OR...do what I did.
I ordered a new cowl after messing with the original one.[sm=sunsmiley.gif]

That sounds a little more safe....having that prop fly off the end of my bird sure wouldn't help anyone LoL..

How about the wheel pants anyone else hate them ???

One other thing how do you guys access your fuel lines for refueling when they're inside your cowl ???

Thanks..

Sam

Unless you drilled the holes for the cowl mounting screws very far back, you should be able to drill new holes 1/4" forward in the cowl, thus moving it back on the fuse, giving yo uthe clearance you need. You should be able to cover the top holes with a bit of covering, the bottom ones won't be too noticeable. Not to be crude, but if this is your first low wing airplane, you will be needing a new cowl at some point in the future anyway

The wheel pants can be beefed up a bit by epoxying a lite-ply plate inside the wheel pant where the nut clamps it against the gear. This stands up alot better according to my own "airframe integrity tests".

Have fun, its a great bird!

Dave,

Nice to see a fellow BC flyer, thanks for the info...I was looking at the cowl a few minutes ago and I think the only thing that's stopping it from sliding back is the carb on the engine...so if I just snip the cowl a bit it should work fine...

About needing a new cowl somewhere down the line, I've actually since VectorFlight lowered their prices last week to 149.99 for the 66" I went and ordered another one for back up parts or plane which ever comes first....

Sam

Hey Sam, didn't notice your location at first...it is good to see someone from "the neighbourhood"!

For the wheel pants is a very easy process.
Here is the chronicle of my experience with the wheel pants.
Cut them with the scissors, being sure you leave enough material to be sanded later. then, dry fit them together to check how much more you have to sand. After sanding a little more material, you'll notice that you created few gaps, around 1/8!QUOT!. Don't despair yet, the solution is closer than you imagine. Now, use the half of the wheel pant to test the fitting with the wheel. You already realized that the stock wheels are too small and you need bigger ones. SO you changed the wheels to, let's say, 3!QUOT!, which is the size I'm using. The wheel pants won't fit. At this point, carefully aim to the recycle bin, and toss both, finished and unfinished wheel pants. If it does not work, try again, maybe moving the recycle bin closer to you. What I mean is, I had no better luck in having these wheel pants assembled properly. You're not alone.
I'm using the dubro quick fill to refill the tank SO far, no problems.

I glued teh WP together before mounting them, filled and sanded the seam and then painted them with gloss whit Tremclad. I drilled a hole big enough on the outboard side to drop the screw through, and cut the wheel opening large enough so that I could slip a set of needle-nose pliers in to get at the nuts.

I used a fuel dot installed in the cowl for filling, with a 3 line tank setup, it's bomb-proof!

Do you guys have any good picture of your birds ???

Sam

Hey everybody,

This seems to be the most active thread going on the VF planes. Still working on my Edge from them. I could maiden this weekend, but decided to order a JR8103 radio (I have a Futaba 6DA at the moment). Rather than yank all the freshly installed radio gear out to put in the new JR components, I guess I'll just wait a few more days. I get the radio next Wednesday.

David Cutler has been quite helpful in the build and you David Moen also gave me some good info on the wheel pants that I will use as well. Thanks. I posted about a week ago that VF had put their planes on sale again. The 66" Extra and the Edge were $169. I checked today and they are both at $149!!!!!!! WOW. Been thinking about the Extra, and now just might have to do it.

My Edge has a poly-carbonate tail fairing to enclose the tail area just behind the last bulkhead of the turtledeck. Is the same proceedure used on the Extra? This is about the only thing I would ask them to change. I'm doing some mods on mine in that area to hopefully make it "flow" with less of a seam. Thanks for any info.

John

My tail fairing went in the bin. I carved and sanded a balsa one. Epoxied in place I think it adds to the strengt of the tail group as well. There was enough covering left over from the cowl decals to cover it up. Very tidy...

I added triangle stock to the top and bottom of my tail feathers....and also use left over decals to cover....it should help with the stress on the tail during high G maneuvers..

Sam

Dave when using the fuel dot system did you use a three way tee in your line ???

Sam

Sam,

I run three lines from the tank. Two lines have clunks, one is plumbed directly to the carb, and the other goes to the fuel dot. That way I can de-fuel my plane without standing it on it's nose. I've done this on all my planes and it has always worked well.

I use these:

http://www.bissonmufflers.com/en/acc...ting_id=114125

They cost about $7.00 each.

I install this by drilling a hole in the cowl, use a small peice of lite ply inside the cowl to beef it up a bit, and leave your "fill" line long enough so that you can thread it through the fuel dot easily while installing the cowl.

I use the two normal lines with 'T' connectors in them running to two dots.

That way, only one clunk is necessary.

-David C.

Ok now I'm really stumped....I went to fire up my OS .91 today and my started can't turn it over ???

It ran fine on Sunday....is it the started is too small now that its seated or is my engine hydro locking ???

any ideas guys ??

She won't start...

Sam

Sounds like you have a hydraulic lock, which is difficult to avoid with an inverted engine.

All I can say is try to avoid the fuel getting to the carb too soon before turning it over to start. Don't forget it can run back into the exhaust port from the muffler after fueling.

Actually, I always start my 91 FX using a chicken stick having slightly over fueled it, and flipping it the wrong way. It starts almost every time, but, admittedly, it's not inverted.

-David C..

I don't recall seeing that his engine is inverted.

Take the glow plug out and spin the engine with your starter to blow any excess fuel out of the glow plug hole. If it still won't spin let us know. Once you have cleared the fuel out, try starting as normal.

That's the one and only thing I like so far about the ASP .91 that I bought. I can grab the spinner with three fingers and backflip start it. Hot or cold it fires right up.

<gulp> I didn't see it when I read back either!

I must be getting old or stupid!

-DC

I'm fighting with it right now...as we speak...I've been turning it over slowly with the starter...

but not enough to crank it up...I guess I just gotta keep freeing it up...

I un did the muffler and no fuel poured out...I can turn it over easy enough with my fingers but only slowly with the starter...

Thanks for all the info..

Sam

Did it run OK last time you flew the airplane?

Yep...the maiden Flight was last Sunday (a couple days ago) I have not run the engine since...

today was the first day I've tried to start it up since then....I have a friend I fly with who was there the other day who suggested that I take the glow plug out and squirt some fuel into the cylinder and spin it with the starter with no glow plug to re lube the walls of the cylinder...he thought that maybe with the engine being so new that the left over fuel in the cylinder from Sunday was causing a higher compression then usual...

I'm going to try this tomorrow...

Sam

Ok nobody laugh now....

I finally got my problem solved, I must of had some slack in my prop nuts, because the keyed drive hub that the spinner back plate comes against got some slack in it and when I unscrewed the prop nuts the key fell out and the drive hub came off !!!

I put the key back in and pushed the drive hub back on, tightened up the prop/prop nuts and spinner now there wasn't any slack and WAMMO !!! the engine started on the first turn of the starter...

I feel kinda silly but I guess this is a learning thing for a non mechanical stock market guy...

LoL..

Sam

good work Sam, now get that thing in the air!!

Easily done. I lost that woodruf key and had to drive about 75 miles to buy another one!!

-David C.

I am seriously looking at either the 58 or 66 inch Xtra 300. Can anyone tell me if either a 2-stroke or 4-stroke will fit completely within the cowl? If so, which engine was used, and what position was it mounted at? Thanks