Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Theodore A Ralph on November 23, 2009 at 12:00pm

I, too, am waiting for final drawings and parts. I have begun prep - draining gas, setting up shop for the removed wings, etc. I think I have read everything and I have not seen anything regarding the 601 canopy latch, Are any mods anticipated for the 601 latching mechanism?

On a related topic, I am in central Wisconsin.Zip code 53950. If anyone else in the area is planning on ordering the upgrade package and would like to consolidate to minimize shipping costs let me know. My e-mail is theoralph@comcast.net.

Thanks for all your hard work.

Permalink Reply by Matt Heintz on November 23, 2009 at 7:15pm

Theodore,
Yes, there is a lot of things you can do right now such as:
- removing the wings and opening the wings
- removing the solid rivets in the wings
- removing the bellcrank "U" channel
- removing the center spar in the fuselage
- removing ALL the solid rivets in the center spar
- removing the rear spar attach brackets in the fuselage
See the Zenith blog on how to do the above.

Regarding the canopy latching system. If anyone is concerned that their system does not latch properly, install the extra safety system proposed by the Australia CAA. If your canopy does open in flight, follow the safety procedure in the AMD POH manual.

Permalink Reply by Mike Armstead on November 23, 2009 at 3:37pm

Has anyone considered replacing the 4 pieces of .25*1.5 aluminum bar inside the carry through spar with something thinner. This could be 1/8 4130 or 1/8 6061 with an additional pice of 1/8*1.5 on the outside of the sheet metal cover. This would give an additional 1/4 inch of clearance inside the carry through spar to place the root doubler in. Just a thought.

Thanks,
Mike

Permalink Reply by Clemens on November 23, 2009 at 5:25pm

In my mind a very good idea! The 15mm flanges of 6-ZU-1,2 could than be made longer and clamped (riveted) between the bars.
Regards,
Clemens

Permalink Reply by Matt Heintz on November 23, 2009 at 7:17pm

Mike, we have addressed the extra space needed in the center spar for the 1/8" doubler. You will see this in the updated drawings. Also, we are trying to not mix different metals together in the spar area.

Permalink Reply by Matt Heintz on November 24, 2009 at 4:28pm

Mike,
Yes, this could be done but when you see the new drawings, you will understand why we are not doing this. I believe that we have this all worked out.

Permalink Reply by Louis W. Ott on November 23, 2009 at 3:49pm

I returned home late last night from an enjoyable and educational 3 days at Quality Sport Planes shop in Cloverdale, CA. learning the techniques of installing the 601XL upgrade package. About 8 to 12 attended and I think I was the only one who has not yet completed a 601. The kit hardware isn't finalized yet and neither are the drawings. We had the parts from a preliminary kit sent from Zenith on Nov 18.. Some were the same as the final kit parts and some were not. We found better installation methods than the drawings showed, and discovered alterations needed to some of the parts. Doug was on the phone frequently to Zenith feeding this information back so the final drawings and kit parts will reflect those improvements. The upgrade package isn't horrible to do, but does take some time. When you see the results of the upgrade work, everyone was in agreement that this is going to be worth it as an additional safety measure.

I'd respectfully recommend that this interim period be spent preparing for installing the final upgrade package rather than forging very far ahead with installing parts that may later be changed in the final version.

Doug will be offering his services to install the upgrade package to help those who may not have the time or tools to do their own.

Many thanks to Doug and Lori for opening their facilities so we could see and learn more about installing the upgrade.

Permalink Reply by Matt Heintz on November 23, 2009 at 7:23pm

Louis, good to hear that the weekend workshop went well. Doug and Lori are doing a great job at QSP. Thanks very much.

Permalink Reply by Tim Juhl on November 23, 2009 at 6:39pm

I see that there is an order form posted for the upgrade package. I do not see any options listed, such as spar bolts or rivets, with or without wing lockers, aircraft with hinged or hingeless ailerons, etc.

I might save you a few phone calls if you specified exactly what the kit will include in case we need to order a few additional parts to complete our modification.

Tim Juhl

Permalink Reply by Stephen R. Smith on November 23, 2009 at 9:38pm

By the way, the link for the order form can be found on this page. As of now it is just below the 4th paragraph.

Steve

Permalink Reply by Matt Heintz on November 24, 2009 at 5:29am

AMD SLSA customers.
You will need to order your upgrade kit from AMD in Eastman GA. When ordering, you will need your aircraft serial and N number. Please only order the kit once you have worked out the details of when you will be getting the upgrade done.

Permalink Reply by Matt Heintz on November 24, 2009 at 5:24am

Tim,
Yes, we need clarify that the upgrade kit is the same for all aircraft. If you have wing lockers or not, hinged aileron or not etc. the upgrade kit is the same for aircraft.

The upgrade kit parts (at $352 USD) does include all the rivets and even new spar bolts. Talking about spar bolts, we will be going to a stronger type bolt. The existing spar bolts and spar area are very close to the same strength, which is typically what you want in a good design. So now that we have added extra material to the spar caps at the root, we need to also increase the strength of the bolts.

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