Conversion 503-582

Sure go ahead. Especially if its going to save my life.
 
I appreciate your input, but to be honest I am not sure what your saying. Apparently you see something in the plumbing that is not to your liking. Is it our choice of materials, cause I know that's not traditional, or is it the workmanship? If its the materials, what is wrong with flexible stainless steel? If its the workmanship what is it that you can see that I overlooked?

I do appreciate the input but try to be a little clearer on what the input is.
 
You should use normal hose for the plumbing. You can buy a spring coil thingy to slide into the hose to keep it from folding where the bends are, Ask Ernie, he uses them on his installations.

Muffler brackets are suspect.... not saying they are going to fail, but keep a very close eye on them each pre flight for cracks.

Those clamps that hold the exhaust together ( rather than using the springs Rotax intends you to use ) they are known to dig into and ruin the exhaust long term. Nothing that will be a problem right away, but in a few hundred hours of use you will see the wear they create.
 
I am also not a fan of how you have just a toggle switch for the ignition and a push button for the starter. Too easy for someone at a fly-in to come along and press the button not knowing what it does. I'd rather have a keyed switch, like a car, where you can remove the key when you land at a public place.

Why is the engine painted? Did you paint it? It gives me a bad bad feeling when I see engines from " Rotax experts " that come painted. Why is that you might ask???? Well, if you are a mechanic and you have a used engine in your shop to rebuild, when you have it taken completely apart for inspection, it is EASIER to bead blast the outside of the engine to restore the appearance to as new condition, than to prep and paint it. When I see a painted engine, it makes me think some shady mechanic took a old rough looking engine and inspected the cylinders and rod side play, put new rings and a few new gaskets, coated it all with a heavy coating of rattle can spray paint and then sold it to someone as a zero time overhauled engine.

Thats about it Joe.... Glad you got a bigger engine, I couldn't imagine how it flew with a 503 with all the do dad and gadgets you added to that bird, should be decent now with the 582.
 
You should use normal hose for the plumbing. You can buy a spring coil thingy to slide into the hose to keep it from folding where the bends are, Ask Ernie, he uses them on his installations.

Muffler brackets are suspect.... not saying they are going to fail, but keep a very close eye on them each pre flight for cracks.

Those clamps that hold the exhaust together ( rather than using the springs Rotax intends you to use ) they are known to dig into and ruin the exhaust long term. Nothing that will be a problem right away, but in a few hundred hours of use you will see the wear they create.
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I am also not a fan of how you have just a toggle switch for the ignition and a push button for the starter. Too easy for someone at a fly-in to come along and press the button not knowing what it does. I'd rather have a keyed switch, like a car, where you can remove the key when you land at a public place.

Why is the engine painted? Did you paint it? It gives me a bad bad feeling when I see engines from " Rotax experts " that come painted. Why is that you might ask???? Well, if you are a mechanic and you have a used engine in your shop to rebuild, when you have it taken completely apart for inspection, it is EASIER to bead blast the outside of the engine to restore the appearance to as new condition, than to prep and paint it. When I see a painted engine, it makes me think some shady mechanic took a old rough looking engine and inspected the cylinders and rod side play, put new rings and a few new gaskets, coated it all with a heavy coating of rattle can spray paint and then sold it to someone as a zero time overhauled engine.

Thats about it Joe.... Glad you got a bigger engine, I couldn't imagine how it flew with a 503 with all the do dad and gadgets you added to that bird, should be decent now with the 582.

Thanks Ron for your insights and input.

Hose- Are you familiar with stainless steel gas pipe? I am wondering if your comment is that you know something about it we did not know, or if its just that its different that is the issue?

Muffler Mount - I will keep a close eye on them. Ed built them for his 503 and we did have to modify them a bit to use them. I will make sure to include a thorough inspection on my preflights.

Ignition - That's a good point, and I may look to incorporate a key.

Engine Paint - I bought this from an A&P mechanic who has a full time business rebuilding Rotax engines. The red is his "signature" with which he hopes to build a brand image. He is known as Rotax Rick on Barnstormers.

Painting -The engine is a grey head which he modifies to include a ceramic waterpump seal (I think i got that right.) He also gave me a log book signed by him as "zero timed" which shows all the parts replaced;crank, ignition, pistons etc, and he has given me a two year guarantee.


I realize in a picture it might look like we just safety-wired some of our attachments. Actually we used this tool http://www.clamptitetools.com/press.html which does a nice job.

Muffler Clamps - I have used these on my PPC for 5 years without incident. I have had muffler springs break and even when safety wired managed to get a piece through the prop. So on this one, I will stay with the clamps.


Thanks again for your thoughtful review.
 
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I like to paint engines that live in Florida, keeps them from corroding and turning dull gray-yuk-powdery corrosion.
Joe I am not a big fan of the gas pipe, I am sure it is suitable, just looks bad. If you have to splice in a hose section why not just use a connector and more rubber hose?
Like here: http://www.rotaryforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=26084&highlight=arctic&page=2

The muffler mounts, look good, but inspect them preflight and postflight, I would suspect that if they crack, they will do it at the drilled hole above the exhaust bolt.

I agree about the switch, especially when it would be unattended at a fly in. Or install a MAIN electrical cutoff at the battery, other than those suggestions, looks great, go fly and have fun! and with that engine, you won't have to skip the cheesecake after dinner
:D.
 
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I like ti paint engines that live in Florida, keeps them from corroding and turning dull gray-yuk-powdery corrosion.
Joe I am not a big fan of the gas pipe, I am sure it is suitable, just looks bad. If you have to splice in a hose section why not just use a connector and more rubber hose?
Like here: http://www.rotaryforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=26084&highlight=arctic&page=2

The muffler mounts, look good, but inspect them preflight and postflight, I would suspect that if they crack, they will do it at the drilled hole above the exhaust bolt.

I agree about the switch, especially when it would be unattended at a fly in. Or install a MAIN electrical cutoff at the battery, other than those suggestions, looks great, go fly and have fun! and with that engine, you won't have to skip the cheesecake after dinner
:D.

That does look good Scott. I think I will accumulate the parts to duplicate your install. Thanks for looking over our shoulder.
 
Hey Joe, I have an old fashioned parts store nearby, and they let me go in the back to examine their wall of molded hoses. I narrowed my search by hose size, then reffered to my drawings on hand and broke out the tape measure. With patience, I ended up with ONE piece hoses, with NO unions. Check out photos of the Missfit. A leak, or complete hose seperation in flight would be a bummer...:Cry:
 
Well, I got in 3 test flights this afternoon. Everything checked out. The temp was very close to 96 degrees but I still had markedly improved climb. Then this evening I went on a 30 minute cruise away from the airport. The thing is running great. I am very happy with everything so far. Now to try a early morning flight before air temp gets out of hand.
 
Alright Joe.

Glad you are back in the air! Sorry I was not there to help you Guys. It seems you and Jeff did A Great job with the refit. With any luck I will be able to get out to the hanger next weekend. 2 months is a long time. I hope I remember how to fly? See ya soon!

Ed
 
I've been remodeling a rental house. The good news is I'm just about done WOHOO!!
 
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