Matronics Email Lists :: View topic - Glasair-List Digest: 2 Msgs

Matronics Email Lists
Web Forum Interface to the Matronics Email Lists

Get Email Distribution Too! FAQ Search Memberlist Usergroups Register

Profile Log in to check your private messages Log in

Glasair-List Digest: 2 Msgs - 05/29/07

Matronics Email Lists Forum Index -> Glasair-List

View previous topic :: View next topic

Author Message

markeypilot(at)yahoo.com
Guest

Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 6:28 am Post subject: Glasair-List Digest: 2 Msgs - 05/29/07

Would you mind sending me digital pictures of the fairing and engine cowling inlet/outlet mods?

   

  Thanks,

   

  John 

  GII FT

   

  



 

   	  Quote: 	
		  

Then I started a long string of modifications. In 1996 I repainted the craft and made

further mods (closing the cooling inlets, closing the engine inlet, changing 

the strut fairings, bringing up the flap setting etc) bringing the cruise 

up to 200 mph. Racers have informed me that the "Y's" on the landing gear 

create drag. Some say the wheel pants are not designed well. My biggest increase

came from installing a set of experimental only Airflow Performance .028 

Injector Nozzles (They are located in Spartanburg N.C.) that added another 6 mph

bringing the cruise up to 206.



	


        Boardwalk for $500? In 2007? Ha! 

[url=http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=48223/*http://get.games.yahoo.com/proddesc?gamekey=monopolyherenow]Play Monopoly Here and Now[/url] (it's updated for today's economy) at Yahoo! Games. [quote][b]

- The Matronics Glasair-List Email Forum -

Use the List Feature Navigator to browse the many List utilities available such as the Email Subscriptions page, Archive Search & Download, 7-Day Browse, Chat, FAQ, Photoshare, and much more:

http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Glasair-List

Craymondw(at)aol.com
Guest

Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 8:03 am Post subject: Glasair-List Digest: 2 Msgs - 05/29/07

Hi,

    I closed up the inlets by an inch. My cylinder head  temperatures now range around 325 degrees. You have to also bring the  outlets forward or you will build a flat area that will buffet.  I air foiled the inside top inlet to smoothen out the air flow. The  engine breather inlet was shortened by well over two inches in height. I  found more air went in than was required and was spilled out resulting in a  slight oil streak of air filter fluid on the cowling. Racer Ken Johnson has  formulas for engine breather and cooling inlet/ out let ratios. 

    Note: the flaps should be reflexed a few degrees. My ailerons  are around zero. I also used tape under cowling joints to fair them up even with  the fuselage. For the main wheel pants, I hung plumb bobs off the tail and wing  center and drew a center line on the floor. Then I used a steel measure to align  the wheel pants parallel to that center line, doing that added a few knots. A  friend sawed off his wing fairing's and picked up a few knots. I was told by a  Stoddard Hamilton engineer that the wing fairing's worked against you. 

     A Swiss builder used 2" X 6" strakes on the fuselage  about one inch in front of the leading edge of the wings and claimed he  added a few knots. That area is poorly designed and when 3's go over 300  mph a buffeting sound can be heard in that area. Formula one Reno  racers feel the dirtiest part of Gl Ft's are the "Y's" between the  fuselage and the wheel pants. Cirrus aircraft has well designed fairing's in  those areas. 

    When I complained to New Glasair that further  factory development on the Glasair 2's and 3's has come to an end, they  replied how wonderful that builder's where performing them??!! I feel the  new owners have dropped the ball and let Lancair march ahead. There are known  design flaws on both Glasair models and also much lighter  composite material could be employed. When I lived in New England a  good friend from Germany and expert in composite design looked at my  parts and said; "what are you building..a tank!!" A young Stoddard Hamilton  engineer presented an all carbon fiber wing at Oshkosh that was longer that the  three wing. I was able to pick that wing up with one hand.  Gl 2 & 3  wings take two strong men to carry. I was about to reproduce modified  Glasair models in carbon fiber when a business opportunity in Georgia came  up. At the time my German friend's brother ran the Black Hawk Division  of Sykorsky that had developed using multi layered pre preg  composite sheets, stamping out parts and heat curing them in  molds. This  took out the labor intensive lay up work and greatly reduced Sykorsky's  production costs. We were about to make molds out of a thin ceramic material  backed by ply wood to heat cure fuselage, wing skins, cowlings, aileron  skins, and flap skins that we planned on quickly cutting out with lazers.  We estimated we could reduce the weight of both models by several hundred  pounds. To give you some idea of how heavy Glasair parts are. I weighed the tail  feathers of an RV 4 and just the Glasair rudder alone weighed more  than the complete empennage of the RV 4. We estimated that by reducing a  Glasair's  weight several hundred pounds a 160 hp would have  nearly the same performance of a much heavier Glasair with a 200 hp  engine.  

    An Eglin Airforce base officer built a Glasair 2 FT that  cruises 220  mph and installed a McCauley prop. He completed  the plane in 1992 and claims when he goes side by side with Gl2 RG' he has  never been beaten. My Hartzell works up to 2375 RPM. When I turn up the RPM the  plane actually goes slower! That tells me that there is a turbulence  problem with the prop design. 

   Back in the 1980's I owned a T-18. At the time, T-18's where  considered "Hot Rods." Now the T-18 is considered old technology. I am  afraid that if factory modifications and new production techniques aren't  deployed on the Glasair 2's and 3's, not only will they become has  been's, they will also be very expensive kits to buy. Some one  will surely tool up a pre preg heat cured mold kit production and  greatly reduce the costs and the rest will be history.

  



See what's free at AOL.com. 

  [quote][b]

- The Matronics Glasair-List Email Forum -

Use the List Feature Navigator to browse the many List utilities available such as the Email Subscriptions page, Archive Search & Download, 7-Day Browse, Chat, FAQ, Photoshare, and much more:

http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Glasair-List

MPPalmer(at)aol.com
Guest

Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 12:56 pm Post subject: Glasair-List Digest: 2 Msgs - 05/29/07

I haven't done much in the way of speed mods... I have slightly smaller inlets and reflexed the flaps. (And have a funky augmenter exhaust system from day one.) 

 

Reflexing the flaps gave me about 2 to 3 knots. I also went with Van's pressure recovery wheel pants on the mains, and picked up 4 to 5 knots, although my old Glasair wheel pants were very crummy, so YMMV. I did some oil testing on the wheel pant / gear leg fairing, and that was a real surprise. There's a lot of weird stuff going on down there that's not intuitively obvious to this guy. Long story short, I seem to have interactively stumbled onto an intersection fairing that keeps most of the airflow attached there. I would like to try Van's pressure recover nose gear someday. I think that's probably worth a few knots, being up there in the accelerated propellor airflow. 

 

We have been seeing an honest 200 mph (174 kts) True at 4000 ft in the Arizona heat running full throttle, 2700 rpm, best power mixture (10 GPH) on a slightly tricked out O-320. (9:1 pistons, PLASMA ignition, some porting with the valves). Just had a 5 angle valve job done and are still gathering data on that. In theory, it should go a bit faster now, albeit on more fuel. 

 

I've heard reports that taking off the Glasair cosmetic wing fairing is worth a few knots. But haven't tried it.  

 

While it's nice to go fast, it's mostly a guy thing. We took off in front of a guy who stuffed a 540 in his Glasair II RG. Unbeknownst to us, he was going to the same airshow as we were. He took off #2 but called on the UNICOM ten minutes ahead of us, in a one hour trip. (Slightly different courses.) We burn 7.2 GPH, LOP and see 165 kts. He throttles back to 11 GPH and sees 215 kts. (!) He has two extra cylinders that cost that much more money. For ten minutes and bragging rights, he can have it. When IFR, I'll take the extra endurance over speed any day. If you can do it, the best way to go fast is to reduce drag and clean up your existing engine. Especially with AvGas in the $4 to $5 range. 

 

Mike Palmer <><

**************************************

 See what's free at http://www.aol.com.  [quote][b]

- The Matronics Glasair-List Email Forum -

Use the List Feature Navigator to browse the many List utilities available such as the Email Subscriptions page, Archive Search & Download, 7-Day Browse, Chat, FAQ, Photoshare, and much more:

http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Glasair-List

Display posts from previous:

	Matronics Email Lists Forum Index -> Glasair-List	All times are GMT - 8 Hours
Page 1 of 1

Jump to:

You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You cannot attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum