DavzLSA progress

[David Swartzendruber]

I got my seats back today from the upholster, they are beautiful and very comfortable. I hope to spend long hours in them enjoying the view from 5000 feet.

Those seats look great! And I understand your enthusiasm about spending many hours in them at 5000 feet.

[davzLSA]

Hey Guys, I have some progress to report. I working on getting the panel and all the other wiring done. I am doing as much of it as I can on the bench. It makes it much easier. I am building a harness from the instrument panel to the electrical distribution panel. When that is done I will put the instrument panel and electrical distribution panel on the airplane and then connect everything from the fire wall to the electrical distribution panel. Currently the bench looks like a hand grenade went off on it. But its organized chaos and the price of progress. I have pics, hope yall like em.

[davzLSA]

Hey Guys, I have progress to report. I wanted to get the engine fired up and running before I started to cover the fuse. Today was the big day. The engine lit right off, in two blades.I turned it over a couple time without the ignition turned on. Timing looked good, this engine had 28 degrees max timing at 2700 rpm. My max static rpm was 2680, I dont think I am going to mess with the pitch on the prop, I dont think I can get it any closer. So im happy with it. I had an oil leak at the manifold on the fire wall, but I found a loose connection so that was an easy fix. My carb was leaking fuel, it is a ma 3spa same carb on the o200 engine. I may send it back to the re-builder to get that checked. Got good oil pressure 35psi at 700 rpm., was not able to get any oil temp, but I dont think I ran it long enough to get any oil temp. Its a problem I will need to look into. I had 1/10th on the hobbs after running it. All total I only ran it about 15 minutes. The engine its self was bone dry, not one drop of oil from the engine. Its a major mile stone for me in this journey of airplane building, it was very exciting. I have a video but I am not able to upload it for some reason. Ill keep working on it and if I can make it happen it will be here.

[jaredyates]

Great news! Upload the video to a hosting site like youtube or vimeo and then post a link here.

[davzLSA]

Ok guys here is the video, its my first time editing a video or uploading to youtube. So its a little rough. So be kind.
Video link

https://youtu.be/PZEwFlzgkyM

[Frank]

That's great Dave! I'm gonna have to study the Corvair, seems like WW knows what he's talking about. And the motor mount for the LSA has already been developed, right? Significant savings over a Continental?

[davzLSA]

Hi Frank, William offers the motor mount for the LSA. And there is already a Corvair flying on a Bearhawk LSA. The Corvair is very inexpensive to maintain as well. I can buy all of the valve train components from the local auto parts store. Much less expensive than the O200.

[davzLSA]

Hey Guys I have progress to report. I decided my air box was too big to build the cowl I wanted , so I made a new one except smaller. I have also stripped the fuse back down to the bare fuse so I can clean it and touch up paint before covering. This means that all systems are tested and fitted, so for the millionth time I will reassemble it but the next time will be the final time. I have ran the engine many time, I now have about 1 hour on the hobbs. I am beginning the covering process, Presently I am covering the rudder, this is my first time covering anything so its not as good as a pro but I think it looks pretty good, Im not done with it yet. One of the things about covering that puzzled me was what to do about the hinge points. I decided to wrap the hinge point in aluminum. The wrap at the bottom of the rudder had to be done in 2 parts to hey around the control horn, I have pic of that here. as well as pics of my new airbox.

[davzLSA]

Hey guys, I have progress to report. Im finally covering my tail feathers, I have both elevators , the rudder and both trim tabs and one horizontal stab done. Currently working on the other horizontal stab. Waiting on my paint, its going to be red. The fuse is next after the tail feathers. I have the fuse stripped now so I can clean it and repaint some areas. Ill be posting pics as I go. Hope you all like the pics. I am using the Stewart system.

[davzLSA]

Hey Guys, It been awhile since I have posted an update. For anyone interested I am continuing to work. I have finished all the welding all the welding Im going to do on my fuse. I have changed the seat yet again to get more back movement. Now I have about 1 foot of travel. Im not too worried about the rear seat because I will be flying solo most of the time.I am at the final assembly stage, I have completed all the things I wanted to do to the fuse before permenantly attaching parts. I have fitted the fuel system, made all the fuel lines. The panel is mostly wired. All the engine instruments are in and tested, still need to wire up the radios and get data links between a couple of other instruments. The floor boards are all fitted and as of today they are painted. I plan to cover the interior as well. But I need to get the throttle control and trim control install before the covering. I will make update as I get stuff installed and at the end Im going to post another video of the engine running. Once I get interior systems in I will then cover the outside and get it in primer. I still need to make the engine cowl also. I have the nose bowl so the engine cowl will be built off the nose bowl. Here are some pics, hope you like them!

[davzLSA]

Hey Guys got some more progress to report. Got all the floor boards in, got the fuel system in with all the fuel lines permanenty attached and leak tested.. Today I got the rear windows in too, Had to get some thinner polycarbonate, The other I have was too think and way too heavy. I have all the control cables in as well. I made a universal joint for the interconnect rod that goes between the control sticks and the idler arm. This cures the problem with the rod end bearing unscrewing when the stick is moved side ways. I have pic, hope you like them.

[davzLSA]

Hi Guys, I have progress to report. I have the fuel system in and it has been leak tested. All the lone are permenatly attached. All the floor boards are painted and installed. I am at a point now where I am doing final assembly on everything. All the welding is done and everything is painted. So now im just assembling everything. Next up I will start the covering process starting with the interior, then to outside. Ill be posting pic as I go. This must be how it feels with a fast build kit? Just bolting stuff together not having to worry with fabing or welding anything??? But I had all the fun fabing and painting everything. Here is the universal joint pic.Hope you like the pics!!

[N3UW]

Interesting on the universal joint. Do you have any diagrams on what you did for the construction.

[davzLSA]

Hi John, if you are interested I can make you a drawing and post it here.

[David Swartzendruber]

Today I got the rear windows in too, Had to get some thinner polycarbonate.... I made a universal joint for the interconnect rod that goes between the control sticks and the idler arm. This cures the problem with the rod end bearing unscrewing when the stick is moved side ways.

Dave,
What thickness of polycarbonate ended up working well for you for the rear windows?
For your rod end bearing issue, how many degrees of movement did you find was needed to accomodate full aileron travel in the LSA? I found that the rod end from Mark is capable of 35 degrees of movement if installed in a way to allow it. Until I install my wings and hook everything up, I don't know how many degrees of rotation are needed. I measured it on Mark's Patrol at Oshkosh this year and his stick only moved about 33 or 34 degrees from full right to full left.