Experimenter is a magazine created by EAA for people who build airplanes. We will report on amateur-built aircraft as well as ultralights and other light aircraft.
Issue link: http://experimenter.epubxp.com/i/271000
14 Vol.3 No.3 / March 2014 BOB ROGERS' LONE STAR MUSTANG II 24 inches into the tail cone. He originally chose seats from a Mazda Miata, but they were too heavy. He ended up using seats designed for the Lancair IV, which were expensive but very light. An accompanying photo shows the Mustang II on a set of scales as Bob crawled around taking measurements to deter- mine engine mount spacing required to stay within the Mus- tang II weight and balance envelope. A weight can be seen hanging from the front of the 13B engine to simulate uninstalled components and the prop. According to Bob, the stock turbocharger was inad- equate, so he installed a bigger one. Since this mod resulted in the oil return line exiting the turbo below the level of the engine oil sump, Bob fabricated and installed an oil collec- tion sump and plumbed and installed a cockpit-controlled oil return pump. Then he discovered that he needed the return pump to control two flow modes—a low oil flow rate for lower engine speeds and a higher rate for cruise engine speeds. The solution: a high-low switch and two rows of DIP switches that control the on-off timing of the return pump at the low switch setting. These are mounted in the instrument panel. THE CHRISTMAS GIF T Teri Ann jokes that although they've been married 32 years, they've only been together for 15 because she was gone half the time on her job. Teri Ann recently retired from Delta Air Lines as a fl ight attendant. "I chose weekend trips so he could be at the airport from Friday until Sunday and never come home," said Teri Ann. One year, Teri Ann asked Bob what he wanted for Christ- mas. After getting his answer, she started shopping around for a good deal on 2,000 clecos. In addition to learning the ins and outs of sheet metal fabrication, Bob also learned to work with composites. "I didn't like the idea of an aluminum fuel tank located behind the instrument panel and above my lap, so I built one out of Kevlar," Bob said, fi guring that Kevlar, a tough aramid fi ber, would make the tank more impact resistant. That decision cost 3 gallons of capacity—down from 25 to 22 gal- lons—but Bob is more comfortable with the added security of the Kevlar tank. Photography by Michael Kelly This logo on the turtledeck of the aircraft is a nod to the couple's home state of Texas. E A A E X P _ M a r 1 4 . i n d d 1 4 EAAEXP_Mar14.indd 14 3 / 3 / 1 4 1 0 : 3 0 A M 3/3/14 10:30 AM