2020 ENGINE BUYER’S GUIDE ® KITPLANES February Punch? a Findlay 2020What’s • KnowLong-EZs About Didn’t You What Into an Overhaul • Turns Inspection an Engine Guide • How Buyer’s Engine 2020: Our Massive Vroom Tommy Meyer YOUR ENGINE CHOICES Makes One for Dad We List All the Popular FEBRUARY 2020 Engines for Homebuilts BELVOIR PUBLICATIONS BELVOIR TRICYCLE GEAR In the Shop: It’s All About the Attitude • ELT Gotchas • Glareshield Tips and Tricks THE SUBSONEX CONTINUES • IRAN vs Overhaul Tackling Wiring, Avionics and Plumbing www.kitplanes.com ENJOY THE VIEW. EVERY TIME YOU FLY. G3X TOUCH™ SERIES FOR EXPERIMENTAL AIRCRAFT TOUCHSCREEN, INTEGRATION WITH ADS-B TARGETTREND™ SUPPORTS ANY MODERN AUTOPILOT COMPLETE KNOB AND COMMS, TRANSPONDER, TRAFFIC AND COMBINATION OF 10.6” WITH ACCLAIMED SYSTEM STARTING BUTTON CONTROL IFR GPS AND MORE SIRIUSXM® WEATHER* AND 7” DISPLAYS, UP TO 4 PERFORMANCE AT $4,495** FOR MORE DETAILS, VISIT GARMIN.COM/EXPERIMENTAL *Additional equipment required. **MSRP: 7” display and fl ight sensors. © 2019 Garmin Ltd. or its subsidiaries. 19-MCJT19630 G3X ENJOY_THE_VIEW Ad-7.875x10.5-Kitplanes.indd 1 3/12/19 8:45 AM FebruaryCONTENTS 2020 | Volume 37, Number 2 2019 Engine Buyer’s Guide 16 YOUR AERO MOTIVATION IS HERE! By Tom Wilson. • Horizontally opposed four-stroke gasoline • Inline and vee four-stroke • Radial and rotary (traditional) • Rotary (Wankel) • Compression ignition (diesel and Jet A) • Volkswagen • Jets and turboprops • Corvair • Two-stroke 16 • Electric 18 NEW VS. USED: Understanding the difference between factory remanufactured, field overhauled, top overhauled, and just plain used. By Tom Wilson. Builder Spotlight 4 THE BIG TOOT: Tommy Meyer builds his father’s legacy. By Scott M. Spangler. 44 TURBINE TEMPTATION—WIRING, AVIONICS AND PLUMBING: The systems are simple but space is tight, so plan ahead. By Paul Dye. Shop Talk 58 HOME SHOP MACHINIST: Findlay punch. By Bob Hadley. 62 MAINTENANCE MATTERS: Engine overhaul part II—IRAN vs. overhaul. By Dave Prizio. 72 AERO ’LECTRICS: Testing, testing, can you hear me yet? By Jim Weir. 79 UNAIRWORTHY: Missing ELT batteries. By Vic Syracuse. Designer’s Notebook 74 WIND TUNNEL: Design process—landing gear, part 6. By Barnaby Wainfan. 4 Exploring 2 EDITOR’S LOG: The lessons we learn. By Marc Cook. 52 CHECKPOINTS: Maxing out the fun factor. By Vic Syracuse. 56 BUILDING TIME: Affordable! Fast! Too hot! By Kerry Fores. 78 REAR COCKPIT: Long-EZs and more. By Tom Wilson. Kit Bits 67 LIST OF ADVERTISERS 68 BUILDERS’ MARKETPLACE 80 KIT STUFF: Drawing on experience. By cartoonist Robrucha. On the cover: Joe Flood flies Big Toot, Tommy Meyer’s Lindy Award winning, tandem 62 biplane. Photographed near Oshkosh, Wisconsin, by Richard VanderMeulen. For subscription information, contact KITPLANES® at 800/622-1065 or visit www.kitplanes.com/cs. KITPLANES February 2020 1 EDITOR’S LOG The Lessons We Learn It wasn’t the call I expected from the Flight Center in Bloomington and began rebuilt enough motorcycle carburetors ferry pilot. Somewhere on the leg into asking for assistance from the mainte- with the same arrangement that I knew Bloomington, Illinois, the GlaStar started nance staff. I had mentioned before he how far not to go, so I settled for less- running strangely. On the taxi-in to the took the airplane and reinforced over than-ideal results. The airplane was run- FBO, it was definitely running rough, the phone that, on the flight before he ning fine besides not having the desired and when he went to shut the trusty left, I’d made a small adjustment to the idle-cutoff rise, so I decided to get to the Lycoming O-320 down with the mix- O-320’s idle mixture. I had not been see- bottom of the issue after Charlie Echo had ture, it coughed, sputtered, and almost ing the expected rpm rise during shut- been relocated. refused to stop running. He was about to down that I’d like, and had richened the Nevertheless, my first thought was reach for the key when it finally stopped. idle mixture to compensate. On my test that the screw had vibrated out of the Wait, hang on. Ferry pilot? Didn’t I just flight after the change, the rise was bet- carb, so that’s where I had the pilot and talk about an epic trip bringing N531CE ter but not quite up to the spec. Ideally, the Synergy mechanic look first—as I sat home to Rhode Island from the Portland, when the throttle is at idle and you pull at my computer trying to determine how Oregon, area? Yes, I did. And, no, I haven’t the mixture to the idle-cutoff position, quickly I could get a replacement. When sold the airplane or otherwise lost my engine speed should rise 50 rpm or so. I you have a new problem, always go back mind. I am, in fact, relocating from the was barely getting half that, suggesting to the last thing you touched or changed. east coast to the west. Perhaps with a that the carb was running lean at idle. Ah, but it’s not often that easy. The glistening dose of delicious irony, I’ll be As I performed the idle-mixture adjust- idle-mixture screw was there but the based almost exactly where the GlaStar ment, I’d noted that the thumbscrew pilot also noticed a fair bit of staining on was when I bought it. All this happened was getting close to being too far out. In the carb and airbox. I’d taken quite a bit more quickly than I’d anticipated, but the case you haven’t seen a Marvel MA-4SPA of time cleaning under the cowl before prospect of moving both a truck full of before, understand that the idle mixture he left and knew that I did not have a fuel stuff and an airplane across the country screw at the back of the carb has a spring leak, not even the slightest trace, just 5-6 in the dead of winter necessarily (and I to keep tension on the threads to prevent hours prior. So we went from having a hope beneficially) sped up the process. it from vibrating out. I’d noticed the screw carb whose setup was arguably a bit lean So there I was, on the phone with was getting close to the point that the to one grossly too rich at idle. Something the pilot who had pulled into Synergy spring would no longer be effective. I’ve broke. Something pretty big. At this point, we started to think the carburetor had issues more serious than an idle-mixture adjustment. As the pilot worked with the FBO’s mechanics to try to find a local solution, I went online and discovered that Aircraft Spruce had an overhauled example of my carb in stock at its Midwest facility, not far from where the GlaStar was AOG. I was about to pick up the phone and place an order before something else Hey, what’s going on here? Horrible carbu- retor incontinence or something else? Marc Cook is back as KITPLANES’ Editor in Chief after a hiatus playing with motorcycles and learning about e-commerce. A veteran special-interest journalist, Marc has built two airplanes, an Aero Designs Pulsar XP and a Glasair Aviation Sportsman, and now owns a 150-hp, simple-as- it-gets GlaStar based in southern Rhode Island. Marc has 4500 hours spread over 200-plus types Marc Cook and three decades of flying. 2 KITPLANES February 2020 www.kitplanes.com & www.facebook.com/kitplanes clicked with me. The pilot said that he felt the airplane had used more than the expected amount of fuel on that leg, but I’d mentally disconnected that from the other symptoms. Then it hit me. What system in a carbureted engine influ- ences overall fuel flow and can cause these symptoms even when the carb is working fine? If you answered “primer,” you get a gold star. The throttle blocks the primer (at the end of the arrow) when the pilot is seated. The pilot was certain he’d seated the primer knob in the cockpit, so the those guys who sees our endeavor for our Unairworthy short pieces on a regu- mechanics went about isolating the cir- what it is, a chance for expression and lar basis. And he’s agreed that, workload cuit under the cowling and re-testing. experimentation, but applies a practical permitting, he’ll be up for occasional Now the engine ran fine. Then they and safety-minded approach to it. feature stories. I’m sure that I speak for looked a bit closer and discovered that For now, he will be giving up his our readers and staff when I say he’ll be the primer plunger was actually pulled monthly column—the last one is in this greatly missed. Thanks, Vic, come back out just a tiny bit. The ah-ha moment issue—but he’ll continue contributing to any time. J could be heard across the ramp. To his credit, the pilot took full respon- EDITORIAL ADVERTISING sibility for not verifying that the primer Editor in Chief Marc Cook Advertising Director Tom Bliss knob was locked down. But I have to [email protected] Belvoir Aviation Group [email protected] 602/625-6815 give him at least a partial pass on this. Editor at Large Paul Dye Executive Editor Mark Schrimmer Advertising Representative Ivy Ericksen Because of the configuration of the [email protected] panel, the primer is hidden from view Art Direction Dan Maher 612/743-8512 when the pilot is in the normal seated Contributing Editors LeRoy Cook, Jon Croke, BUSINESS OFFICE Kerry Fores, Robert Hadley, Belvoir Media Group, LLC position; it’s blocked by the throttle Dan Horton, Louise Hose, 535 Connecticut Avenue, Norwalk, CT 06854-1713 knob.