. There are some things I changed when I built her that I feel may be of intrest to you. The engine mount to airframe attach points. I did not like the single sided shear attach bolts. (The round engine mount tubing bolted to the alu. angle from the spar) I saw somewhere someone else addresed this with the same fix and made drawings and a write up. Central States I think. Annual work is much less than spam cans. Last year I swiched from a two blade prop to a three blade. +++ quieter, smother. My exhaust is a straight pipe straight out the bottom of the coweling for each cylinder. Brought the engine temp down from over 200 to 175 even on 90 degree days. No loss in airspeed. The last thing I can think of is my fuel system. If I told you I had no fuel pumps and almost 1000 hours of not so much as a hickup even in slow rolls would you start screeming blasfomer and burn me at the gas pump. If you read the accident reports a lot of them are fuel stavation caused by fuel pump failing. Look where they put the pumps in the system. It is at the wrong end first off. The fuel line routing is wrong. If they made fuel sucks it might work. I hope this helps Best of luck on you project. Don't give up, and when the wife says you have to go to the inlaws for the weekend, and it's perfict weather to lay up glass. Tell her to. Well I'm shure you will do the right thing

JakeC,and Aaron, You are right. What I was trying to say was if it aint broke don't fix it. As for the 320BHP and 54HP these are two differnt animals. BHP is not real HP.

Aaron, OK 75 to 80% lets see 280HP - 20%= 224HP- 30% for reduction If I remember correctly a straight spur gear configureation eats the least energy= 156HP I think a 0-320 is 150HP and a lot less moving parts. Things to go wrong. I had a 320 Brake HP Mustang a while back and put it on the Dyno and it had a whopping 54 true HP at the back wheels. I guess I should have had that trany and rear end you were talking about. As for experimenting. I am all for it. I do it. You just have to walk before you run.

Are all you number crunchers crazy or just plane stupid? 1. 280 HP turbo Mazda. Come on thats brake HP not constant. Nobody runs a car motor at top RPM all day, or even a half day. 2. The most efficent reduction known to man will eat up 30% of your power. No brag just fact. 3. Props, why don't you find a run out Air Force unmaned recon pusher. Take the engine and prop, and use that. I am pertty shure those guys tried one or two things before they said Mazda's suck, Rotax rules. And last but not least. Just build the Plane for now. And stop trying to reinvent the wheel. I know this sounds testy, and you are correct. If you guys would just build, and shut up you could be a couple of chapters farther along than you are now. Enough said. I gotta go fly my Lycoming powered,Catto proped Long someplace for a hamberger. I can afford to do this cause my engine and prop havent cost me all my hamburger money. Best of luck on your projects:D

Go to. http://ourworld.cs.com/adunsmore123/

I am in the procsess of having a custom ring made for me with an outline of a Gold Canard encrusted in a Blue stone set in a 10K Gold ring. I was wondering if any of you Pusher Pilots would be interested in a ring of this type? When I get the proof, and am satisfied with the quality, and look I will post pictures of it for your inspection. Let me know if you may be interested? contact; adunsmore123@cs.com 317-888-4011