Has anyone used Gary Muellers conversion with inlets,tanks and pipe.

Ha,ha ddue where were you 2 weeks ago.

I had a Mav that went down with the inlets, Bypass, tanks all the works. I decided to build another one.
I did not do the original conversion (turunurn was the one who did it). it came out great and the plane flew fine with a 12lb Simjet 1200.

I think the inlets were form a BVM Bandit though. It was a pretty straight forward conversion. Plenty of room for Jet Tech tanks.I will start Mav2 soon.

PM me if you have questions, or go to Brain directly as he is an expert on this issue (a.k.a turnburn).

David

Thanks for the reply David.I am trying to determine the best inlets to use,Muellers or the original Bandit BVM inlets.I know I will use Muellers Jet-Tech tanks and possibly his pipe.I have converted a couple of Mavericks,but without the bypass system and inlets.

Good. I do have a tailpipe from my "bypassless" Maverick if you are interested. It is heavier than BVM's though, and it is sliglthly "augmented". It worked great.
Will you use the bypass?

David,I do have a BVM bypass for a 500 size turbine from my Sabre.I will probably use a Tams pipe.

Jet Lag,
How did the Mavericks work out without the bypass and inlets?

I am in the process of converting my Maverick. After looking into it I didn't feel that the kevlar tanks or a bypass were really needed. I am mounting my Artes Bee a bit further back than most conversions I've seen, near the back of the hatch. This creates space for two 24 oz. saddle tanks in front of the turbine. A 10 oz. hopper will go up front between the inlets.

My biggest concern is if I use the original inlets that I may have too much air flow through the fuse in flight.

I'd be interested in your comments and why you have decided to go with smaller inlets and a bypass on your next conversion.

Joe

Joe, mine flew fine without the smaller inlets. problem was locating the fuel tanks, as the DF inlets didn't leave room for much. My original tanks were home made but they leaked like crazy. But performance-wise, there was little difference that I noticed.
It just felt a little bit cleaner, that's all. And, well, I did a couple of low passes with the bypassed one and the engine at idle and you could only hear the Mav cutting through the air, which is kinda cool.

One thing, BVM's leading edge droops HELPED OUT A LOT while on the learning curve. The thing would not tip stall at all. However, without the droops you have to be very careful on appraoch as it will want to drop a wing if you slow down too much.

Theres some pics with and without the bypass in my gallery. Go check it out.

David

Joe,I cut the inlets off leaving only about 1" and a half.I used a 50 oz Dubro tank mounted on the bottom of the fuse pushed up to the inlets.A T-500 turbine then was mounted with the starter nose right behind the tank which would put it to the rear of the hatch opening.I used a Tams pipe which he designed for the conversion without the bypass.The UAT was mounted in between the front wheel opening and the Dubro tank.As far as flying,it was a little slow to pick up speed.Once you made the first turn ,it would start to move.I firmaly believe after seeing Mavericks with a bypass and without,the ones with a bypass have better performance.The amount of air hitting the exposed equipment in the fuselage does cost a performance loss and slower acceleration.

DELETED

Thanks, guys. I'm going to continue the way I'm going with DF inlets and no bypass.

I crashed my Maverick at Winamac about 4 years ago. In the meantime I found a new fuse and started rebuilding it last year. After finding a good deal on a used Artes Bee (original 12# version) I decided to turbinize it. The project has been on hold for a while, but now it's building season in Michigan. I'll get to it as soon as I finish putting my SM Gripen together.

I shortened the inlet about an inch so that it's flush with the front of the hatch. The engine is shoved back such that the exhaust cone is just aft of the hatch rear. That gave me enough room to put a 24 oz. Sullivan tank on each side in front of the engine. Also that will keep the heat away from the elevator servos.

The Artes Bee pushes my Enforcer to about 150 mph, so I think it will do fine in the Maverick. If I want more performance I can get it updated to 14#. I'll post some pictures once I get going on the Maverick.

Joe

You can use the regular inlets, cut them about 2 1/2 inches from the leading edge, use the tanks to form a path to the front of the turbine. Wedge the tanks at the front between the fuse and the inlets, make two brackets to hold the back of the tanks in place. I saw this on Ray Blairs plane and according to him it worked great. This is the setup I am using on mine.

Viper,
That's basically what I was thinking of doing. The only difference is that my turbine is further back so I won't have to trim so much off of the inlets. My only reservation is that with smaller inlets there would not be so much excess air flowing through the fuse. Glad to hear that it worked out for Ray.

Joe

I have done 4conversions ( 3 BVM Mavericks, and 1 Ultra Viper). All used smaller turbine inlets and the small BVM bypass. I have used both the BVM turbine Bandit inlets and the Mueller inlets. Im pretty sure the Mueller inlets are identical to the BV inlets or very close. Price and quality are comparable ( I think the BV inlets are slighty higher queality). Go to www.floridajetflyers.com click on mav conversion of the left side. They have good pictures and instructions for the conversion. I do mine nearly identical to theirs.

Now Im not saying the Ray blair way wont work because it works just as well. I just happen to like the bypassed way is all.

so here´s the story, a client that is a friend as well arrived with a battered mav with fan, and said, could you convert her to turbine? i looked at the poor looking airframe and said, only conversion, no make up on this terrible paint job ok? then he bought everything and kept flying the plane. when Gary Muller conversion kit arrived with the bvm new strnger struts, wheels, brakes etc, he made a last flight with the fan, on the final approach the engine quit and the plane made a roll over a wall, the results will be shown at the pictures....
he came with the remains and asked me to made the conversion! i said, no way, the airframe is lost, i am terribly sorry ! he argumented that spend a lot of money with the conversion extras and had nothing to do with them.....a really sad story indeed.
i had a deep thought and said, ok, i´ll re-do the whole plane, but no time line and no pressure, just forget her here at my workshop ok? he got the deal, after 2 years i´ve finally finished her...below a few pictures of the plane. looks like i´ve managed to make it decent...

now pictures of the work in progress , as you can see, the first builder of the plane dosen´t care for much quality and cleanliness

now working at the wings spars and gear bay, that looked really terrible the way it was finished before...take a look at the fuse cracks, everywhere!
i´ve ordered a new top hatch and canopy hatch from bvm, and replaced the wing spars holders with new ones.
flaps where added and new stilysh wingtips, as the squared ones are really bad looking

front gear door being molded and wing roots and fuse wing root capped with new laser cut 1/8 ply reiforcement, as the fise and wing root where really cracked!

then i gave up taking pictures.....
here´s mav finished and ready to go, along a newly finished hotspot

Excellent job! I WISH I could build as well as you. That is incredible.

Facmaster,
Great job! That's similar to what I went through, except I managed to find a new fuse. Just need to paint mine and install everything.

Please post pictures of your turbine and equipment installation.

Thanks,
Joe

thank you for the information jetcat!

Joe, i will take a few pictures of the insede and will post here. i wish i could have a new fuselaga too!
another fan mav just arrived, this time in one piece, but after the owner saw the paint job on this one, he decided to re-paint the model, fortunately he used neon color of low quality and it´s peeling off and cleaning easely! i hate to sand ( who don´t?)

a new conversion has been finished! this time with a jetcat p-60
maiden will be within weeks!

That is just AWESOME!

Hello everybody, I have had a Maverick kit for nearly 10 years now and have always been put off building it because of the claimed habit of tip stalling. I am told that the tip tanks help. I have a set of the wing tip leading edge extensions. Can any body help with adice on the position and angle of these or perhaps a picture please ? Regards Ron Sweeney.