Thouhgt I would pass this on for scratch builders mostly. I had a problem pulling down the top section of the flaperon skin after securing the bottom side of the skin. I left off the hinge brackets till after I had lined up and drill rivet holes. What was happening is the 2 little nose ribs were being distorted and bent as I pulled up the skin with the straps. Quick fix was to insert the wooden form blok back into the nose ribs, pull the skin up tite, mark and drill rivets holes. Now when…

I recently have had to do some repair /replace work and I have had to do a lot of rivet removal.

I thought I would share a little info on this subject

 Most  of the rivets on Zenith Aircraft are the Avex blind rivets .  A4 or A5 in size

I have found that the A5 are a little easier to remove that the A4s.

 You just want to remove the head and not try to dill it all the way out . Most of the time when you remove the head the reat of the rivet will easilly…

I received the rudder and started building. 

So for it is going great. 

When I have time at work I go over the instruction so when is get back to the hanger (Shezena said this is what the garage is now called) I can get to work without delay.

Has anyone converted to an open cockpit on a 601XL?

In our line of operations we often experience a lot of turbulence at low level (we are approved to operate below 500' for aerial dispersal and supply drops).  We also get some long, at times fast, descents.  With this combination of events we have decided that we really want a header tank for a variety of reasons...  We have simulated 'uncovered ports' in ground tests, and do not like the VERY unlikely possibility that it could cause.  By taking the 'Tee'ing of tanks to a low point 'air…

I chose teflon ss braided fuel lines with AN fittings, an Andair fuel selector valve( LH RH, off) and a center routing of hoses. While a…

Spent a rare relatively warm January Sunday afternoon disassembling, deburring and priming the CH 750 elevator. Still a few hours left and hope to complete tomorrow. This is the first project work I've done since before the holidays. Felt great to be working on it again!

I just got done installing a root fairing on a 750  . I had noticed  some weakness in the sheet metal along the curve on it and also on others 750s and 701s , I have also seen some root fairings with lots of dimples and waves  . A few have developed small cracks from the oil canning of this area.  Thought I would show what I had done on this 750 and can easily be done on other 750s or 701s

I just marked a line down the center of the fairing panel and started about 10mm from the spar .…

A year and a half ago I volunteered to make some Google Maps from the Zenith.aero membership database but to my shame I have only just now gotten around to it. So, with the data from August 2011, I made three maps: one for members registered with a 701, one for those with a 750, and another for the 650 members.

Here's a screenshot of the 750 one.…

A journey that began in the middle of June ended yesterday when I received my ASEL endorsement on my LSA license.  I had been licensed for almost a year for PPC when I got the bug for fixed wing (always had the bug).  I began flight lessons in June, and purchased my Zenith CH701 in August. 

The lessons continued in the 701 with Mr. Ed Athey who was very patient with this "old guy".  He was encouraging at all times, even when I got discouraged.  Ed has over 30,000 hours of safe flying…

I finally ran out of things that needed done before first flight of my 601 XL B. The next thing to do was fly it.

Engine is a 2700 cc Aeromax Corvair

Engine installation is my own design except motor mount.

Rotec carb, homebrew intake and exhaust system.

Dual Ford EDIS-6 ignition using single Ford 6 cyl coil pack.

Warp drive 68" prop

Cowling is modified fiberglass Aeromax

No problems or difficulty on the first flight other than the…

Here is Bill doing a little Sky Jeep testing.

Flew with the doors off first time today. 2.5 more hours. Here is a pic of the annual Vol Fire Dept. annual auction in Trenton NC. What a madhouse, I was happy to be in my plane...

We are still trying to figure why exactly all the coolant came out. The best hypothesis is an airlock developed in the system and forced the coolant out.

That still leaves us wondering why the airlock started in the first place.

Once piece of the puzzle has been figured out, which sadly creates a new question. The bottle failed due to exhaust heat. We were seeing EGTs close to the yellow\warning zone before the failure. The portion of the bottle that melted was…

Some good news:

First the cylinder bodies were all fine. They measured in spec and had no scaring and no signs of warping.

The better news is the cylinder and heads all passed their hardness tests. The minimum hardness of the heads is 85HB and the Cylinders 90HB.

The heads measured between 102-134 and the cylinders 108-118. The lowest values were for #1 head and #2 cylinder.

As expected the bolts were all loose from the…

Today was the first day I have flown since November 30th.  I did my solo cross country that day.  Shortly after that I had to have emergency gall bladder removal, so I was out of commisison for a while.  Then cold, wet weather.  Today was beautiful, and perfect flying weather.  Flew a total of two hours and was ready for more.  Tomorrow is my check ride with CFI #2 who will endorse my logbook and I will be officially LSA ASEL and PPCL.

Several people have asked about the video cameras that I've been using.  I've posted a few videos that include views from inside the cockpit (with audio), and views from outside the cockpit. 



I have an NFlightCam GPS+ (about 1 year old), and a GoPro Hero2 (about 5 months old), generally using both cameras at the same time on my test flights. 

These small video cameras have been a big help in my Phase 1 testing.  It's helpful to be able to "go back and review what…

Sitting here in Idaho wishing it would warm up to at least flyable weather.  Been right around zero and even though I have an engine pre-heater I built and the newly installed Zenith cabin heat I can't force my self out to the airport. 

I finished off the second Condition Inspection in early December. No issues except that I found that the left radiator mount had broken at the front engine mounting bolt.  Seemed to have failed radially from the mounting hole under the washer.  Ordered…