Greg,

Sorry to hear that your Zodie is out of commission, but glad to hear that there were no physical injuries. Hopefully you can scrape up the funds to bebuild it. Are you still soaring? I remember that your principal reason for buying the Zodie was to cut the commute time to Warwick down.

I had a little unscheduled adventure with my 601 back in January. While flying formation with some friends in a Champ, all the teeth on my redrive belt stripped out and I was suddenly left with a very low performance gilder over a heavily residential area with about 1500 feet of altitude. Luckily there was a harvested no-till corn field within gliding distance, so I put it in there. There was no damage to the plane in the landing other than the frozen cornstalks knocking the paint of the front halves of the wheel pants. I had shut the engine off on the final approach to stop the prop. The field was located right next to a fire station, and the only damage that the bird received was from an overambitious fireman who managed to crunch the left trailing edge of the wingtip when he attempted to lift the wing. Ended up having to cut a patch of skin from the rear spar to the trailing edge out, and splicing a new piece back in. I just happened to have a video camera mounted on the inside of the canopy, so the whole episode was captured in 1080p high def video.

My son Ian is going to Australia with the Indianapolis Youth Chorale, a high school aged choir. They will be perfoming at the Sydney Opera House around the middle of June. They will also be touring up the east coast of Australia, but he does not know where they are going exactly yet. I will keep you informed if they end up anywhere near Lismore.

You said one of your carbies came off in flight. As I recall, you have the same setup as mine, a pair of Bing 64's. How were you advised to safety them up? I should probably do the same on mine.

Thanks for responding, take care,

Dennis

Greg,

Thanks for posting the link to the carb retaining spring fittings on the Zenair site. I'm sure there are plenty of Zenith aircraft fitted with Bing carbs on both EA-81's and Rotax 912's. The principal reason for the redrive belt failure was age. They are recommended to be replaced every 300 hours or 3 years, whichever comes first. The belt that was on our engine was at least 7 or 8 years old, assuming it was a brand new belt when it came with the Stratus redrive which was purchased in 2004. It sat on our plane for 5 years before we even got airborne. It was one of those things that we did not consider to be "old" once we actually started flying. Since then, I can assure you that all the rubber items on the plane have been replaced. Radiator hoses, bungee cords on the landing gear, and all accessory belts on the engine. We have decided to replace the belt every year at annual inspection, regardless of the amount of time accumulated that year. I am currently at home, and my purchase information for the replacement belt is at work. I will forward it to you tomorrow morning. We are now using an Opti-belt HP, which about twice the strength of the original belt, the drive teeth are reinforced with aramid fiber. They are manufactured in Germany, used extensively for kart racing in Europe, and require a minimum order of 2 belts. With shipping they cost me $125 USD. Not sure what they would run in Australia.

I went flying today, the soaring season is about to arrive for my region. Run into several decent thermals today, so I pulled the engine back to around 2300 rpm, slowed to around 50 mph, and climbed from 2500' to 4500'. Ended up putting 1.6 hours on it, but only burned a little over 4 US gallons of gas. (15.2 litres of petrol)

Thanks again for posting the link for everyone,

Take care,

Dennis

Greg,

Here's the redrive belt info that I promised you. It is actually a Opti-Belt OmegaHP belt.

The size is HTD880x8mmx60mm My source for it here in Indiana was through Polybelt.com, US phone number 1-800-859-7659. Ask for a chap named Zack. He is quite knowledgable with the product. Check their website for contact info. As I mentioned before, there is a 2 piece minimum order, but the shelf life is long enough that prevents it becoming an issue if you replace the belt annually. To store the belts that are in reserve, wrap them with plastic sheet wrap (SaranWrap or equivalent), and place inside a 2-gallon ziploc bag with the belt on edge. Keep in a dark closed area that preferably stays relatively cool. The reason for this is to keep exposure to ultraviolet to a minimum while in storage. Ours is in a 2-drawer filing cabinet in the back of our hangar.

Good luck,

Dennis