I made a little more headway. The plane now has a removable canopy/hatch to allow for easier access to the internals at the field. In the past, to do anything inside this plane at the field I had to flip it on its back and remove the bottom wing. Not any longer
On the engine decision - if I am reading Pe's website and data correctly, he was able to run a 45 on the 58 canister and swing a 24x10 at 6200 rpm!!!! My 58GX with a Pitts muffler swings a 24x8 at 6400 .... hmmmm. According to his thrust/hp spreadsheet - my 58 is producing about 30 pounds of thrust. His tests with the 45 was producing 33!!!!! I think Pe made my mind up for me
I will be contacting Pe about a swan-neck header and discuss the performance of the 45.01 canister to the 58 version. If the 45.01 is "close" - I will probably stick with it since I already own one. If there is a BIG difference ... and if I can get the 58 can in this biplane ... I will get one of those from Pe also [8D]
On another topic, does anybody know how to get paint off of the lexan canopies? The paint is on the outside and is in pretty bad shape so I can't simply paint over it. Plus, going from red to yellow would probably leave the yellow a bit darker than the rest of the plane.