mond-EZ

Arnold How did you find out that the gear bow you got is a LongEZ one? I’m also restoring a VariEze that got a new gear bow and I like to know if it is a VE or a LE bow. Thanks Luis

OK, I agree Thank you Lynn Regarding what I said about Rotax, I’m sorry, my bad. But still makes me think that maybe the necessary modifications to accommodate that engine were difficult enough for professional like the person who did it and costed his life.

I’m kind of lost here, let’s go by part. 1. I always was skeptical about auto conversions, but when I knew about the success of the 13B on Cozies and Velocities I opened my mind to it, but after some research found out that they are not feasible on VariEzies, too large and to heavy. Then I found the Corvair option claiming to be the less expensive alternative for O200 or O235 users, Arnold Holmes (member) mentioned it in this forum, I went into Flycorvair.com and read a lot of nice thing about it… I know, none of them on canards. I have no doubt about Continental or Lycoming; I know they were born to fly. I just didn’t wanna miss any safe less expensive alternative if there is one. The guys on 13Bs got one for larger planes. 2. It’s true, most VEs flying use O200, O235, some O320 and very few Rotax with one fatality caused by the engine that I know of. I obviously need to educate myself some more, because I don’t get it. If Burt Rutan, the genius that today is designing spaceships, said no more than 240lbs vibrating mass on a VE. What’s going on? What’s the real weight and power limit? Here we are talking about airframe strength to hold the engine, weight and balance, Gs Somebody here mentioned an O240 that weights the same than an O200 and delivers 140hp, that could be nice. Maybe I should focus on getting my airframe ready and save money for a good engine.

Lynn What you are saying is not entirely true, William Wynne have already experimented for 20 years and got books and videos on how to do everything and if this is not enough, he can do it for you. As far as I’ve read, once that engine is converted there is not much left of the old car engine, they harden the crankshaft and update and harden the camshaft, not to mention that is a 180hp engine used at only 120hp, quite a bit of over strength, The size is 190 (not 140) and a few lbs lighter than the Continental O-200. I’m still not decided, got a lot of info to confirm yet, like if it fits in the same cowl, I wouldn’t modify the cowl for nothing, that would be like building a different unnamed plane, like Nat Puffer say “do it our way or don’t call it Cozy”. I recognize the effort and skills that guy put on his LE to power it with a 13B but I think is no longer a LE. If you haven’t done it yet, take a look at www.flycorvair.com Regarding the O-235 I think it exceeds recommended vibrating mass by Burt Rutan.

I got another question guys. My VE got a brand new MLG Bow that it’s been temporarily fitted, the bolts are not even tighten yet, plus they advised me to use thicker ones, like LE ones. How can I know if it is a VE or LE bow? Somebody told me it’s a VE and that I should add some layers of BID, but I’d like a second opinion.

I’m Rebuilding a VariEze. Beside the repairs needed, one of my commitments is to check how well and by plans this one was built. I already read the full set of plans, but I still need to read all the CP newsletters. For what you say, it seems that the fire wall mounts were installed by LE plans. I wonder why. I think that the O-200 is the best option for a VE, but at the same time I having second thoughts about the Corvair engine (they’ve been experimenting and developing it for 20 years), so if it’s proven that this one is as safe and reliable as a Continental O-200, it will be worth the money saving and I might change my mind and use the O-200 mount to modify it for Corvair or sell it.

The repaired tube now looks exactly like the other one. Here is the mount clean of rust. Now I found out about another issue, the fire wall mounts. Measuring the distance between the outside of the angles that should be 15”3/4 by plans. But on the upper ones I got 16”3/4 And on the lower ones I got 15”7/16 This means that to install the O-200 mount right there it needs to be forced in, and that is how it was mounted. Is this a big issue, or no problem??? Thanks a lot. Luis

Well… mission accomplished. After all the advises I got and realizing I was going to deal with a strong material, this is what I came up with. I used steel angles. Held the bent tube with angles on the bench vise. And applied the force thru a 4’ pipe from the part of the mount that goes to the fire wall mount. I was able to bend the tube back to its correct shape, achieving measurements within 1/32” tolerance by plans.

Thank you very much guys, I let you all know how everything went after the weekend

I’ll take care of it this weekend, and by the way, I had thought about the piece of wood you just drew, to concentrate all the forces on the bending.

My idea is to fabricate a fire wall mount that I can hold firmly on the bench vise, bolt the affected tube to this and work from there. (I know that mounted on the plane, the plane should overcome this work but I think is not necessary to do it that way). Putting sand inside is a good idea but there is no access to it, only the 1/32” hole to oil the inside up for corrosion protection. And the #3 picture is the good tube (the straight one) I put it there for comparison purposes. Then, If after it is back in place and shows perfectly rounded all over. Would you suggest any kind of testing? Thanks a lot. Luis

Hi guys I don’t know what happened with this thread, I couldn’t find it any more so I came to a different area “General construction” I hope the ones that were advising me about what to do with this Varieze 0-200 mount with a bent tube can see this post. The mount was mounted so I don’t think any other tube was affected; I took it off to take better pics and have it ready for the repair. Another question is: Is this material so fragile that can not be bent back to the right position? It looks very flexible. I was thinking after bending it back; have it inspected with Magnaflux if it’s not more expensive than changing the tube. Here are the pictures Forward view – Upper right bent tube – Upper left good tube

Yes! That option would be great for a Varieze, 110hp 115lbs is excellent, I’ve seen they mentioned this engine on earlier posts, but I CAN’T FIND ANY DATA ON THE WEB . Can you help find something Rich? Thanks a lot;) Luis

Thank you guys I think I should head my quest somewhere else. Some people are optimistic about it but I’ll be getting myself in a very complex development, it would be like trying to fit a V8 in a Ford Focus or harder than that. The 13B is a great affordable, technologically advanced option for larger airplanes.

Hi guys I’m also thinking about a 13B for my VeriEze and I’d like to know what you all think. This is what I know: VariEze maximum engine and accessory weight: 215lb VariEze maximum allowable power 125hp According to the owner’s manual So… to fit an O-320 (300lbs) or 13B (similar lbs) it will require a lot of structural modifications, I Guess. Please correct me in anything I’m wrong. But to address these issues I got this idea: Not using a Gear Reduction Drive will reduce the weight and setting the engine for 100 to 125hp will result in less rpm. I’ve been talking to Tracy Crook about this and he said that there shouldn’t be any problem, and that the rpm goal for that power would be around 3300rpm. If anyone has any leads for a 3300rpm prop, let me know. And if anyone knows if somebody already did these please let me know too. Thanks a lot Luis

One more thing about the fake lunar landing. On the Myth Busters show they busted all theories about it, but we should check how independent they are. One of the weakest ones was that there are no stars on the lunar sky when there should be more than we can see from the earth because of the absence of atmosphere. They were on the clear side of the moon, right? So, day time. So… when can you see stars during the day? The sun block them, doh.

Well… This is what happened as Labala told me. Firstly, the conspiracy was against his turboprop development GFL2000, and it wasn’t a theory, was real, with the support of the Argentina government which is easy to buy. As you said that engine was so cool, may be too cool for some others potential competitors (no need to name them). To give you an idea, executives from Cessna were in Argentina talking to him. Do you think that reciprocating engine manufacturers like that??? NOOOOOOOOOO He never was openly threatened with death or something, first they wanted to hire him, then they wanted to buy his patent, but he wanted to manufacture that engine in Argentina and rejected all offers. On the night before of one the most important presentations he was going to do of the GFL2000… the engine was stolen from the Cessna 182. Just like that… and a week later they threw the engine in front of his hangar. The support from the government was thru the DNA (= FAA in the US), that forbade the C182 from flying with that engine. After all this he sold the patent. Secondly, he is developing a new toy, a 660lb of thrust turbofan that I talked about some replies above. Can you imagine that on a VariEze, the thrust equals the empty weight. COOOOOOOOOOL… as far as you never exceed the VNE. There are these two videos on youtuve http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypoyRLDdBsg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhEy9Zm22C4&feature=related As up today he only has one prototype. And as far as I know there is no production projection yet. PS. For further information on the GFL2000, 7 of them are currently being used for uranium enrichment for energy generation purposes, proving the great strength of them, and 3 of them were sold to individuals in Argentina for aviation purposes, but got no clue of what they have done with them. I wish I had a bigger budget for my engine, because if I did… I would be doing all research possible to find one.

I guess destiny, or who knows, we might call it big corporations, don’t want small guys to play with new technology. Labala told me that he was pressured even with sabotage in an event, until the point that he had to sell his patent.

Hi guys I wanted to let you all know that I’m so thankful for the help you’ve given me and that I’m documenting my progress on www.myspace.com/mond_ez .In this way I’m giving something back to those newer than me on the subject or who ever find interesting any of my ideas. As up today I’m done with the workshop setup and ready to study the plans. This canard community is great:thumbsup: .

I need to ask a question that’s been in my mind for a long time, may be it’s obvious but I don’t know. Why anybody has ever made or talked about flaps (or flaperons) for a canard airplane? That’s what other kind of airplanes use for slower landings. Isn’t it aerodynamically feasible for canards?

Ghost Thank you for the encouragement, I don’t know if I’ll get to a painful part, up to now I’m enjoying any little thing I do related to it, like setting up the shop or sanding off that automotive primer they put on it. Kent Thank you for the sources you are giving me, I haven’t done any of them yet but I became a member of the EAA, which allowed me to meet with Vance Atkinson (builder of a VE and a Cozy) We had a 3 hours chat in my garage with the aircraft, he gave a lot of tips and I realized that I need to get more involved with the plans and news letters, I was asking questions that are explained in the plans or NL. Next person I’m planning to meet is Bill James, he lives close to my house and seems to know more than the regular canard builder, if you didn’t know about him, chick his plane out http://www.ez.org/feature/F0502-1/F0502-1.htm but this after read more and do the fiberglass practice samples And I agree, I want to meet as much canard people as I can in my area, if there are 50 in TX there maybe 10 or more around Dallas/Fort Worth. Lynn Thank you for your input. And now I see that there are controversies about wing cuffs vs. vortilons, so if there is data indicating that the effect is the same I should consider not to touch them, I have more than enough in my to do list. Sean I’m glad to know you live around the area. Vance told me the same about the canard, but we measured it and is 141¼” and ailerons are on the wings. I’ll definitely give you a call, I’d love to see you project. Drew Thank you for the info, that pulls me more to the idea of keeping the wing cuffs.

Hi guys My name is Luis, I’ve been interacting in the “Decision troubles” thread for a while until now that I got a Varieze project (only airframe, no engine , no instruments). This airplane has had a hard landing with no wing or prop strike, they installed a new main gear but a lot of work needs to be done yet. To name a few I have to do: Minor repair on nose, replacement of pitot tube. Repairs on front gear compartment. Correct the angle of aerodynamic brake. Put a fuel drain on right strake Rebuild under fuselage by the hole they left after replacing main gear. Balance canard. The wings are fine but outdated, they have some kind of slat that they used to do on the first VEs to reduce landing speed, so I should remove them and put vortilons. Some how get 3 of the conic cups of the wing fittings. For all I’ve heard the first step is education, so that’s where I am; and I’d like to know what you all can tell me. I got the plans (came with airplane), and as everybody have told me I should, I got the 109 Canard Pusher Newsletters (from 1974 to 2002). I got them from http://www.cozybuilders.org/Canard_Pusher/ Are those exactly what I need? (got PDF files) Do you consider necessary to print all of them on paper considering that it would be like 1500 sheets? Do you recommend reading all the plans and news letters or only the educational part and then go to the specific areas I’m going to work on? Thank you all very much in advance. I’ll appreciate all your inputs so much. Luis

Hi guys In the starting process of my Varieze restoration project, I’m reading the manufacturing manual and some pages are broken and missing (only 3 I hope) Can anyone help me with this? I need pages 3-2, 3-3 and 3-4. If any of you can email me scans of them it would be great, it could be 2 scans per page because I know they may not fit in a regular scanner. Thank you very much Luis luismondolo@hotmail.com PS: Thank you WTJohnson for your information, I’ll keep it in mind.

Finally I got no more decision troubles; I got a VariEze project (no engine, no instruments). Thanks a lot for all your help and especially to Richard Sessions from EAA Chapter 12 Houston, who took the time to go and take a look at this project.

Well guys, this is what is going on: Labala sold the patent to some company that abandoned the whole thing. Today he is developing a turbofan, 660lbs of thrust, 90% derivation, so quiet, only 23 parts, and it might be priced at $20,000 to $25,000 Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypoyRLDdBsg&feature=related