Date: Thu, 03 Aug 2000 11:42:43 -0400
From: "Tracy D. Wilkins" <tracyw@vt.edu>
Subject: LNC2 Shocks and Alternators
In-reply-to: <20000803041204.AAA22269@ns1.olsusa.com>
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Shocks:  For our flying 360 we ordered the new oleo struts from Lancair.
One immediately blew a gasket when we put the weight of the plane on it;
blue brake fluid and some black goo came out...  To get replacements we had
to bring them back from OSH, all of the available ones went for display.
These are only sold in pairs and supposedly you have to keep the pairs
together... Installed the new set and one was totally flat.  No sign of a
blown gasket just flat....  We paired up the two "good" ones and they work
fine - nice taxi now and the landings seemed smoother.  Worry- what happens
if we blow a gasket in the boonies (I fly to Arkadelphia Arkansas, aka
boonies).  The Nitrogen fill directions say about 300 lbs Nitrogen - our
local regulators don't go so high and you can't get that out of a
compressed air system in an emergency.  I guess you could land on a flat
main sock but carefully?
	Anyway we decided maybe we should get John Spry's spring/oleos -but he
doesn't have any in stock - has to order them in sets of five and it takes
three weeks minimum for fabrication.  So we would have to put the rubber
donuts back on - and there is no supply of replacements if one his goes bad....
	By the way when we replaced the gear hardware - possible? slight bend from
Howard's hard landing we found that the bolts that held the rubber donuts
on were severely bent and partially sheared!  The gear support may or may
not have been bent but we installed the new set.  Then we sent in the nose
strut for the AD and found out that it was bent - when we got the new one
on we realized the old one had always been bent - now our nose goes up and
down some when we taxi ; in the old days the nose just stayed up!  So the
nose strut was bent when we got the plane in Michigan...We have now rebuilt
or replaced a whole lot of stuff that was done wrong or screwed up before
we got the plane with 100 hrs on it.  It seems in great shape now except
for the alternator problem I address below.

Alternators:  Ours came to us with a 35 amp Honda generator.  Since the
hydraulic motor takes 35 amps that is small!  With our panel of instruments
we wanted 60 amps.  Last year the Honda alternator gave up the ghost while
I was in the air.  Luck was with me - I wasn't in the Clag and I was close
to home but I had to do an emergency gear down and even the radio just
barely worked...  We had to get a "new" Honda generator in a junk yard and
have it rebuilt but we couldn't find a replacement for the old connector
which tends to get loose.  We installed the junk yard alternator. The space
is so tight that the cooling fins have to be either removed or bent
severely.  I bent ours and the fan works and for additional insurance we
installed a cooling air hose.  and then put an alternator light right in
the middle of the panel next to the Attitude Indicator.  Yesterday it lit
up - zero volts.   I turned off what I could and headed home... because I
had the warning I had plenty of battery juice left for a normal gear down
and radio conversation with traffic.  We are not looking forward to
replacing it with another Honda.  
	At OSH my partner (Howard) was told that the 60 amp Chevy Spectrum
alternator (from one with an air conditioner) would bolt in to the small
space we have in front of the heater/exhaust.  Called Chevy = discontinued
so we would be back to junkyard scavenging.  There is an aircraft one that
"may" fit so we are looking into that.  For builders - make sure there is
plenty of room for different alternators - the one you install may not be
available in a few years!  We may even have to change to another exhaust
system $$$ to make enough room for a real alternator.

Long Engine Mounts: We also had the idea to change to the new engine mount
- we need the three inches because we have the large tail (which I like).
Without the new engine mount we had to put the battery in front of the
passenger's feet = no tall chicks!  The A&P part of moving the engine
forward is no real sweat but what stopped us is the new cowl.  This is
definately out of our range of limited expertise and patience to build it!
But for you builders if you have the big tail you need to go for it.  Your
CG will be very marginal without it - toss too much weight in the back
(extra shocks, tires, spare alternator...) and you just might not be able
to control it in turbulence = flat death spin.

Paint: anyone ever remove the paint from one of these planes?  We would
like to repaint at least parts but don't want the weight of painting over
the Imron that is on now.  Howard was told at OSH that the best way was to
use a razor blade and no chemicals... seems more than tedious.  Sanding can
expose the fiberglass fibers resulting in a finishing job that no paint
shop will want to handle.  What to do if anything - paints not bad I am
just a perfectionist....If I built one it might take me 8000 hrs
(incompetence plus perfectionism!).   I am retiring next year so who knows.
Tracy Wilkins

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