Brodhead Pietenpol Association

Original Posted By: BARNSTMR(at)aol.com
Hello again, low 'n' slow fliers;More from my conversation with William Wynne about his Corvair-powered Piet, this time about climb rate. For background, William's Piet weighed 730 lbs. empty. At Sun 'N' Fun 2000 his friend Gus gave numerous rides in the plane and saw climb rates of at least 500 fpm, sometimes 650-700 according to William. Gus, fitted out and ready to fly, weighs close to 300 lbs. according to William. He flew passengers weighing up to 260 lbs., had it topped off with fuel (17 gal.), and the temp was in the 90's at times during SNF. So here we have a plane weighing nearly 1500 lbs., flying with high ambient temperatures, and still climbing well. Friends, don't try this without at least 100 honest HP! Let's say we have a 5,000' long runway (about a mile). At a little under a mile a minute, we'll need that 500 fpm to make it to pattern altitude before it's time to stabilize at pattern altitude, chop power and turn base.William made the point that a typical Piet needs about 40 HP to maintain best climb speed of 55 MPH (don't quote me on those numbers; we're talking comparisons only for the moment). That leaves maybe 25 HP from a 65 HP engine as "excess" to make the plane climb. The typical "Bernie Corvair" using a blower motor and not much internal revision in the conversion can certainly produce 65 or 70 HP, but a clean conversion with the recommended cam and distributor is a solid 100 HP. With a 100 HP engine, there is a "surplus" of 60 HP available... 2.4 times as much "climb reserve" as a 65 HP. Do I sound like a Corvair salesman yet? ;o)Oscar ZigaSan Antonio, TXmailto: taildrags(at)hotmail.comwebsite at http://www.flysquirrel.net________________________________________________________________________________

Original Posted By: "Oscar Zuniga"
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Original Posted By: Jim Markle [mailto:jim_markle(at)mindspring.com]
Jim,Where did you find a source of ternplate? Is that what you're using? Ifnot, make sure whatever you have will solder well. I may be wrong, but mymemory is that it's hard to solder galvanized sheet.If I had to solder something large like that, I'd use a propane torch, likein plumbing. Solid-core tin/lead solder and lots of paste flux. That way Iwould KNOW that everything got good and hot, and that the solder would flowand coat everything evenly.After that, clamp up everything just like you were welding it, but you don'tget to fill gaps with solder--it has to fit. Also, remember that everythingyou solder up has to have flat face-to-face contact--remember that thesolder joint doesn't have anywhere near the strength of the underlyingmetal--there has to be lots of contact area. I expect that the old (fromthe '30s and '40s) construction handbooks have some useful information onthe subject.I toyed with the idea of soldering up my tanks out of copper sheet(available and fairly inexpensive), but finally decided that I didn't wantto take that big of an excursion from the main project. On the other hand,I don't have my tank back from the welder yet, and a bit traditional-lookingtank is sort of appealing.Let us know how it turns out!Gene-----Original Message-----

Original Posted By: "Kent Hallsten"

Original Posted By: "Jim Markle"

Original Posted By: "del magsam"
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Original Posted By: "D.Dale Johnson"
Subject: Re: Pietenpol-List: Soldered fuel tank.....

Original Posted By: Ed G.
I bought a extremely large iron like the one described here at a yard salerecently. If you want to borrow it to try be my guest. It is notelectric-powered, mind you, you'll have to keep it in coals or over apropane torch, but it is large enough. This is exactly the kind of thing Ibought it for.Gene Rambo----- Original Message -----