EAA Chapter 983 Newsletter
July 2000

Mailing Address: EAA Chapter 983, P.O. Box 903, Granbury, TX. 76049
Website www.eaa983.org

Steve Staudt, Regional director for Champion, gave us a great deal of information on "das Sparken plug". There is more to the care and feeding of spark plugs than one would think. For example:

1) Some pilots find and replace a bad plug and again get good performance only to have that performance deteriorate due to bad or leaky harness.

2) Wider gaps than the normal .016" may increase performance, but shorten ignition system life.

3) Advance throttle slowly on takeoff to burn off carbon that has accumulated during taxi operation.

4) Clean and regap plugs every 100 hours, but don’t forget to examine the connector well and spring for tracks or burn marks at the bottom. Clean with MEK and avoid fingerprints.

5) Use anti-seize sparingly, do use a torque wrench.

6) 1100 Deg. Normal In cruise. 1600 is preignition point. Detonation, or pinging in automobiles, is vibration of the piston walls!

7) If you drop a spark plug on the floor, drop it a second time, in the trash barrel.

The Polen Special is undergoing "last-minute" mods. with many guys pitching in.

Ron Schuster has been coming down frequently from Weatherford to design and build custom NACA inlets for the intercooler and engine inlet air. He is even putting his own Mustang II on "hold"

The picture below shows him "lifting" a female mold from the side cheek of the Polen for the NACA inlet to the turbo. (One of 10 he made to fabricate the ductwork)

These two photos, by the way, were taken with Don Saints new Sony digital camera.

Chapter 983 is growing!
The mailing list is now up to 150 with the following members added since February:

Jonathan & Bonnie Ashford ~ Altus OK
Mike & Lana Bradley ~9012 Bellechase Pecan
Greg & Pat Camp ~ Altus, OK
Rick & Brenda Chapman ~ 5301 Final Approach~ Pecan
Ron Dotson (Chapt. 34)~ 3216 Maryann Dr. Ft. Worth
Bobbie Ferguson ~ 6214 Tuzcuco Ct. Granbury
Frank Hansen ~ Llano, TX.
Tom & Carol Harris ~ 5109 Country Club. Granbury.
Cris Harrison ~ P.O . Box 168 Addison, TX.
Mike McManus (Chapt. 59) ~ 325 Bluebonnet Circle, McGregor, TX.
Grant & Linda Metsger ~ 9023 Bellechase Pecan
Buster & Katy Offutt ~2403 Pebble Dr. Granbury
Joe & Konnie Sasser ~ 9021 Woodlawn, Pecan
Don & Shirley Shapansky ~ 506 Brazos Harbor Dr. Granbury.

1) Rick Jones flies for Delta. Delta has taken one of their old DC-3's and restored it to the pristine condition it had when flying the line. Rick has been chosen as one of 9 Delta pilots who will take it on a tour around the country~ including Oshkosh!

2) Peter Coltman has installed a new R-985 in his twin Beech to replace the one that broke a "con" rod. He installed "new" engine mount bushings that came straight out of a glassine bag dated ‘54!

3) Rick Chapman is one of our newest members and has a nice background in computers and technical manuals with Lockheed. He has volunteered, (trumpet blast please!) to help Don Saint out with the Chapter web site. (Perhaps he can help this old editor with newsletter photos; getting them out of Daguerrotype quality that is!)

4) Andy Shane Has bought two Republic (remember them?) Seabees. The one he is in the process of restoring is "Aunt Bee" the other is the "cannibal queen", (for obvious reasons.) Like all Seabees these were all handcrafted with idiosyncracies such as unique rivet spacing.

5) Don Saint had more thrills than he wanted when he was landing his Trike ultralight the other day. The wind was calm but HOT and active thermals. He set up for a landing on the grass runway at Pecan and about at treetop level hit a big thermal that carried his bird over towards Kevin Ross’ RV-6 parked on his apron! He had to go one way or the other and there was not enough distance to initiate a go-around. He turned to the right and made ½ a lazy 8 and came to an abrupt stop in the ditch. Bent the nosewheel some, but that’s all the damage. (Ed; the bent nose wheel has been straightened .)

6) Dick Keyt repeats at Oshkosh! The race was cut short and the leg from Kitty Hawk to Dayton did not count because severe weather would perhaps have tempted some to take shortcuts thru CB’s. The new turbo setup and intercooler evidently paid off. He hit the magic 300 MPH with an average ground speed of 265 MPH from Dayton to Oshkosh. More details next month when they get their stories all together.

Don Saint came in 4^th in his division with a lot more competition this year than last when he was first! Congratulations to both of you!

7) Bill Steppling won the Stan Dzik award for innovation. He designed a retractable pitot tube for his RV-6. (So you don’t wipe it out when you are walking around.)

This comes to us courtesy of "Desert Aircraft Salvage":

1. Your stall warning plays Dixie.
2. Your toothpick keeps poking your mike.
3. You wouldn’t be caught dead in a Grumman Yankee.
4. You use a Purina feed sack for a wind sock.
5. Your matched set of luggage is three grocery sacks from Piggly Wiggly.
6. You have more than one roll of duct tape holding the cowl together.
7. You refer to formation flight as:"we’ve got us a convoy".
8. Your preflight includes removing all the clover, grass and wheat from the landing gear.
9. There are parts of your airplane labeled "John Deere".
10. You’ve never actually seen a sectional, but have all the Texaco road maps for the area. (20 years old)
11. You answer all calls from female controllers with, "that’s a big ten-four little darlin’).
12. There’s exhaust stains on the right side of your plane and tobacco stains on the left.
13. Your best comm radio has 90 channels.

For Sale! Ads of aviation related items are run at the discretion of the editor, free of charge for two months. After two months they will automatically be removed unless requested to run again.

Miller TIG welding outfit for sale. Brand spankin’ new! Contact Lyndol Askew 817-579-9520

Kolb Firefly Legal Ultralight 1996 Model with 57 hours total on airframe and Rotax 447 engine. Electric start, heel brakes, full enclosure, ready to fly. $9000 without BRS 750 canister parachute, or $10500 with BRS chute. Contact Perry Adams 254-897-2230

RV-8 wing kit for sale still in crate from Van’s. phlogiston gold spars. In my shop in Glen Rose. $4650 254-897-7363 ~ Larry Bradshaw

Mini Max with Rotax 503 for sale. Electric start, open cockpit with turtle deck, airspeed, and altimeter. Beautiful paint and finish. Needs some repair due to damage in transit. ~$3000/offer. Tom Woodward ~ 817-279-6320 Email: TomTwood2345@aol.com

Hangar Space. Gary and Susan Brandon have space in their Nassau Bay hangar. Rent is $85/month for common hangar space. Home tel.: 326-5424. Hangar:327-8390

Magneto operation at High Altitude.

Dick Keyt had some trouble on his initial leg from Pecan to Kitty Hawk. He was at 23000 Ft. and switched from electronic ignition only to both magneto and electronic . Surprise! The engine quit and he dropped 2000 before he could get it restarted. He has been having misfires at altitude, but this was something else. This hi-lights the trouble turbo-charged engines have at altitude.

Don Saint picked up an article from AVWeb that covered high altitude operations. Mike Busch had a number of points:

1. Magnetos need more maintenance than they get, 100 hour inspection and 500 hour major disassembly should be the guide. Many engines go to major overhaul before mags get attention.
2. We are all familiar with magneto timing using timing lights and rotation of the mag to get the proper firing point before TDC. Not all of us are familiar with the "e" gap timing internal to the mag. "e" gap internal timing should agree with the external. If it does not then the spark is weak
3. If high altitude misfiring is a problem; clean and gap the plugs on the low end of the spec.,consider fine wire electrodes, and Bendix S-1200 or pressurized Slick.
4. .In summary; do everything you can to get the spark in the combustion chamber and only there!

August 18 ~ Meeting of Representatives to S.W. Regional Fly-in Abilene

Sept 16 ~ EAA Chapter 1094 Annual Fly-in SLR Sulphur Springs, TX "Wings & Wheels" Contact Linda Christian 903-885-8363 for details.

Oct. 14 ~ Ranger TX. Annual fly-in Ranger, TX F-23. Barbequed ribs and bratwurst and Bell model 47 demo by John Williams around the world helicopter pilot! Contact Michael De Baca for further details.

October 20-21 ~ S.W. Regional Fly-in Abilene ( We need support people!)

November 4 ~ Chapter 983 Fall Fly-in   at Pecan (Need a Chairperson please, somebody!)

December 8 Christmas Party Pecan Clubhouse Mark this on your calendar~ do not miss!

Many of you have been following Bruce Bohannon and his time-to-climb exploits. His first Aircraft was "Pushy Galore". (Need we say more?) "Pushy" is now in the EAA air museum, but Bruce continues to set time-to-climb records with the Exxon Tiger. Bruce currently holds the piston time to climb record of 19 minutes to 9000 Meters (or 29250 Ft.) For piston aircraft. And 3000 Meter (9750 Ft.) In 2-1/2 minutes. That is 44 MPH straight up!