---------------------------------------------------------- Kolb-List Digest Archive --- Total Messages Posted Sun 10/25/09: 12 ---------------------------------------------------------- Today's Message Index: ---------------------- 1. 05:29 AM - Saturday flight (Jimmy Young) 2. 06:32 AM - Re: Saturday flight (robert bean) 3. 07:12 AM - Re: Re: Cheap hanger ideas (frank.goodnight) 4. 07:46 AM - Re: Saturday flight (frank.goodnight) 5. 09:39 AM - Re: Cheap hanger ideas (Thom Riddle) 6. 10:10 AM - Re: Saturday flight (jerb) 7. 03:41 PM - Matco Brake Problem (Brad Zearfoss) 8. 04:50 PM - Re: Matco Brake Problem (Richard & Martha Neilsen) 9. 05:13 PM - Re: Saturday flight (Jimmy Young) 10. 06:24 PM - Re: Matco Brake Problem (Thumb) 11. 07:04 PM - Re: Matco Brake Problem (robert bean) 12. 09:04 PM - Re: Cheap hanger ideas (Richard Pike) ________________________________ Message 1 _____________________________________ Time: 05:29:45 AM PST US Subject: Kolb-List: Saturday flight From: "Jimmy Young" Kolbers, I had a great day of flying the Firestar on Saturday. We had 75 deg., clear skys, & light winds and I departed Bailes Field at 11 AM. I ended up in Brenham TX around 2 PM, got some lunch, and came out to find either some admirers or critics fondeling my plane. I get nervous when I see people actually touching my plane. I topped off the tanks and headed home, and had covered 295 miles with 5.3 hrs on the engine when the day was done. I have found the HKS likes to run at about 5200-5300 rpm. At that setting the plane stays pretty well perfectly trimmed out and cruises about 58 mph. I've got 55 hrs on it to date, and so far it's been trouble free and a good performer. -------- Jimmy Young Houston, TX FS II, HKS 700 N7043P Read this topic online here: http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=269321#269321 Attachments: http://forums.matronics.com//files/dscn0517_142.jpg ________________________________ Message 2 _____________________________________ Time: 06:32:24 AM PST US Subject: Re: Kolb-List: Saturday flight From: robert bean Jimmy, how about when at a fly in someone opens your door and plops his kid down in the seat? -thought I'd seen it all. BB do not archive On 25, Oct 2009, at 8:29 AM, Jimmy Young wrote: > > Kolbers, > > I had a great day of flying the Firestar on Saturday. We had 75 > deg., clear skys, & light winds and I departed Bailes Field at 11 > AM. I ended up in Brenham TX around 2 PM, got some lunch, and came > out to find either some admirers or critics fondeling my plane. I > get nervous when I see people actually touching my plane. I topped > off the tanks and headed home, and had covered 295 miles with 5.3 > hrs on the engine when the day was done. > > I have found the HKS likes to run at about 5200-5300 rpm. At that > setting the plane stays pretty well perfectly trimmed out and > cruises about 58 mph. I've got 55 hrs on it to date, and so far it's > been trouble free and a good performer. > > -------- > Jimmy Young > Houston, TX > FS II, HKS 700 > N7043P > > > Read this topic online here: > > http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=269321#269321 > > > Attachments: > > http://forums.matronics.com//files/dscn0517_142.jpg > > ________________________________ Message 3 _____________________________________ Time: 07:12:16 AM PST US From: "frank.goodnight" Subject: Re: Kolb-List: Re: Cheap hanger ideas Hi Richard , Thanks for the photos of the mods to your firestar. I'm especialy interested in the PVC fuel tanks. I,m planing to fly to M.V. this spring and some of the legs in west Texas are longer than my fuel supply. I had thought about strapping on a 5 gallon jug, and landing someplace to pour it into my mains, but I like your idea better. My concern is with the glue and fuel with alcohol. Did you use the pvc cement that you can buy at home depot & have you had any problems? Thanks for any info you may be able to provide me. Frank Goodnight Firestar2 Brownsville Tx On Oct 24, 2009, at 10:44 AM, Richard Pike wrote: > > > albertakolbmk3 wrote: >> Hi again, >> >> Anyone have some good ideas for a cheap hangar just to keep snow >> and the likes off of the kolb? > > > Here is a page showing how I built my hangar back in the 80's, we > added another one just like it alongside a couple years back for > Ed's FSII. It cost $1800 to build 25 years ago, Ed's recent one cost > about $3200. > We use a roll up and roll down tarp across the front. > http://www.bcchapel.org/pages/0003/Hangar.html > > One correction to the article on that page, what took 4 days 25 > years ago takes 2 weeks after you pass age 60... > > I can post more pictures if you want. > > Richard Pike > MKIII N420P (420ldPoops) > > > Read this topic online here: > > http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=269234#269234 > > ________________________________ Message 4 _____________________________________ Time: 07:46:24 AM PST US From: "frank.goodnight" Subject: Re: Kolb-List: Saturday flight Hi Jim, Sounds like you had a nice day. Looking forward to meeting you. Frank Goodnight Firestar2 Brownsville , TX. Do not archive On Oct 25, 2009, at 7:29 AM, Jimmy Young wrote: > > Kolbers, > > I had a great day of flying the Firestar on Saturday. We had 75 > deg., clear skys, & light winds and I departed Bailes Field at 11 > AM. I ended up in Brenham TX around 2 PM, got some lunch, and came > out to find either some admirers or critics fondeling my plane. I > get nervous when I see people actually touching my plane. I topped > off the tanks and headed home, and had covered 295 miles with 5.3 > hrs on the engine when the day was done. > > I have found the HKS likes to run at about 5200-5300 rpm. At that > setting the plane stays pretty well perfectly trimmed out and > cruises about 58 mph. I've got 55 hrs on it to date, and so far it's > been trouble free and a good performer. > > -------- > Jimmy Young > Houston, TX > FS II, HKS 700 > N7043P > > > Read this topic online here: > > http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=269321#269321 > > > Attachments: > > http://forums.matronics.com//files/dscn0517_142.jpg > > ________________________________ Message 5 _____________________________________ Time: 09:39:21 AM PST US Subject: Kolb-List: Re: Cheap hanger ideas From: "Thom Riddle" Jerb, The cable run through all the springs is worthing investigating. I'll do that tomorrow when I visit my slingshot next. Rick, I'll see if Jabiru sells another smaller muffler that might work on the Slingshot. It appears to me that my muffler is no wider than the engine either but the wing hinge location on the Slingshot is pretty close together, about 12" on centers if my eyeball tape measure is not too far off. The existing muffler is probably closer to 24" wide. Thanks for your ideas. -------- Thom Riddle Buffalo, NY Kolb Slingshot SS-021 Jabiru 2200A #1574 Tennessee Prop 64x31 A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that works. - John Gaule Read this topic online here: http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=269343#269343 ________________________________ Message 6 _____________________________________ Time: 10:10:58 AM PST US From: jerb Subject: Re: Kolb-List: Saturday flight Hey Jimmy, What kind of average fuel consumption are you seeing on your bird running at that cruise power level. And what are you running for a prop. Just curious. Interesting you track the miles you have flown. I have a Magellan 315 GPS and one of the features is a trip counter - I couldn't believe it that in the flying I've done over a short period I had several thousand miles. Adds up quick. jerb At 05:29 AM 10/25/2009, you wrote: > >Kolbers, > >I had a great day of flying the Firestar on Saturday. We had 75 >deg., clear skys, & light winds and I departed Bailes Field at 11 >AM. I ended up in Brenham TX around 2 PM, got some lunch, and came >out to find either some admirers or critics fondeling my plane. I >get nervous when I see people actually touching my plane. I topped >off the tanks and headed home, and had covered 295 miles with 5.3 >hrs on the engine when the day was done. > >I have found the HKS likes to run at about 5200-5300 rpm. At that >setting the plane stays pretty well perfectly trimmed out and >cruises about 58 mph. I've got 55 hrs on it to date, and so far it's >been trouble free and a good performer. > >-------- >Jimmy Young >Houston, TX >FS II, HKS 700 >N7043P > > >Read this topic online here: > >http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=269321#269321 > > >Attachments: > >http://forums.matronics.com//files/dscn0517_142.jpg > > ________________________________ Message 7 _____________________________________ Time: 03:41:20 PM PST US From: Brad Zearfoss Subject: Kolb-List: Matco Brake Problem I recently bought a Kolb Mark III Classic. It has Matco hydraulic brakes with toe pedals - the MC-4 master cylinders and the B4 calipers. Differential, pilot side only. I have a problem with having zero stopping power. No amount of pressure on the toe pedals will stop the plane, even at slow taxi speed. It's as if the calipers are not squeezing the rotors hard enough. Here's what I've done so far - replaced the master cylinders (brand new), bled the lines, and checked the toe pedal geometry. I can see the calipers moving when I push on the pedals, so they're not completely frozen. An A&P looked at it too, and he's stumped. One thing that's unusual is that the pistons are really stiff on the master cylinders, and hardly have any travel. It's really hard to push them down, even with a hand, and I know that's not normal. Definitely not mushy like when there's air in the lines. I'm using the red automatic transmission fluid, which I've read is okay. Has anybody encountered a similar problem with their brakes, and what did you do about it? I haven't been able to fly my plane yet because of this, so I'm hoping that I can find a solution. Short of buying new calipers, I don't know what else to do. Thanks for any suggestions. ________________________________ Message 8 _____________________________________ Time: 04:50:33 PM PST US From: "Richard & Martha Neilsen" Subject: Re: Kolb-List: Matco Brake Problem Brad Matco brakes work quite well but take a bunch or pressure to activate them. The Matco heal brakes that I have work well but take much more pressure than I would feel comfortable pressing against the rudder cables as you have to do with the toe activators. It seems like one of our members reworked the geometry of the toe system to get more hydraulic pressure without stressing the rudder cables. Note! Matco also makes larger calipers and dual caliper conversions that might resolve your issues. It also seems like Dennis Souder (Old Kolb engineer and one time owner) just talked about this very issue as to why they developed the heal brakes. Rick Neilsen Redrive VW powered MKIIIC ----- Original Message ----- From: "Brad Zearfoss" Sent: Sunday, October 25, 2009 6:38 PM Subject: Kolb-List: Matco Brake Problem > > I recently bought a Kolb Mark III Classic. It has Matco hydraulic brakes > with toe pedals - the MC-4 master cylinders and the B4 calipers. > Differential, pilot side only. I have a problem with having zero stopping > power. No amount of pressure on the toe pedals will stop the plane, even > at slow taxi speed. It's as if the calipers are not squeezing the rotors > hard enough. Here's what I've done so far - replaced the master cylinders > (brand new), bled the lines, and checked the toe pedal geometry. I can > see the calipers moving when I push on the pedals, so they're not > completely frozen. An A&P looked at it too, and he's stumped. One thing > that's unusual is that the pistons are really stiff on the master > cylinders, and hardly have any travel. It's really hard to push them > down, even with a hand, and I know that's not normal. Definitely not > mushy like when there's air in the lines. I'm using the red automatic > transmission fluid, which I've read is okay. Has anybody encountered a > similar problem with their brakes, and what did you do about it? I haven't > been able to fly my plane yet because of this, so I'm hoping that I can > find a solution. Short of buying new calipers, I don't know what else to > do. Thanks for any suggestions. > > > ________________________________ Message 9 _____________________________________ Time: 05:13:29 PM PST US Subject: Kolb-List: Re: Saturday flight From: "Jimmy Young" > What kind of average fuel consumption are you seeing on your bird > running at that cruise power level. And what are you running for a > prop. Jerb, It burns somehwere close to 2 1/2 gph. I've have not done a real acurate check to date, that's just my best guess. I need to do a long X-country and calculate the fuel & hrs to have a number that meant anything. My prop is a 2 blade 66" Powerfin. -------- Jimmy Young Houston, TX FS II, HKS 700 N7043P Read this topic online here: http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=269400#269400 ________________________________ Message 10 ____________________________________ Time: 06:24:30 PM PST US From: "Thumb" Subject: Re: Kolb-List: Matco Brake Problem Hi Brad... I had the same problem kinda but I had Travis make a new set of the toe pedal to increase the leverage on the master cylinder . Also I called Matco and they have a new lining that has a lot more stopping power. I had them send me a new set of the lining and with the new pedals Travis built for me took care of my break problem. I'm sure Travis has the print I sent him for the toe peddle. I will take a couple pictures of the peddles in the morning and send you. I have a MK1112Xtra912-80hp and the pedals will hold it up to 4500 RPM. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Brad Zearfoss" Sent: Sunday, October 25, 2009 3:38 PM Subject: Kolb-List: Matco Brake Problem > > I recently bought a Kolb Mark III Classic. It has Matco hydraulic brakes > with toe pedals - the MC-4 master cylinders and the B4 calipers. > Differential, pilot side only. I have a problem with having zero stopping > power. No amount of pressure on the toe pedals will stop the plane, even > at slow taxi speed. It's as if the calipers are not squeezing the rotors > hard enough. Here's what I've done so far - replaced the master cylinders > (brand new), bled the lines, and checked the toe pedal geometry. I can > see the calipers moving when I push on the pedals, so they're not > completely frozen. An A&P looked at it too, and he's stumped. One thing > that's unusual is that the pistons are really stiff on the master > cylinders, and hardly have any travel. It's really hard to push them > down, even with a hand, and I know that's not normal. Definitely not > mushy like when there's air in the lines. I'm using the red automatic > transmission fluid, which I've read is okay. Has anybody encountered a > similar problem with their brakes, and what did you do about it? I haven't > been able to fly my plane yet because of this, so I'm hoping that I can > find a solution. Short of buying new calipers, I don't know what else to > do. Thanks for any suggestions. > > > ________________________________ Message 11 ____________________________________ Time: 07:04:40 PM PST US Subject: Re: Kolb-List: Matco Brake Problem From: robert bean It would be interesting to see what you could read on a pressure gauge. One point to be made is contact area. New pads frequently don't present enough to give full effect. If they are working at all, try jacking one axle, applying full pedal and hand turning the wheel. If you get some resistance do some taxi with the brakes on to help wear them in. The rotors on working brakes will show a track. BB On 25, Oct 2009, at 6:38 PM, Brad Zearfoss wrote: > > I recently bought a Kolb Mark III Classic. It has Matco hydraulic > brakes with toe pedals - the MC-4 master cylinders and the B4 > calipers. Differential, pilot side only. I have a problem with > having zero stopping power. No amount of pressure on the toe pedals > will stop the plane, even at slow taxi speed. It's as if the > calipers are not squeezing the rotors hard enough. Here's what I've > done so far - replaced the master cylinders (brand new), bled the > lines, and checked the toe pedal geometry. I can see the calipers > moving when I push on the pedals, so they're not completely frozen. > An A&P looked at it too, and he's stumped. One thing that's unusual > is that the pistons are really stiff on the master cylinders, and > hardly have any travel. It's really hard to push them down, even > with a hand, and I know that's not normal. Definitely not mushy > like when there's air in the lines. I'm using the red automatic > transmission fluid, which I've read is okay. Has anybody > encountered a similar problem with their brakes, and what did you do > about it? I haven't been able to fly my plane yet because of this, > so I'm hoping that I can find a solution. Short of buying new > calipers, I don't know what else to do. Thanks for any suggestions. > > ________________________________ Message 12 ____________________________________ Time: 09:04:19 PM PST US Subject: Kolb-List: Re: Cheap hanger ideas From: "Richard Pike" [quote="frank.goodnight(at)att.ne"]Hi Richard , Thanks for the photos of the mods to your firestar. I'm especialy interested in the PVC fuel tanks. I,m planing to fly to M.V. this spring and some of the legs in west Texas are longer than my fuel supply. I had thought about strapping on a 5 gallon jug, and landing someplace to pour it into my mains, but I like your idea better. My concern is with the glue and fuel with alcohol. Did you use the pvc cement that you can buy at home depot & have you had any problems? Thanks for any info you may be able to provide me. Frank Goodnight Firestar2 Brownsville Tx Used the glue that Lowe's sells, no problems in 2 years. But when I rebuild the airplane, will be trying my hand at building an aluminum tank and mounting it in the upper area as John does with his MKIII. Ought to be able to get at least 12 gallons in the FSII, and have storage space underneath it. If it works out, will have these tanks for sale. Richard Pike MKIII N420P (420ldPoops) Read this topic online here: http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=269432#269432 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Other Matronics Email List Services ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post A New Message kolb-list@matronics.com UN/SUBSCRIBE http://www.matronics.com/subscription List FAQ http://www.matronics.com/FAQ/Kolb-List.htm Web Forum Interface To Lists http://forums.matronics.com Matronics List Wiki http://wiki.matronics.com Full Archive Search Engine http://www.matronics.com/search 7-Day List Browse http://www.matronics.com/browse/kolb-list Browse Digests http://www.matronics.com/digest/kolb-list Browse Other Lists http://www.matronics.com/browse Live Online Chat! http://www.matronics.com/chat Archive Downloading http://www.matronics.com/archives Photo Share http://www.matronics.com/photoshare Other Email Lists http://www.matronics.com/emaillists Contributions http://www.matronics.com/contribution ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- These Email List Services are sponsored solely by Matronics and through the generous Contributions of its members.