RansMail # 027  June 2004

 

Fan Broken. If it wasn't for this group I'd have probably ended up with a damaged engine or worse. Graham had alerted me to regularly checking the belt and then Brian responded to my fan problem. I picked the new fan up on Saturday and sent off a thanks note to his Engineer, George, on yesterday's mail. I also was able to refit it & engine and do one circuit, temperatures seem fine. I've cut off a triangular tab from the black plastic fan grille so I should be able to feel round & check the belt tension more easily, but I did put the grille on again as it should prevent loose paper or rag from getting sucked into the fan. In any case having tackled the job once I found it fairly easy to lift the engine out for good access.

 

That's a nice feeling to have it all together and running  a fortnight since finding the belt was slack, though actually only just over a week since breaking the fan, thanks to Brian's immediate action in asking and George kindly sending it off.

 

I did buy the Skydrive 'Repair Manual' for the points ignition Rotax 447, but it's a bit vague & actually the only reference to 'points' is in the title !

Vince posted me several pages printed off the USA web, on the points and fan etc. Reading those two in conjunction with the pdf CD manuals Graham sent me has added up to something, but even as a trained engineer I found them light on details, with some contradictions; it looks like quite a business to expose the points. In the end, just working on the real job in hand was more productive. 

 

Vince took a short 'flight', off a ladder at home late last week and is now in hospital with a broken pelvic bone, so his Rans flying is somewhat curtailed.

 

Finally I found a Sept. 2002 Sport Air advertisement where the S4 & S5 were already costing £10,350 and that was for the kits only. Which makes our planes already assembled & without too many hours rather valuable.

 

Mike.