Original Posted By: "Robert Haines"
Thanks for all the replies and comments re: fir wing spars.To clarify a couple of points: I live in a small town high in the RockyMountains of Colorado, so freight costs are a major part of the expenseof getting larger shipments of materials here. The sitka spruce sparsthat I investigated had to come form Calgary Canada, therefore the grosscost in comparison with fir spars. The question was asked about what I meant by "vertical grain". I meanthe grain lines as observed from the end of the spar with the spar laidflat should go up and down -vertically.Since I had planned to use 3/4" fir spars from the beginning of theproject, I laid my wing jig out to accommodate this using thecenterlines of the 1" spars as shown on the plans.Just changed the truss form of the spar to make this work.On another subject, I read that there was another question aboutalternative engines. I have elected to use an EA 82 Turbo ChargedSubaru engine because of the altitude here in our valley, we have 14,000foot mountains to the west and 11,000 foot mountians to the east. Theonly way out is over these mountains or down the canyon toward CanonCityabout 60 miles away.The engine is running fine, however I haven't flown the plane yet, stillfinishing the cowlings and wing struts. I will be happy to answer asbest I can any questions you may have about the engine installation. The plane from the firewall back is pure Pietenpol, complete with theJenny type gear and spoked wheels. I hope that Bernard Pietenpoldoesn't object, after all it is an automobile engine!John Dilatush dilatush(at)amigo.net________________________________________________________________________________