Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Lance Gingell on December 5, 2009 at 12:18pm

This does seem like a worthwhile thing to do while fitting the upgrade kit. I think it would make for much better visibility over the nose.
I think it would be great if Zenith covered this option on the drawings for existing 601XL builders, or at least in a parts call-out.

I presume that if the rear of the wing is moved up, that the rear spar attach would be different? or is the rear attach bolt just located in a different place?

Permalink Reply by Gary Ray on December 11, 2009 at 5:58am

Mathieu
If the wing trailing edge is moved up, the angle of attack is reduced so the deck angle in cruise flight would need to increase in order to acheive the same lift. My understanding was it needed to be lowered by about 30 mm to make a 2.5 degree increase in the angle of attack when sitting level on the ground or level cruise flight. Where am I wrong?
Current 601XL spar being set to 9 degrees forward tilt when level would be reduced to 6.5 degrees forward tilt and this would lower the attach point of the rear spar.

Permalink Reply by Charles L Smith on December 4, 2009 at 11:38pm

Howdy there;

With this upgrade package it appears that all the builders are going to have to purchase a
rivet gun and bucking bar to finish the upgrade. How about a community purchased rivet gun
and bucking bar care package for use for 3 days and ups delivery paid by the users?

Permalink Reply by Matt Heintz on December 5, 2009 at 7:56am

Charles,
If you know builders in your area, sharing a rivet gun is perfect. There are a lot of RV builders who have all the equipment. Also, I am sure that if you are part of an EAA chapter, they will be able to assist you. For those who are not familiarized with solid riveting, I would suggest the assistance of an A&P for a few hours.

Permalink Reply by Matt Heintz on December 5, 2009 at 12:57pm

Larry,
If you want to complain, email me at newplane@gmail.com
This Q&A is not for that. Thanks.

Regarding the spacer, the penny washer we will be supplying is an AN type washer, so corrosion will not be an issue. Yes, we can supply new spacers etc. but the price and deliver time will increase and where do we stop! (if we were to replace all the spaces, we would need to make more than 5,000 of them. You would be waiting a long time for your upgrade kit, and for us to contract them out is too expensive!).

I am glad that you agree that structurally, it is not a problem.

When we update the 650 drawings, the upgrade parts will be incorporated into the drawings and will not necessary have the same part numbers as most of the parts not be there as the original parts will just be made thicker in most instances.

Permalink Reply by Larry Whitlow on December 5, 2009 at 1:36pm

Mathieu

Sorry I sounded so harsh. I don't want to make it harder on you guys I could have stated my concerns better, and complained less. I deleted the message to keep other from getting the wrong idea about my point I don't want anyone to think you guys deleted the message

I do think its important to question things in the public forum not in private mail, Many others might have the same question but not ask it or not notice something until its brought up for discussion

I did and I'm sure many others forget that we are not talking about our individual planes here, but a fleet wide parts issue that is to easily lost

I'm sorry for my tone I'll control it better in the future.

Back to the spacer.. is the part 6-ZU-2-3 on the drawings the correct dims without the washer? I can easily turn myself a set of spacers to use instead of the washer. I personally would rather eliminate the washers and make sure the spar is exactly the correct width. I didn't think washer thickness was that constant. I always thought that washers could vary in thickness by a number of thou.

Sorry again

Larry

Permalink Reply by Matt Heintz on December 5, 2009 at 3:14pm

Larry,
Thanks for your update. For the spar spacer 6-ZU-2-3, we are adding exactly 0.125 to the existing spar caps. 0.250+0.040+0.250+0.125=0.665"

Permalink Reply by Stephen C. Martin on December 5, 2009 at 11:58am

Hi Mathieu:

The drawing 6-ZU-1 shows there are three nose ribs inboard of the fuel tanks. As you know, the older design had four (as does your demo aircraft). Will the mod. kit work with the older version?

Thanks: Steve Martin

Permalink Reply by Matt Heintz on December 5, 2009 at 3:05pm

Steve,
Yes, as I think the older XL had the exact same spar. 6-ZU-1-1 and 6-ZU-1-2 should fit well to your spar.

Permalink Reply by Larry Whitlow on December 5, 2009 at 1:40pm

Mathieu

Is there any idea when the parts kits will be shipping?? I'm not pushing, just trying to plan out my work time around the upcoming holidays.

Larry

Permalink Reply by Joe Scheibinger on December 5, 2009 at 1:58pm

Larry & Mathieu

Thanks for asking this question Larry. Mathiew, please put me down for the kit. My serial number is 65115. I will call you on Tuesday if you need a credit card number. How is this going to work? Do we place our order now and pay for it now?

Joe

Permalink Reply by Ken Pavlou on December 5, 2009 at 3:29pm

Joe,

You can order an upgrade kit here: http://zenithair.com/kit/601xl-upgrade.html

Your credit card will not be charged until the kit ships.

Ken Pavlou

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