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Post by chuckerf14 on Oct 23, 2015 16:16:18 GMT -6
Okay, it rarely pays to be meek....so I am throwing down the gauntlet....committing to a plan!
I have a Sonerai II Original project and here is my plan.
1. "White Lightning." Has the name been used? I plan to cover my plane with Oratex and the lightest fabric is a translucent white. 2. Everything to do with the front seat is coming out! 3. The wings will eventually be clipped based on the final gross weight. I want to eliminate the frontal area without dragging the tail or having to adjust wing incidence as the heavier Sonerai I's have been forced to do. 4. Although I am keeping the S-II canopy frame, I plan to fair the front section of the canopy skirt from the cowl all the way back to the rear cockpit. Closed, it will look like the smaller S-1 canopy. However, when you open the canopy, you will expose a huge baggage area in front of the spar. I may also bring the fuel filler neck back so I can fill the tank simply by opening the canopy. This also leaves room for a removable ferry tank mounted across the top longerons...high enough for gravity feed. Question: Is ten gallons (standard S-II tank) sufficient for normal races? 5. The luxuries are already gone; battery, alternator, starter. I am replacing the big Revmaster oil cooler with a top-mount stock unit. I am also debating whether or not to keep the oil filter. Keeping the Revmaster unit means reshaping the cowl...which might be inevitable anyway. Weight is weight and nothing gets to ride if not necessary. How many VWs are running filter-free?
I lay myself open to critics and contributors. Speed is fun....even when you're just talking about it!
Chucker
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Post by Supervee on Oct 24, 2015 5:02:27 GMT -6
Chucker, I can comment on some of your comments,,"White lightning" is a high performance composite four place aircraft designed and developed by former formula one race pilot Nick Jones. Don't know if nicknaming your airplane that might cause the current owner of the White Lightning design any grief? Getting rid of weight is great, but I don't think that clipping the wings is the best idea….I know of three Sonerai 1's that have Sonerai 2 wingspans. When you have a heavy Sonerai 1 with the 64 series airfoil, more wing incidence helped cure the airplanes ability to lift the weight, hence the extra wing incidence allowed the airplane to fly with the belly in clean air. More wing area basically does this same job. Don't have any knowledge about Sonerai 2's having incidence changes……. A couple sonerai 2's have been built with the canopy arrangement you are talking about, and it is a clean workable solution. A ten gallon tank is fine for what we plan with Supervee Air Sports. Our 'Outback' competition will be a sprint, ten to twenty miles out, and then back to the airport…. A high percentage of Sonerais flying do not have oil filters. Do you know if the Oratex system has been used on a fast homebuilt?…I have no experience with it. You sound excited, and that's great, If you want to email me your snail mail address, I can put you on my free 'Supervee Update' mailing list….Ed
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Post by chuckerf14 on Oct 24, 2015 10:29:25 GMT -6
A web search would have helped on the name issue.
Thanks for the other feedback, Ed.
Is the 1 airfoil different from the 2? I was trying to determine why the Vne was higher and the racers were getting 190 mph out of a 1600 engine. Many of the 1s seem to be just as heavy as the basic 2. The biggest difference I see is two feet of wingspan. Whatever the case, my plan is to finish the plane as light as possible then see how she flies. If It turns out that I can clip some wing, I'll consider it then. I am shooting for a typical takeoff weight of 710; 480 empty weight (gotta have high hopes), 150# stick operator, and 80#s of petrol. If the race is short, then perhaps 40#s of fuel and 670#s at takeoff.
As for excitement, I'm not the $100 hamburger kind of person. I rather have a reason.
All the best, Chucker
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Post by Supervee on Oct 25, 2015 5:49:25 GMT -6
Chucker, I see no way that you will ever get down to a 480 pound empty weight on a Sonerai 2 airframe. Maybe 1% of all the Sonerai 1's were close to that weight. Make as many lightness mods as possible, but , Like I used to do, accomplish one mod at a time, (Thats what the winter months are for) And test the mod, then go to the next. An average FV prepped Sonerai 1, with the 'S' mod wing, and a 4 into 1 header, and all the streamlining fairings in fiberglass (Before Carbon F. was widely used) would weigh in at 525 to 555 empty. The S mod and headers were heavy….I am planning on the simple four short stacks on the #14 rebuild. It is unrealistic to think that a Sonerai 1 would come in at 440 or 450 pounds empty, as John Monnett had advertised for his prototype, so You can see how difficult it would be to get even below 500 pounds empty with a S-2. Our classic mid wing taildragger S-2 was among the lightest ones built, and weighed 517 empty, with a 1700 c.c.VW. It will be interesting to see exactly how light your S-2 can be when On a diet…I would make a wing clip the Last modification, If at all….…Good luck, look fwd. to seeing what happens!!!…Ed
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Post by chuckerf14 on Nov 5, 2015 14:40:21 GMT -6
Ed,
Thanks for the input. The things I will do during construction are:
Remove the front seat and secondary controls. Modify the canopy for reduced weight and drag. Build the engine with bare necessities (including short pipes). If my cooling scheme works, it will be very light. Once proven, I have ideas to take weight off that as well. No unnecessary gauges. 1/2" landing gear (until I bend it).
There will be no structural modifications. I'm not a structural engineer and I don't want anything coming apart in flight.
Just getting out there and racing will be fun...as will tweaking in the off season....Chucker
500 or Bust!
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Post by Supervee on Nov 6, 2015 5:40:50 GMT -6
All fun projects start with a reasonable plan, and an end goal. Yours sounds good. Our old Sonerai 2 had the 1/2" gear, and we had no problems, but we flew off pavement 100% of the time…. Keep Us up to date…Activity breeds Activity, and maybe this will help others to become active!!…Ed
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Post by chuckerf14 on Nov 6, 2015 19:21:56 GMT -6
I think I will make some compromises here and there and accept the weight penalty. For instance, I may keep the Revmaster 30mm oil pump, pressure control valve, and oil filter. Clean oil will certainly increase the life of my engine...and, no matter what I do, I won't be breaking any speed records. I can always remove it somewhere down the road.
John
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Post by chuckerf14 on Apr 13, 2016 5:24:04 GMT -6
I'm going to use a 26mm pump. I am building a pump cover that supports a screw-on oil filter. The filter simply screws to the front surface of the pump cover and is parallel to the prop shaft. It is a very small filter....but we don't run our oil for very long anyway. If you wanted to change filters between oil changes, it would take about 90 seconds longer than it takes you to remove and replace your lower cowl.
There will be one external oil line running from the base of the oil pump cover back to the case just above the pressure relief piston. Oil cooling will be via a top mount system and oil temperature regulation will be controlled by the pressure relief piston as it was done by VW from day one.
I am creating two aluminum fittings from scratch, the oil pump cover and the oil cooler mounting plate. I will post photos when I finish.
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Post by dmar836 on Apr 13, 2016 6:54:03 GMT -6
I like your minimalist-type of rebuild. Weight kills these things and too many are built-up turds. We have an SII on our field that is overweight and poorly propped that is a low wing, nose wheel. Welds look like bubble gum and with a rudder heavier than a 172's. My friend agreed to annual it and test flew it after getting it running on more than two cylinders! I took video out of fear. Throttle stuck full on and brakes locked when he landed. A project for sure and just about everything is too temporary, too cheap, or too heavy. That said, I'm interested in what you come up with in an effort to save weight. Those small 4-5 amp glass matt batteries are great, light weight alternatives for a total loss system. Dave
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Post by Supervee on Apr 13, 2016 6:57:14 GMT -6
Pay attention to every ounce, and the pounds will take care of themselves…….
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Post by chuckerf14 on May 4, 2016 10:08:01 GMT -6
I think that I am done grinding...but something tells me that I will remove that VW TDC lug on the front of the case. I just can't think of any reason for that hunk of magnesium other than making the case half split obvious to someone with a grimy engine trying to set their timing. Chucker
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Post by chuckerf14 on May 4, 2016 10:29:33 GMT -6
I like your minimalist-type of rebuild. Weight kills these things and too many are built-up turds. We have an SII on our field that is overweight and poorly propped that is a low wing, nose wheel. Welds look like bubble gum and with a rudder heavier than a 172's. My friend agreed to annual it and test flew it after getting it running on more than two cylinders! I took video out of fear. Throttle stuck full on and brakes locked when he landed. A project for sure and just about everything is too temporary, too cheap, or too heavy. That said, I'm interested in what you come up with in an effort to save weight. Those small 4-5 amp glass matt batteries are great, light weight alternatives for a total loss system. Dave Dave, Sorry that I didn't respond to this sooner. For now, I plan to run the Bendix dual magneto that came with my engine. The good side is that it is a self-contained, dual-ignition solution. The down side is that it weighs over ten pounds and still leaves a single point of failure. I'm not sure if I can save weight by going to a single mag and a total-loss secondary. Perhaps the best performance would come from dual electronic ignition powered by a glass matt battery. That works for racing...but would not be very convenient trying to fly a multi-leg cross country. I have also looked at the E-mag option...but have not done much research as of yet. These are all things to play with in the future. For now, I plan to get her flying with the Bendix and go from there. All the best, Chucker
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Post by dmar836 on May 4, 2016 14:24:39 GMT -6
Mine has a single mag as well. I hate the weight BUT they are pretty bulletproof once rebuilt. If going with a single ignition, which I am, the aero mag is the way to go IMO Is that the mag mount you made? Mine was a super crude set of plates bolted to the case having four long spacers. The mag was in between. Apparently it had worked but very fiddly looking. Dave
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Post by chuckerf14 on May 4, 2016 14:43:45 GMT -6
Dave,
Are you saying that you don't have an accessory case? How is your engine mounted? Without an alternator I have no use for the accessory case other than shock mounting the engine and supporting the magneto. I would love to find an x-casting that would do that for me (with the HAPI/Continental) pattern.
The HAPI had magneto bolt holes at 3 and 9 o'clock. I had to add the 12 and 6 holes.
Chucker
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Post by Supervee on May 4, 2016 14:48:07 GMT -6
V-Witts have a 'bed' style mount, as the engine is running flywheel end forward.
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