Hi Gene,

I made the tow bar and it works fine.

With respect to high temps check for overly lean fuel/air mixtures, leaky air baffles, or ignition timing.

I sealed my hinges on top of my cowl with flexible metal tape on the inside for a very noticable improvement.

I use SCAT on all beneath cowl air ducts without problems.  One tip to control the unrulely wire is to take needle

nose pliers to bend a small angle on the wire end and tuck it into the duct.

I use SCAT, even though Jabiru says you should use a smooth hose.  After I had been flying for a couple of years, I tried using a large 90 degree elbow radiator hose (because someone on the Zodiac forum was saying gas mileage would improve), but my EGTs were high then, so I went back to SCAT tubing. I have read on the forums that some people have bought different jets for the carb. 

Gary: Thanks for the reply. I like the push rods, I think the whole ailrons system feels very solid versus the cables. And very easy to set and adjust. I'm glad to hear about your hinges, Its sound like I would not gain much by installing the hinges. This was my next step. I still think the ailrons are very stiff versus other a.c. I have flow. I added 2 plastic bearing on the touque tube,1 at each end. I feel this took out all the binding I had felt before the upgrade.
You have me confused about the 60 lbs you picked up from the up grade, any throughts as to why? used difference scales, added alots of extra's, ect. I picked up 25 lbs used same scales I used when I first weight the a.c.
My C.G. didn't move much either. only 0.1. that was a suprise to me. The A.C. feel very solid now versus before the upgrade. I will move the a.c. to blountstown (f95) next week.pfn will completely close at the end of this month. My new phase-1 will be fron f95-mai-1j0-54j maybe I will see you sometimes.
let me hear back from you.
thanks Gene

Hi Gene, Just wondering if you can feel any difference in the way your airplane flies since you added the aileron push rods. I can tell the difference in how my ailerons feel since I installed hinges on them. On the ground the ailerons are easier to move, but in flight, the difference is very slight, if any. While I had the airplane apart, I also added a parking brake (just two valves in the brake line to hold brake pressure in the lines). I don't use the parking brake very often, but it is handy when parking on a bit of a slope, or on windy days. My airplane gained about 60 pounds with the mod...CG didn't change much. After flying the plane a little, I removed the control stops that they had you install for the ailerons. I didn't like the way te stick felt in a decending left turn...it felt like I could feel some binding in the controls when I start to roll out of the turn. I tried making the space larger, but I just didn't like the feel, so I took it off. The airplane flies good now. Where do you you keep your plane now? Did they completely close the old Bay County airport? Gary

Gene
Thanks for the towbar information, after the gear reversal I find that the aircraft is much harder to push in reverse without experiencing an unintended quick reversal of direction, so the towbar is going to make things easier and safer when putting it into the hanger.
I have not tried two people entering on the step at the same time. One is very stable.

Gene,
You have a very nice looking aircraft.
I now have 127 hours TT on the 601XL-B. 14 since the upgrade and gear reversal, 42 since Roy's 5th bearing was put in.
I recently reset my horizontal stabilizer 3/8 of an inch higher at the rear mounting bracket and increased the bracket to .090 . Raising the rear was easier than lowering the front on a completed aircraft. I had to retrim the lower front rudder to clear the saddle fiberglass but otherwise it was straight forward. I reversed my landing gear during the rebuild (easy and took 40 minutes with the wings off) in order to lighten my nosewheel weight. This moved the mains 5.75 inches further forward and really imporved the nosewheel lightness.
With both the stabilizer change and the main gear reversed the aircraft rotates naturally at 54 mph with neutral trim. I still need the flap-trim booster with flaps deployed.
I use apporximately 1/2 of the full trim travel during landing.
Before these late changes I had to pull the nosewheel off the ground at 64 mph and it was impossible to keep it off during landing without adding power. Now I can easily make soft field landings without fear of overstressing the nosewheel on rough ground.
The tail does not sink while entering but I have a Corvair engine up front . Yours may be lighter.
What did you make your tow bar out of?
Gary Ray

Sounds like progress to me... keep at it. I've been dragging my feet partially because of the hectic schedule (leaving for a dental course / ski trip in Utah Tuesday) and partially because I want to include my dad in the airplane stuff. He just doesn't enjoy the damp chilly environment that has prevailed in the hangar lately. It'll get done soon enough I'm sure. Right now, I'm focussed on encouraging him to go ahead and get a 5th wheel camper so he can continue to camp with the rest of us.

On top of that, all us old farts have a string of medical appointments to deal with, right?

Ed

Our intention was to ski Mon - Fri but today (Friday) the snow is falling to hard to be any fun so we decided to start the drive home. That plan caved in at 8 this mornign when we saw that (A) we might not make it out of the parking lot and (B) the roads were not safe to travel due to too much snow.

So we're sitting it out at least until tomorrow before hitting the road. This has not been the best ski trip ever. Had I known how it all would go down (as I do now in hindsight), I would have stayed home and worked on my plane too.

Ed

Hey Gene,

It's been so busy here lately that I still haven't finished the 50 hour maint. on my plane. Marita and I will be in New Mexico for all of next week (skiing). When we get back we're picking up a new camper then maybe after that, I'll have control of the schedule again.

Ed

Well Gene, are you going to tear open your recently airborne wings and fuselage to do the Zenith mods? I think this is a steaming load of lawsuit prevention horsecrap, but hey.... I could be wrong. I really don't think very many flying XLs are going into the hangar for a major modification like this. I think it's fine if a guy is just starting to build and wants to incorporate the mods in his plane. As for me? I like my plane just fine as is.

See you soon I hope. You want a ride in my deathtrap?

Ed

Until you get the carb jets right to bring those EGTs down you can do it the country boy way... pull some carb heat on and watch those EGTs drop. That richens your mixture. I still need to go one size larger on my main jet. I have the jet on hand but have not installed it yet. I go borderline high on several EGTs at full throttle on every takeoff. At full tilt, the engine should be a tad rich.

Ed

A weekend flight to Panama City is not out of the question. I would call ahead and brief with you on local traffic / control issues since your area has a heavy military presence and is completely foreign to me airplane-wise.

Ed

I finished the forty hours today and I'm looking forward to fly-ins, airshows, and pancake breakfasts around the state. I also hope to visit some builders who are in neighboring states within reach. Rest assured, vigilance and continued tweaking are still on the agenda.

Ed

Great news about uour first flight. I finished up my second annual condition inspection, but the weather has been so rainy lately that I have only flown once in the last month. Today (oct 10) turned out pretty nice, but I have a couple of chores around the house that I had to take care of.

Sympathies for the bell-ringing that was bestowed upon the Gator quaretrback and the bag-puking episode that followed. He's a hell of a young football player and we at LSU wish him a full and speedy recovery.... preferably sometime after next weeks game at Death Valley in Baton Rouge.

You been able to do anything fun in this incessant heat?

Ed

I don't know if you read much of the stuff from the main page of this site but Stephen R. Smith just wrote a long venting gripe about how his Jabiru FWF did not address the specific needs of the engine as pertians to the XL yada yada. He goes on to say that he hired an A&P to do the FWF but the A&P did not read the instructions. Then he goes on to discuss how he has discovered that scat tube making a 90 degree bend into the carb is a troublesome thing (Ya think?) and now he has banished scat tubing except for his carb heat plumbing becasue his climate does not require it (????!!!) I wonder what planet he flies around. And people wonder how the occasional crash occurs. Wow.

Ed

Gene, I hope my answer about your flaps was satisfactory. I may have gone into too much detail, but its tough for me to describe something without being there in person. By the way, I had a similar problem.

Gene,
One of the main things to observer is that you crank it over, without starting, to insure that you have oil pressure! Then when you start the engine keep it at an idle, till the engine gets to operational temps, before applying power. Pay attention to individual cylinder temps if you can. Mine ran warm on the two center cylinders. I made small deflectors that evened out the temps.

Ron