VG-21 Squadron |
NewslettersVarga/Shinn VG-21 Squadron JUNE 11, 1992 This newsletter is being produced by Pat's husband, Lee, and I'm not good at typing and can't spell at all. Pat has been with her folks for the past month as her father, age 85, is very ill. I hope to have her home soon because my house keeping is no better than my spelling. Also when I checked the Clubs cash box I found $20 and no stamps. I also noted that some of the club members have never sent Pat a dime. If you are one of forgetful members now is the time to send that check because it takes cash to buy stamps, to reproduce these letter or we will be forced to send to those that help out. The first Varga/Shinn So. Calf. fly-in only produced 6 acft. From what I heard about HI DESERT (Bill Bolster) every one had a great time. Pat and I plan to go down for a visit with Bill this fall when it cools down some. Carl Sigg says any one that makes a trip to HI DESERT will not be disappointed. Then John and Nina Vance cooked up a full weekend for us at Chino and that gathering was aborted due to low ceilings. In a letter from John (his computer can't spell either) they plan to try again in mid July. Go for it John because I just check with the staff at Ruth Ranch (our July fly-in, 24-26) and learned that 1. No one in our club has made reservation. 2. They are full except for the tent cabins. I gather no one likes Ruth Ranch or think they can't land in a canyon.?? ~In any event)no planned event by Pat/Lee in July. Along those same sour notes only one person responded to the offer to re-order VG-21 Squadron polo shirts so we will not make that offer again. Thats too bad because it did add a little class to our gatherings. COMING EVENTS June 5-7 Merced Fly-In (No Air Show) In the past this event draws the greater number of Vargas other than our annual meeting on maint. in Sept. Sat. is the big day. Could be another Varga group flight is planned from Tracy, Check with Joe & Marj Conner, 209-836-2213 July---------Open date at this time------- Sept. 26-27 ANNUAL MAINTENANCE EIEETING--Lampson Field, Lakeport, Ca. (Also a sea plane fly-in this weekend we will take in) on Clear Lake. Same as last year..... great opportunity to discuss problems/solutions. This year we will have some flying fun! NOTE ON THE UKIAH AIR SHOW--Many of us in No. Calf had planned to attend this event, (group flight in like last year) but I just called to make all the arrangements and I was told they would only display ONE arcft. I then told that SOB to take his stinking air show and shove it....................................................... Lets face it I'm having a bad year. Wait till you hear about our eng. change! I know we have 2 or 3 new members but I will let Pat cover that subject in one of her real news letters. I did get a call from John O'toule, Honolulu no less, seems he has Varga N8354J for sale. Would some one like to purchase a Varga at an affordable price, this is it. 808-923-6928. Guess what! Another broken engine mount. This time it was a 2180. Same indication, engine idle will not return to 600rpm, stays up around a 1000rpm. A new assy was suggested by me (old stupid) because of the usual high cost of rework only to find out the new Varga Corp wanted over 2 grand for a new one because of start up (set up) cost. I don't get it--they have to start up some time--right! In news letter #6 the requset was made for all members to tell me of any parts or TOOLING/FIXTURES you might have that could save another member down time and dollars. To date our list is very short. Come on lets help each other out. Along these same lines please look through your FAA 337's and send a copy of any that could be helpful. The plan is to keep a master file on tool, parts, and 337's and from time to time publish same in our news letter. TOOLS PARTS 337'S CKPT FUEL GAUGE TESTER ENG MUFFLER SPRINGS LORAN INST REAR SEAT STOW BIN 2150 ENG MNT FIXRS FUEL TANK SENDERS MLG WHEEL PNTS OIL SEPARATOR 2180 " " " NLG " " CARB AIR FILTER BRACE ACFT SUPPORT " WING SKIN/RIB RPR N-WHEEL CNTRNG Now I guess I better tell you why I'm in such a bad frame of mind. Our Varga (number 1) was old in years but low time, which we found out often leads to internal corrosion, another word for engine wear. We found small amounts of metal in the oil screen and analysis report found it high in alum and iron. We felt we would be smart to ovhl now rather than go 3 or 4 year and do it at a much higher cost. After taking to local Lyc. rep.(~just had typewiter failure)) we found that a 0-320-B2C (160hp) would be a simple exchange. SAC FISDO said NO PROBLEM, one time field approval. So we go with a Lyc. factory OVHL make the exchange, one day job--call SAC F~SDO--they tell me how to word the 337 and what changes to make to the acft fit manual---I FAX that to them and they tell me NO WAY CAN I INSTALL THAT ENG-----we contact OAK FISDO find some one willing to help; --make the acft EXPERIMENTAL---insurance company drops us like a two ton brick (willing to insure for $2200, nice huh?)---now ready to test fly 2 weeks later. Lyc. says only run eng 2 minutes, chk for leaks, run again 2 minute --go fly--I did and as soon as I got to 6500' and turned off the boost pump the engine quit, pump on runs fine. We learn from Lyc they dropped the ball--our eng did not have a fuel pump drive cam/push rod assy. Now we miss HI DESERT fly-in. Lyc send parts (2 weeks) I must again remove eng...take off sump--rear case plus all the accsy's---install pump drives and put the eng back together and install again. Per Lyc the price we paid for eng did not include fuel pump and drive components so they GAVE us about $600 of parts for doing the work. Who was that a good deal for, Lyc or us? At this time I install an oil filter. FAA says to fly acft for 15 hours and report such things as static RPM and temps. Every thing looks good but oil temp run high at low levels. FAA now has REG. FAA LAX in on the paper work. Now I remove oil filter and go back to the screen and the oil temp is fine. But FAA Eng. Flt. Test is concerned about sound levels, fuel octane placards and my spelling. They made me limit my RPM's to 2600 so I wont exceed 150 BP. The FAA ENGR. asked me if I didn't have a meter in the cockpit that told me how many HP the engine was developing. Where do they find these people? As it stands now we will not make the MERCED gathering. We are held to 50 miles and no passengers unless it is a crew member. Right now I would say the only club meeting we are sure to attend would be the one at our home field. Your question--was all this worth the effort/stresssssssss. In one word, hell noooo. I know how to do it now, same HP but no fuss. We now have about 20 hours on the engine, still running full out at 6500' and there is a difference. 2200+ on takeoff, 1600'/min climb at 100 mph ind., still 1100' at 6500'. At 75%, 6500' (throttle full) gives 2750-2800. just under 200+oil temp and 415-420 cyl head temp. My CORRECTED air speed now runs between 148-152 MPH, Same prop, I'm just able to turn it faster now. We have made a difference in this planes performance since we purchased 4 years ago when the best it would do was 112 MPH. This has taken me hours to type so no new(maintenance item) this time. Due the engine mount failures coming to light I am going to REPUBLISH that alert item,(news letter # 7). My suggestion, if you have your eng. off for any reason I would have the tubes in question replaced with thick wall tubing. PLZ ACCEPT MY APOLOGIES FOR HIS STINKING NEWS LETTER..PAT PLZ COME HOME! Lee |