bigdaddie

I am a recent buyer of LE N350JK and I have a few suggestions for you. 1. The LE is a great traveling airplane. You can expect 150kts cruise on 5 ½ GPH with the O235. Fly in it to make sure it does this. 2. Watch the weight. My airplane is very heavy @ 1050#; about 900# is more like it. 3. Some good mods to have are: a. In cowl exhaust b. RAM air intake c. Electronic ignition d. Fuel injection (Ellison is common) e. NACA air intake 4. As far as the prop goes, make sure you get good takeoff and climb performance. You can run the O235 at 2900 in cruise if needed. 5. Check the gear attach points, both the glass strut and aluminum “L” brackets for stress, wear and cracks. 6. Lift the nose slightly and check the nose strut for slop side to side Other than that, I would look at anything you might with any other airplane. Also check the surface with a coin for delaminations. Tap along and you’ll hear a noticeable difference (hollow sound) if there is any. I am by F A R not an expert on these airplanes, just my suggestions. Regards and good luck, Steve

I'll recreate my web site over the next few months. I will post pictures and changes there. e-mail me at steve@bigdaddie.net to get my phone # if you'd like to talk about the changes. Again, there's A LOT to consider when making this thing bigger. I thought of 1,000 of them and missed 1,000,000 I'm sure. Time will tell.

I sat in Nat's airplane last year at OSH. The problems I encountered were headroom with the canopy closed and legroom below the instrument panel. It was just generally tight. So we decided to go for the King Cozy concept. Whatever we loose by the 10% increase in frontal area should be made up by the Infinity retracts and more power (50% more). If I don't get 200 KTAS were going to rip out the Mazda 13B and put in a turbo'd 20B. John's statement about ripple down changes is understated. I am taking about twice as long as most to complete, sometimes I get to do things twice! I am documenting the changes in case anyone in the future is interested. This thing is like an ugly child. Sometimes I think it's hideous, other times beautiful.

I too will be adding A/C to my Mazda powered monstrosity. I was figuring to put the heater/ac box on the firewall. My firewall is 4" wider than plans and I may move the engine back a few inches to increase propeller efficiency, thus increasing room. About airflow: I didn't realize how small the heat duct was until I constructed it! I will be increasing it's size. Anyone have any reasons why this would cause a conflict? My fues is 8" wider than plans at front seatback so I think I'll have plenty of room. Regarding airflow: I understand why some have reservations in trying to push air fwd in an airplane going 200mph+. The cabin is closed in so no biggie right? If you just look at the length of these fueselages you'll realize airflow could be a problem. My solution is this, two fans. One to push the air from the firewall to the front and one to boost airflow at the front. I hope this will work. Works in my Suburban, but it has two evaporators..... John, I've been following your web site, looks good. I'm looking forward to seeing the first flight photos! Did you use the stock Mazda turbo? If so, is it intercooled? I'll be VERY interested in cooling info, especially on the ground.... Steve

I think he got a job somewhere else or something and sold the project. SL

Looking at it, our Cozy might be slightly wider than the King Cozy. I figure what I loose from the 10% increase in frontal area should be made up with the retracts. Also, I'm using a 300HP Turbo Mazda that will be capable of 200Hp continuous. I hope to get 225 knots true at 10,000' plus. If it's a hog, I'll install a Mazda Turbo'ed 3 rotor capable of 400hp. Anyway, there are a lot of mods to do if you're gonna widen a Cozy. I'll only know the aerodynamic effects on some fatefull date in the future. I have used X-plane, Airplane PDQ, and now MS Flight Sim to evaluate the new layout. I even thought of increasing wing area a bit, but decided against it as too many changes to the pie make dog food.

For anyone interested, I am building a Cozy that is 8" wider than plans from F22 to the front seatback and 1" taller. It then tapers to 4" wider at the firewall. I did this to, hopefully, keep suffiencent airflow to the prop. I'm just finishing chapter 6. It has taken me about twice as long to build with these mods. I have beefed up the structure quite a bit also. I'll try to post pictures on a web site soon. Steve

I may have just missed it, but do you install 2 layers of BID reinforcement tape on the aft landing gear bulkhead corners overlapping to the fues? If so, front and back? SL

I second the motion to stop saying and start doing! I Have a 5 car garage and spent a year cleaning it so that I could start this project! After all the cleaning (I threw away or donated more stuff than most people probably own) I still only have enough room for my power tools, Cozy bench, Motorcycle, SUV and Golf cart. Well the workshop is still a mess so I decided screw it and started building. As a matter of fact, I'm waiting for a couple of layups to finish right now. It's taken me about a week to get close to finishing chapter 4 since I am modifying the fuselage significantly. Anyway, it's a blast, order the plans, order the materials, and start building today, clean garage or not! Your car(s) can sit out for a few years Steve