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QuickTalk 23 - QUICKIE HINTS

From Will Hubin

Our Quickie has been noticing that the trees have been growing rapidly toward it on takeoff. We finally got around to hooking up a standard aircraft differential compression gauge. The right cylinder tested about 73/80 with some exhaust valve leakage. The left cylinder tested about 40/80 with a great deal of intake valve leakage. We hope to look at it in the next few days; it may just be lead deposits. It has been building up for at least the last 9 months or so; it wasn't so bad during the winter but it has been getting worse as the weather warms up and the result was making me a little nervous. I wonder how many horses were getting to the prop? Another evidence that it has been happening for some time is how long the cylinder head temperatures (sensor on the LEFT cylinder) have been quite a bit cooler than expected.

...there is (also) now enough wear in the throttle linkage that full throttle gives about 40 to 50 rpm less than backed off a bit, during the climbout. (In other words, the throttle plate is going a little past center.)


From Jim Masal N44QC

Being still a "new" Quickie flier, there are some "new" sensations that I haven't experienced long enough to disregard yet. For example, every once in awhile a takeoff will result in less climb than the usual pitiful rate until I start hitting thermals. Also, there are times when I am cruising at a couple thousand feet when the plane will begin a very slow descent that I can't stop with more power or climb attitude. The plane will lose 2-300 ft. then climb back up of its own accord after a couple of minutes. I'm generally operating near gross due to my own substantial frame.

I discussed these sensations with some long time Quickie drivers. They are probably related only to general lift and sink in the air mass, which affect the Quickie more due to its low power. Bob McFarland told me he has experienced as much as 1,000' loss while flying at altitude and Doug Swanningson admits that he gets a close look at the ground for quite some time after takeoffs but he just turns out on course and doesn't get excited about it anymore - sooner or later he gets up to his 5-6,000' cruising altitude (more later than sooner, I suspect).

At 270 lbs., I have a lighter than usual Quickie and during testing I loaded up about 15 lbs. over gross to see what it would do. As usual, it jumped right up to about 50 ft. in ground effect then hesitated a moment while it decided how much of a thrill it would give me for the rest of the climb. The day was about 95 degrees, so we cruised along just above a line of telephone poles for a while to see what the birds had been doing before continuing a slow climbout. An engine failure would not be fun here. Swanningson tells me that on long cross country's he picks his fuel stops at runways of 5-6,000 ft. or more if possible. You can't ignore 800 hrs. of Quickie experience.


OTHER QUICKIE ENGINE TRIALS

Here's what I've heard regarding other engines lately: Brock McCaman of Camarillo, CA tried a Down Star rotary in his Quickie but severe vibration and mechanical problems in the engine and drive coupling reportedly caused him to remove it. He now has a Rotax 503 installed and may fly by the end of August. He is not a QBA member. Could one of you California guys stay on top of this for us?

Art Kueutzer of Port St. Lucie, FL has just put one flight on his Kawasaki installation. Climb is twice that of the Onan but that's all he can say as yet. Art: (305) 335-8531.

QBAer Gary Wilson, Bruceton, TN has a Dawn Star installed but is encountering technical problems. His aircraft has not flown.

Tom Solan, Marietta, GA has not yet flown his Global Quickie due to other commitments. Bob Giles got his Global fixes installed right after OSH. On 2nd test flight, I found new mounts cured canard vibes and new carb gave 15 mph more; great climb, a nice solid feel to the craft, but a real ground looper all of a sudden (though I force it).


From Steve Eckrich #420

I haven't flown my Quickie for several months, mainly because I have been gone a lot and school remains quite busy. I have also been finally stricken with Onan stud problems; I have had to install Helicoils in 3 locations and now one of these is loosening up. It is frustrating to spend so much time tinkering with a mediocre engine in a very good airplane. Oh well, watch and wait.

I flew Deen Goehring's Quickie (Aberdeen, SD) when it had 15 hr. on it. Deen did a very good job on construction and incorporated exhaust exit out the bottom and a very solid, tight fitting, forward sliding canopy. Both I felt would reduce cockpit noise.

The plane was amazing in that it flew virtually identically to mine - similar rate of climb, top speed (115 mph) and landing characteristics. Also a slide-sideways flying tendency and a little left roll tendency. The cockpit noise difference was negligible; mine is LOUD and Deen's is loud. It is wise for pilots to wear headsets to protect their hearing, the loss of which is slow, subtle and irreversible (Steve's entering his last year of med. school - ED.)


From Mike Conlin N60JW

Departing on a recent 230 mile cross country in my Quickie, I soon began to notice that my engine seemed to be gradually losing power. I chose to disregard the possible problem and flew right past 2 perfectly good airports. Well, the engine quit and I landed on about 1000' of straight highway and damaged only my prop (they always stop vertical) when I made a last ditch effort to miss an oncoming car. A call to local QBAers Jim Masal and Ron Gowan got me a prop and the tools to look for the problem.

The carburetor and 40 micron fuel filter both had sand and dirt contamination that one would have trouble believing it could pass through the filter. (Ooops, I just remembered this is my second engine and I ran it 8-10 hrs. on the test stand without a filter!!!) If anyone else didn't use a filter while running at ANY time it might be a good idea to look in the carb and make sure it's clean. It doesn't take much to block the fuel metering system.

Another potential costly mistake I made was putting an unknown propeller (stamped 42x30 Cowley, but visibly different from mine) on the plane for purposes of takeoff on a "runway" (highway) of questionable length. The static runup was OK, the fuel system was clean, the police blocked off the road and I took off. It was really uncomfortable for a few moments not knowing if I would be able to clear everything ahead.

Poor judgment hurts more people and ruins otherwise perfectly good airplanes much more often than we like to admit, so honestly ask yourself "isn't this one of those times to get the trailer and not risk messing everything up?"


From Steve Hickam

I've heard enough bad things about the stock trim system to justify a warning to builders; it seems the handle slips out of the notch plate and goes to fully forward trim. I'm installing a Long EZ type system in my plane. So far it works great, although it's a real pain to install.


From L. W. Portwood

I finished my Quickie, taxied it 2 hrs. then sent it to a paint shop for the painting. When it went in it weighted 244 lbs. and when it came out he had it up to 296 lb. I'm now removing the paint so I can repaint it.

ED. NOTE: Holy pigments, Batman!!!


From Ed Chalmers N43EC

(See the photo of Ed's inboard Quickie gear in #22)

The wood, two rib structure will be buried inside of the new high-lift (bug and rain proof) canard. The gear attaches to the bottom side of the canard by 8 bolts (4 per side). Differential heel brakes will be used to actuate the mechanical drum brakes in the wheels, which use 4.10/3.50-4 tires. Ground clearance is sufficient for a 48" prop. The bottom side of the canard is straight with no anhedral. Top side of the canard has some anhedral due to wing taper. Expect to be hotwiring canard foam shortly. (Thanks Ed, keep us up with your progress - ED.) Ed's phone: (619) 728-3692.


From Gary Wilson

On my Onan powered Quickie the problem of vibration of the instrument panel was solved by bolting the panel rigidly to the fuselage. In rubber mounts, the instruments were not readable. Bolted solidly there was a slight vibration of the panel. If it had been a composite sandwich instead of aluminum, I firmly believe that even the slight vibration would have been eliminated.

When installing your 20 hp. heads, check the accuracy of your ignition timing marks using a degree wheel and dial indicator. Mine were off approximately 1.5 degrees. Don't forget that the ignition timing should be set to 20 degrees BTDC with the 20 hp. heads.

Also, for better cooling, remove all paint from the heads and coat them with Gun Kote. Abrasive blasting would work very well with the side benefit of increasing the surface area by 10 - 20%. Gary's phone: (901) 586-4311.


From Vic Schatz N317Q

I made 20 test flights, about 16 hrs. on my little 18 hp. engine. Off a 2300' field elevation, the plane had a rate of climb of about 250 fpm. I don't know why, but every landing was a no-bounce, stalled touchdown. One was a crosswind landing on one wheel and tail. No problem. But there was need for more hp. so we went to the 20 hp. version so well described by Anderson and Little. That took so long, mostly waiting for parts, that although we finished the 20 hp. conversion I meanwhile developed a health problem and am now illegal. With the 20 hp. mod, we can now get 3600 rpm on the ground instead of 3000 max.


From D. J. Harms

I'm trying to use Rohacell (polymethacrylimide) foam core material for my Quickie fuselage sides and am ending up doing a BUNCH of experiments to up the peel strength in order to take advantage of the superior mechanical properties.

ED. NOTE: Keep us informed of your progress, D.J. Although the specified urethane foam for the Quickie fuselage is very easy to shape, if you don't lay on the micro thick (and maybe even if you do) you may find bubbles cropping up on your finished fuselage as I have. I believe this is due to poor adhesion (peel strength). I also notice that Rutan no longer uses urethane in his EZ fuselage construction. Because of the susceptibility of styrofoam to fuel leaks it would be a dangerous substitute to use near our fuel tank, but maybe you have the answer in your hands right now.


From Jim Thomas N1176L

My Quickie has about 65 hr. TT, the airframe is excellent and everything is on or better than the book numbers except top speed. I've had some engine problems mainly stemming from leaky valves that were never seated. I changed to the 20 hp. heads at about 3 hrs. after grinding the valves. The engine has performed well since though I can't tell if the rpm. increase was due to the heads or grinding valves. CHT is 375 max., stabilizing at 275 in cruise, but oil temp works up to red line in hot weather. I have been working to get it down by relieving baffling around the crankcase now. It takes 20-30 minutes to get up. Maybe the new gaskets contribute by conducting more heat to the cylinder walls from the heads.

The airframe is a dream but it sure would be nice to have a good 60-70 lb., 30-40 hp. 4 cycle engine.

I still get some take up every time the heads are retorqued although an A&I checked the studs and said the threads were OK in the block.



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