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1. 12:53 PM - Re: [esqualtalk] Re: Gap Seals (N1BZRich@aol.com)
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| Subject: | Re: [esqualtalk] Re: Gap Seals |
HI again Malcolm,
I have found some flat mylar and it is on order, but it may not be wide
enough to cover the entire gap. I will go slow with the modification
experiments, but am not really concerned if I raise the stall speed a little.
My
airplane currently stalls at 34 mph (slower than my J3 Cub) with the flaps down
30 degrees.
Your question, "if you had to select from either cowl mods or wheel
pants etc.
which are the most beneficial to cruise speed?" - is a little hard to answer
because I never flew my airplane with the Esqual cowling. I modified a
Lightning cowling (had to trim about 3 inches off of the trailing edge and then
slit the bottom cowl down the bottom middle and re-glass it to get it to fit
around my firewall) and all my flights have been with it installed. I do
remember that before installing gear leg fairings and wheel pants, I was only
able to get 165 mph TAS at 5000' with the 53 inch fixed pitch Sensenich. Then
I
put on gear leg fairings only and the speed went to 175 and I picked up
about an extra 100 rpm as the engine did not have to work as hard. I then
installed the new style RV wheel pants to do the rest of the test flights. About
that time we found a crack in the tip of the 53 inch prop (it had been used
before and returned to Pete) so I had to install a 54 inch fixed pitch
Sensenich. With this prop (plus gear leg fairings and wheel pants) at 5000' on
a
cold day I was able to turn the engine up to just over 3300 rpm and the true
airspeed was 188 plus or minus 2 or 3 - the EFIS kept fluctuating - so call it
somewhere between 185 to 190. Down on the deck, I am able to go down the
runway on a low pass indicating 198 mph, but have to pull the throttle back some
to keep from over speeding the engine. I am pretty happy with that
performance. Now, being so very hot outside even at 5000' and using the Sensenich
carbon fiber ground adjustable set (I hope) at 54 inches, I am getting only 180
to 182 and the rpm is topping out at 3250 or so. Don't know if that is all
because of the heat or that the carbon fiber is not adjusted exactly as it
should be. Nick, running the same ground adjustable prop, is seeing a similar
decrease in speed during these really hot summer days.
Sensenich is developing a new fixed prop with a different blade profile
based on a graph of 31BZ's rpm verses true airspeed that Pete faxed them. It
should be a great prop for the Lightnings and fast Esquals. Don't know when
it will ready for testing, but I hope soon.
Hope all of this helps.
Blue Skies,
Buz
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