Corvair Aircamper Project

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Pat Weeden
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Corvair Aircamper Project

Post by Pat Weeden »

As sent in to BPA headquarters today:
PIETENPOL AIRCAMPER KIT $7995.00

The Airframe Package includes:
  • 1. Fuselage, long hull for Corvair motor, sitting on Cessna 120/140 mains. A set of Piper Cub mains is included as a spare.
    2. Three Piece Wings with large ailerons.
    3. Lift struts (bottom ends don’t match the brackets on the fuselage).
    4. Pietenpol plans, 14 sheets with Ned’s builder notes.
    5. Pietenpol Publications
    a. Pietenpol Manual #
    6. Motor mount for Corvair motor.
    7. Reverse spin propeller for Corvair motor
The Engine Package includes:
  • 1. Corvair motor: SN T0928RG base motor only with some sheet metal parts, no carburetors.
    2. Willaim Wynne DVDs: 1 – Disassembly, 3 – Assembly
    3. William Wynne Corvair Conversion Gold Package including (Show price $2000):
    Gold Propeller Hub
    Hybrid studs
    Safety Shaft
    Front Starter Brackets
    Ring Gear
    Low Profile Starter
    Top Cover
    Electronic/Points Distributor
    Gold Billet Oil Pan
    Oil Pan Install Kit
    Gold Oil Filter Housing
    Gold Bypass Sandwich Adapter
    (Manual #7901 came included but isn’t listed on the flyer)
    4. William Wynne, Corvair Flight Engines, Manual #7901 (WILLIAM WYNNE, “The Corvair Authority”, (904) 529-0006, 5000-18 HWY 17 #247, Orange Park, FL 32003, © 2006)
    Flyer: Gold Coversion Component Package Oshkosh 2008 in the back. Ned’s annotations.
    5. 1960-1969 CORVAIR PARTS CATALOG, Revision No. 1, © 1970 Chevrolet Motor Division General Motors Corporation, document P&A 30C.
    6. 1965 CORVAIR ASSEMBLY MANUAL, document C7315, Reprinted by Clark’s Corvair Parts, Inc. .
    7. 1965 Corvair Chassis Shop Manual, © 1964 General Motors Corporation
    8. Fisher, Bill, How to Hotrod Corvair Engines, © 1964, 1994 Fred W. Fisher,
    Reprinted 1999 by Clark’s Corvair Parts, Inc. by permision of Bill Fisher.
    9. Finch, Richard, SAE, HOW TO KEEP YOUR CORVAIR ALIVE, 8.5TH Edition, ©2000 by Richard Finch, published by Clark’s Corvair Parts, Inc.
    10. Contact Issue 75, Vol 13, No. 4, Nov-Dec 2003, entirely on Corvair conversions.
    11. Clark’s Corvair Parts, Catalogue Supplements for 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011,
    2010. Used with Main catalogue on line.
    12. 2014 California CORVAIR Parts Inc. USED PARTS, CALIFORNIA CORVAIR PARTS, INC., 15090 LA PALMA DRIVE, CHINO, CA 91710. With 2014 price guide.
EXPERIMENTAL AMATEUR BUILT AIRCRAFT GENERAL LIBRARY:
1. What’s Involved in Kit Building, EAA SportAir Workshops manual © 2004
Experimental Aircraft Association, Inc. (it’s a Power Point handout of 72 slides) 2 copies
2. Falcon Guage Catalog 2006 on DVD
3. Bingalis, Tony, Firewall Forward,
4. Bingalis, Tony,
5. Bingalis, Tony,
6. Bingalis, Tony,
7. Goldenbaum, Jon, How to Cover an Aircraft Using the Poly-Fiber System, Poly-Fiber Aircraft Coatings, © 2006 Consolidated Aircraft Coatings, Revision 21, dated September 2006. Includes Randolph Color Card – 2004 and Poly-Fiber Color Card No. 50-B.
8. Osterbuhr, Kas, Electrical Wiring, EAA SportAir Workshops manual Revision 1.02 May 18, 2007, 65 pps, no copyright found.
9. US Government ANC-18 1951 Bulletin (copy 2/7/2007 $28.00)
10. US Government ANC-19 1951 Bulletin (copy 2/7/2007 $26.00)

All on its own 8’x16’ two axle flatbed trailer. ($1500 – California registration)

$7995.00

Owner’s Log:
The project appears to have been stored indoors from its beginnings.

KNOWN PROBLEMS:
Wing attachment brackets are installed inverted so that the wing tips must be above horizontal to install on the fuselage rather than tips on the ground then lifted to horizontal to install the lift struts. Lift struts bottom ends don’t match the brackets on the fuselage,’though the bolt threads have been indentified and bolts inserted to keep them identified. Between the bolt ends and the streamlined shape it’s possible to put each strut in it’s correct location.

KNOWN HISTORY:
If memory serves, this project was found in a hanger on what may have been Neenah Airport (79C), the photo on Air Nav appears correct – with a very narrow runway at right angles to the local access road. The airport was privately owned as is 79C. The project seller wouldn’t tell me who he got it from; his wife mentioned that it was built by someone in Oshkosh, WI, but the name is unknown.

I spent the first two days of AirVenture 2008 missing the lectures I had planned to attend while I repaired the trailer which had been used to bring another project from Flabob airport to a youth group. My failing memory doesn’t remember getting the project up on the trailer but I must have had some help with the lifting. I do remember help at the local WalMart finding large plastic boxes for all the small parts. Then, the same crew who had brought the trailer from Flabob towed it back to Flabob with this project on board. A few days later I found it there where I’d been told it would be and towed it to a hanger on the Banning Airport not far from where Cal Rodgers had landed in 1911 and gone to lunch in downtown Banning. There was no hanger space available at Flabob or Big Bear. About a year later a hanger opened up at Big Bear Airport (L35) and I towed it from Banning. I was able to load it onto the trailer I’d bought for it by myself. It sat in that hanger for another year when I got a larger hanger and moved into it. It’s all still in the second hanger.

Over the years I’ve done a lot of reading and training, including becoming a certified Light Sport Repairman – Airplane in June 2011. The LSRM training has been very useful.

COVERING:
Quite a bit of time has been spent identifying the covering. Attempting to find a stamp on the fabric I put a very bright work light inside the wings and fuselage. Nothing was found. So I took a sample of the fabric and did a flame test on an edge. It melted and rolled up before it burned like polyester would. Fiberglass would have pretty impervious to a match flame and cotton would have charred and burned without melting.

The work lights didn’t reveal a stamp on the fabric but they did show brush strokes in the paint and how uneven the coating is. The inspection port rings were simply glued on outside and have all fallen off as the glue aged. Some of the glued on joint tape has become very easy to pull off. I had wanted to avoid spending the money to replace the coating but it’s clearly not worth saving.

One of my next steps would be to remove and discard this fabric covering to inspect all the wood structure and joints that are hidden, to correct the three piece wing hardware installation and any other needed corrections that turn up.

AIRFRAME:
Several hours have been spent moving the empennage bracing brackets around for best fit. They are hand made and not exactly uniform. Some of the bracing rods (photo) were severely bent until the brackets were switched, allowing the rods to straighten. One fitting is missing and aircraft grade steel has been purchased from Aircraft Spruce but nothing has been fabricated to replace the missing bracket. I haven’t finished getting those brackets installed in the best place so I haven’t made the missing one. Something temporary will be used to trailer the project with the empennage installed
which I wasn’t able to do before.
Pat Weeden, Site Admin
Brodhead Pietenpol Association
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