Doug MacDonald's Blog (7)

Exhaust Rubbing Engine Mount

Today I was finally able to begin disassembly of my exhaust system to investigte the damage done to my engine mount.  The right side cyl. tubes are too close to the lower tube of the engine mount and have rubbed a hole in the lower engine mount tube.

 

 

As can be seen in the photo, there is very little clearance between the right side exhaust…

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Added by Doug MacDonald on September 23, 2012 at 6:15pm — 1 Comment

Exploring NW Ontario in a CH-701

Last evening I had an amazing flight in my CH-701.  In the 1980s the provincial government had a program of applying herbicide to recently replanted conifer forests so that the young trees would not have to compete with faster growing native deciduous vegitation.  The side effect of this program was the creation of gravel runways in remote locations throughout the region.  Having found one of these abandoned strips more than…

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Added by Doug MacDonald on July 10, 2011 at 9:00am — 4 Comments

Streamlined Strut Covers

Finished my streamlined strut covers yesterday.  Didn't really see much top end performance increase, maybe 1 MPH.  Slow speed handling is much happier though.  Stall speed is down and the plane happily climbs at 30 MPH now where before it got a little mushy at about 40 before.

 

I have the 80 HP Rotax 912 UL, 70 inch Warp Drive 3 blade with nickle leading edges set to about 8 deg.  This combination gives me 78 MPH cruising at 5200, 5400 RPM on full power climbout and a top end…

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Added by Doug MacDonald on May 15, 2011 at 7:32am — 12 Comments

Progress report

CH-701 C-GBQX became an airplane on November 1st, 2010.  I now have about 36 hours on it.  Phase one ended at 25hrs and I have been enjoying giving ride to my friends. 

 

I'm building streamlined strut covers.  With my 80 hp Rotax the plane cruises about 78-80mph at 5200 rpm when solo.  I'd like to get just a bit more performance out of it.  That and maybe a bit better climb on hot days (if they ever get here).  I'm hoping to fly it to Oshkosh this year so I need to get these…

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Added by Doug MacDonald on April 30, 2011 at 9:56pm — No Comments

Progress update

Last night I finally overcame that lack of power from my Rotax 912 UL engine. It was running rough at about 4200 RPM and then loosing power. After thoroughly cleaning out the carbs and installing a $350.00 carb kit, I think I found the source of the problem. A small bit of interference on the arms of the enrichener cables were holding them slightly open. With a Rotax engine, the enrichers (Chokes) will cause a lean condition at higher RPM due to the way the float chamber is…

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Added by Doug MacDonald on August 6, 2010 at 11:30am — 4 Comments

Continuing Progress

Haven't updated here in a while so I figured I'd let everyone know what I've been up too. I'm in the proverbial 90% done 90% to go final phase of building. My seat cushions are out for upholstery, I'm fininshing up some minor body work on my used cowl. I managed to drill the rest of the holes in my windshield without doing any serious damage. I spent most of today tidying up my wiring harness. Things like that.

I have a two page punch list that I am working through and am…

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Added by Doug MacDonald on February 15, 2010 at 5:52pm — 1 Comment

Making progress

Progress is happening in my shop. The flapperons are hung but not connected to the controls yet (needed some 090 to make the barckets out of). The slats are mostly mounted. I have a guy coming tomorrow to look at what I need for upholstery. I have dark red and grey leather. Pretty soon the wings will be able to come back off so I'll be able to move in my garage again.



Oh, and the big step is that the paperwork has been processed for my registration marks. I don't know what they are… Continue

Added by Doug MacDonald on August 24, 2009 at 9:06pm — No Comments

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