goatherder

. Yeah, no kidding. I can see the results of that failure. Best to just use throttle. Here's a question: anybody have an idea how fast you can spin one of these small diameter wood/glass composite props like the Hertzelers and such? Assuming it's properly balanced and trued, of course. Maybe 3500rpm? Anybody know of a test where they spun it until it failed?

. Yeah, no kidding. I can see the results of that failure. Best to just use throttle. Here's a question: anybody have an idea how fast you can spin one of these small diameter wood/glass composite props like the Hertzelers and such? Assuming it's properly balanced and trued, of course. Maybe 3500rpm? Anybody know of a test where they spun it until it failed?

Prop - yeah... limit rpm using engine load and a given air inlet size. There is also a "throttle stop" device that bracket racers use to increase their ET consistancy. Maybe he is just using his throttle setting... My mama used to tell me that I didn't need to have my right foot all the way down.

Ok, here is the article: http://picasaweb.google.com/oh.u8it2/SpencerLongEZV8# Click on page 1, then click the Zoom icon on the upper right, then click and drag on the image to scroll up and down. Click the arrow above the image to advance to the next image.

Yeah, I want to build a Long EZ...but no money for it right now. This financial crisis has screwed up the international markets for fish so bad that half the fishing fleet I work in has been tied to the dock for most of the year...including the boat that I was supposed to be running this summmer. No market for the fish equals no job for me. I was trying to trade one of my personal boats for a Long EZ project about 100 miles from here but the guys wife wouldn't go for it. Wouldn't let him have my bigass KTM dirt bike either. Go figure. She's the one that made him give up on the Long EZ in the first place...and now she's making him build an RV Nine instead. Poor old bastard. Anyway, I'll come up with a project before long, and then I'll be a glue-sniffing fool like the rest of you guys. I do like the idea of a direct drive V8 though...if I could pull it off. They're butt-simple and I can build it and fix it and tune it myself. And it'll cruise at 3000 rpm's all friggin day. If you can cool it. Oh man...the wife just came here in lingerie and lookin all tasty. Enuf of this airplane stuff for now.

In the article he claims that his fuel burn w/ the V8 at 200mph is the same as it was with the 235 at 175mph. He said he's got 13k in the motor....probably alot of it in the bottom end. An aluminum 351 block is $3300, heads for this application can be had assembled for a grand,a 4340 stroker crank/H-beam rods/forged piston balanced rotating assembly can be had for about $2200, then roller cam kit & rockers, intake, ignition, gaskets, oil and water pumps and timing set shouldn't cost more than another couple grand. Well...then you need a prop and adapters and engine mount and radiator(s) and some exhaust pipes. Hmmm. 13k might even be a bit light. But 250 MPH! Woo Hoo! Oh yeah...that exhaust is cool. Not ideal from a power standpoint...but I'll bet it sounds great.

So I’ve been trying to find out something out about Gary Spencer’s V8 Long EZ for awhile now, and after some google searching I found Contact! magazine. Cool little rag, and in issue 70 back in ’02 there was a writeup by the man himself about his plane. It’s a cool plane, and it goes 250 mph. Here are a few details if anyone is curious: Seems he stuffed an aluminum small-block Ford in the back of his plane. He’s driving a 58” 3-blade prop directly off the crank with an adapter and a 5” extension. The engine sits up so the crank centerline is on the thrust line (?) of the plane (the prop is where it’s supposed to be), so the valve covers need bulges in the upper cowl. He’s chopped down a Victor Junior manifold to gain a low profile, and used a Holley 2BBL carb with adjustable metering plate for leaning. Looks like he’s got flat little K&N filter on top of that, which is being fed directly from a little “hood scoop” on top of the upper cowl. The engine is a Ford Racing aluminum 302 block, with a forged stroker crank and forged pistons. 360 cu-in. Aluminum heads, water pump, oil pump (?), lightweight starter, roller valve gear, dual MSD ignition. 2 lb, 8 amp alternator. 8 individual exhaust pipes exiting where the cowls join in the stern. He’s got a12 x 24 x 2” radiator under the oil pan that’s fed from a NACA belly scoop. Engine weight is 338 lb dry, and he claims 260hp at 3500 RPM. About 6 gph at 200 mph, and 250 top speed. Total plane weight of 1060 lbs. Very cool plane. I want one.

Well, heres the thing: There are entirely TOO MANY LAWYERS in this country for a small company like that to risk releasing something like a brand new aircraft engine until they have every last little bug worked out and they've tested the thing to death. (maybe not the best choice of words) One engine failure and the dead pilot's wife's lawyer sues their a$$es off and now they are out of business. It doesn't matter how good their idea was. I'm guessing that this is what they are trying to avoid. If you're selling a critical product (like an aero engine) and you discover some significant design flaw at the last minute then you owe it to everybody - especially your customers - to delay release of your product until you get the problems resolved. Even if you already have your customers' money. Better to make them wait and piss them off than give them something that might kill them. So says I.

Looks like they are installing one in a Cirrus airframe. Heres a press release dated August 7, 2009: http://www.deltahawkengines.com/DeltaHawk%20Diesel-Powered%20SR20%20Announced.pdf

You can probably get more 4130 from Metal Supermarket in Tacoma, or maybe Capitol Industrial carries that stuff too. Race car guys use it all the time. Shouldn't be difficult to find...

Cool - I'd grab some mild steel from Capitol Industrial (its pretty cheap right now) and some steel welding rod or even coat hanger and practice welding. It won't be too long before you're good at it.

Yeah...used to be pretty good at it. I'll give you a call.

Hey Martin - if your mickey mouse torches don't work out I've got a real set you can use. Marc

That is gonna be one wicked looking plane.

Hmmm...interesting. I recognize the object on the right side as a joystick - but what about that object on the left? It looks suspiciously like a different type of joystick that my wife keeps in the top drawer of her nightstand.

V8 ???? in a Long EZ ??? Where can I see some pictures of this one?

Do wannabees count? I'm going up on Saturday.

You guys are hosers. I started this thread about the coolest real plane I'd seen and you guys hijacked it into a thread about flying lawnmowers. BTW - My kid really liked the video. He says "Hey, with that I could mow the clouds."

Yeah, I drove up to an RC airfield once just as a lawnmower flew past my car. WTF? It was funny. Pretty cool though that they can get something shaped like a lawnmower to fly that well. In his Mods page he alludes to using some of the parts he had made for his Tristar project (which he had shelved) on his new plane...and the wings all came from the old plane; so I'm guessing that his Tristar project is (was) a clone of his own plane. He did mold the fuselage. Its such a cool plane.

This guy has what looks to me to be the ideal Long-EZ...at least ideal for my purposes anyway. Really nice shape and 180kt cruise at 75% with 320 power. If you haven't already seen it, check it out: http://www.comgz.com/stag_E.html

Nope. Absolutely not. No offence...but most people I know in the fishing industry regard that TV show with disdain. I've never watched it. Never been crabbing, although I've turned down crab jobs because, well...crabbers are, by an large, just a bunch of monkeys and I don't want to work with them. For the last couple of years I've been first mate on a 300ft factory trawler with a crew of 80; I ran the boat for 12 hours at night. Now I will be captain of a 145ft catcher-only trawler that delivers 40-50 ton bags of fish to the 300 footer. Only 4 crew including me on this one. Not nearly as many goats to herd.

Maybe so. I have seen bolts in shear secured with self-locking nuts (nylocs) that have loosened due to vibration but not to the point that the nuts were gone. Just a bit loose...and then the vibration can rotate the bolt shaft and hammer the sh!t out it the same time. One example that comes to mind would be the replaceable hardened steel shoes on the bottom of a trawl door. The door, which can weigh 5 or 6 tons, slides along the seabed on these shoes, like a sled runner. The replaceable sections are about 2ft long each, made of 2" high strength steel, and are bolted to the bottom of the door with 1" bolts in shear. We secure them with nylocs, sometimes double nuts, some times welded nuts...but no matter what the stress and pounding loosens them up and they start working. If we don't catch it the relative motion will take the bolts out out in short order, and then that section will be lost. But hey...I got off on a tangent. We're talking about planes here, and all I really know about is boats.

Yep, thanks alot Steve. You'd offered before and fully I intend to take you up on it. Just haven't got around to it yet. Now I've got to go back north again so it will be a few months. But when I get back...

Within the last couple of weeks, two EZ builders were kind enough to allow me to check out their projects. I'm grateful to both of them for taking the time to show their stuff to a wannabe like me. The first was Martin Fryer who lives across town from me. Martin is a really nice guy, and patiently answered all my ignorant questions. This was my first look at a Long EZ in the construction stages, and it really helped my understanding of how these things go together. Martin showed me his finished canard, and how it mounts on the fuselage. He also showed me the various parts and pieces he has acquired and explained about them. I don't know much about composite planes, but I do know a little about craftsmanship...and it looks to me like Martin's got that going on. It'll be a nice plane when he's finished. Last weekend I drove down to Oregon and took a look at Al Wick's Cozy Mk IV. Al was kind enough to take time out of his weekend to meet us at his hanger. Man, what a nice plane. Even my wife was impressed (which was a really good thing) Al has some cool stuff going on - he has a spankin' new Subaru 6cyl mounted and damn near ready to fire up, and that thing looks like it was meant to be there. Talk about a clean installation - nothing cobbled anywhere and a few trick parts too. (Including his redrive) Al is a real smart guy and is doing some revolutionary stuff, and it was really nice of him to take time out to show some n00b his plane. A non flying n00b at that. I came away inspired, and ready to get my ass in gear. Then my wife reminded me that I need to finish up a few existing projects before I get started on any new ones. So I've been down at the marina all week working on the ol' Tollycraft. Not a plane...but ass is in gear just the same. Next week its off to the Bering Sea for 2 or 3 months to kill some fish and (hopefully) trade 'em for money.

Nope - I say this because I'm an ignorant n00b. I just saw bolts with the threads hammered out, understood that those bolts hold the front wing on the plane and went WTF??? So...uh, never mind. Forget I said anything. (he slinks away with his tail between his legs)