Building the new Bushbaby SAFARI

Aircraft Projects Underway or Completed

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KFA
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Re: Building the new Bushbaby SAFARI

Postby KFA » Wed Jul 24, 2013 8:31 pm

Nice job Oom Frans. What is the gap on the plugs?
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Re: Building the new Bushbaby SAFARI

Postby Oupa-G » Wed Jul 24, 2013 11:19 pm

Stefan at the moment the gap is 2mm. A normal magnetic sump plug always has a bit of metal dust on it and I may find that I will have to increase the gap by putting a thicker non conductive spacer in. The nice part if you get a signal (light) and it is only dust you replace the gearbox oil 200cc and of you go. If there are chips what a bargain. It may save a forced landing . A forced landing always has an element of luck.

I hope this little gadget will inspire people to think safety and prevention. The total expense does not even get to R100 not counting my time .

Cheers Oupa-G
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Re: Building the new Bushbaby SAFARI

Postby AndyCAP » Sat Jul 27, 2013 1:11 pm

Very nifty idea Oupa! This should take out a lot the guesswork out of engine condition. Great to hear that your varkie is doing so well! i am not surprised considering the maticulous detail thought that has gone into the whole build. Sad to think that you mus be concerned about possible litigation when selling your engine kits.....

if my ship comes in I would still consider your BMW as a powerplant. Unfortunately for now I am firmly grounded.

Thanks for the update its really nice To hear you are enjoying OTT vhpy
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Re: Building the new Bushbaby SAFARI

Postby Oupa-G » Mon Jul 29, 2013 10:58 pm

Andy Both the engine and gearbox will get chip detectors. Today I visited a gear supplier and my next phase is the gear ratios and the choice of propeller. Props and engines are like musical instruments that need tuning. At the moment the Pprop is doing wonders on my plane just change the engine mount rubbers or a different engine mount design and harmonics and vibration can play havoc.

Ystervark does the theoretical calculations but in the end test flying wins. Your ear and the picking up of a wow wow is what finally wins. When I fly my twin the setting of the props is done purely on the WOW WOW method. I can now have gears made locally and now I can change the ratios without having to go through the importing hassle and I can really experiment. I still have an air adjustable prop and would really like to fly it.

That is all on the experimentation front

Cheers Oupa-G
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Re: Building the new Bushbaby SAFARI

Postby Oupa-G » Sat Aug 17, 2013 10:05 pm

Now that the flying is so nice the building is going into the next refinement stage. she has now passed the 110hr mark and she is really a get in and go aerie cols starting hot starting never a problem. The mixture is now such I,m running around 770 degreesC normal fast cruise 90mph + at 16L/hour. Not bad for such a draggy aerie. I have located a company that can manufacture gears for my gearbox so now I can decide and change gear ratios at will. I still have a VP prop that wants to turn at 2600rpm for take off I will bring in Ystervarks knowledge regarding resonance calculations and then apply the practical flying. These things are a bit like a musical instrument the difference between a false and true note is miniscule.

Last night I flew to George to pick up a head injury patient it was a true mercy flight so it was a get up and go situation.

The weather was very weird mostly frontal with vertical development and lots of rain and this all at night my co pilot on the way back was playing the weather radar like a piano and by constantly adjusting the tilt of the radar aerial he picked a way between all the cells present. The ground clutter return and cell return must be clearly understood, but what wonderful tegnology. All this combined with the help of ATC is wonderful in this situation it changes from control to serious help.

To help the situation the SAA boys were doing go rounds so the sky was lekker busy over the mountains we were getting wave with very active up and down drafts and turbulence so we stayed well above the klippe and did most of our descend in the false bay . At the moment I am replacing all the rubber hoses on the Baron and tomorrow I,m again on call. I would not mind a restfull day.


Cheers Oupa-G
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Re: Building the new Bushbaby SAFARI

Postby Goose » Fri Oct 11, 2013 8:08 pm

Hi OupaG

Ek het die atvertensie gesien.

185 main legs and tail-wheel assembly
please call Mavis 0795039858

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Re: Building the new Bushbaby SAFARI

Postby patlarrain » Wed Nov 27, 2013 12:27 pm

Hi Oupa
You should send an email to a guy in China (German / Chilean), he does gearboxes for a German felow for BMW, his name is Swen at subaruair@yahoo.com
Hope this helps you create a cheaper engine / gearbox combination for the rest of us
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Re: Building the new Bushbaby SAFARI

Postby mamkeci » Fri Jan 17, 2014 6:33 am

Hi, I'm seriously considering the BMW R1200 for my project and I've been doing a lot of reading (this thread by far the most informative so far). A couple things I haven't figured out yet... what year and model of R1200 is best and which PSRU I should use. As far as I can tell the R1200GS and R1200RT are the same engine and regardless of the year they seem to have the same bore and stroke however some of them are SOHC while the newer ones are DOHC and then their compression ratios vary from 11:1 to 12.5:1. As far as the PSRU goes, I've been considering using either Take-off's, Rotax's C gearbox, or Air Trikes SPG-4; either way the PSRU seems to be the weak point in the system and has me leery of committing to a BMW conversion. Any advice??


Thanks,
Todd
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Re: Building the new Bushbaby SAFARI

Postby justin.schoeman » Fri Feb 21, 2014 12:00 pm

Hi Oupa-G,

Just saw a red and white PC12 flying into PE on the cricket coverage, and remembered that we haven't seen an update here for years ;) . How is the beemer doing?

Justin
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Re: Building the new Bushbaby SAFARI

Postby Boet » Fri Mar 28, 2014 8:21 pm

vhpy
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Re: Building the new Bushbaby SAFARI

Postby KFA » Thu May 08, 2014 7:22 pm

Hoe vorder die adventure oom Frans?
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Re: Building the new Bushbaby SAFARI

Postby Oupa-G » Sat Jun 14, 2014 10:14 pm

It has been a long time( almost a year ) where I have not been on the web .

I now have lots to report as I have been installing a different engine in OTT. I have had fuel problems with the header tank and we have redesigned the system. The BMW engine has performed flawlessly for 130 hrs. We however have been experiencing fuel supply problems resulting in the header tank running dry. To keep a long story short under certain conditions the negative pressure in the header tank created by the demand of fuel from the engine the flow of air from the breather favors flow rather then the flow from the engine. The fuel flow tests are done statically with no air pressure via the vent on the fuel cap with the the engine not running. After a lot of experimenting, if the fuel pumps are running no problems if the flight takes place under varying temperatures and altitudes and various angle of attack a situation develops where the header tank sucks air from the breather that opens into the tank. The problem after many test flights was that the breathers line from the header tank to the main fuel tank needed a non return valve. With a mirror we have been checking the filling of the header tank and the problem has been resolved.

When I helped Donald with the AX-1 with the Lycoming o-235 with the Eboxi the engine was running well. For more power Donald installed a O-320 and I bought the O-235.

The dilemma now was I needed an airframe to test and fly the Lycoming. We had a fueling problem with OTT I decided to tow the plane home as at that stage I was not sure exactly what the problem was. Towing the aircraft through the Kalahari dunes caused so much damage that I took it to Boet to attend to the retrieval damage. At the time I spoke to Stefan from Kitplanes he mentioned the new luggage area and the further widening of the cockpit. So it did not take me long to incorporate all the changes and I welded and made an engine mount for the Lycoming the offset of 3 degrees was built in and the CoG was taken into consideration. So a slimming action against weight was done and I reverted back to the original gear saving weight all the airframe mods were incorporated And so far the weight engine installed is 343kg's which is not heavy. The engine's weight is 107kg's bare . We have still to install the instruments fuel injection and exhaust and cowling and prop I worked out the final weight should be about 365kg's.

In the next few weeks I will share with you all with pictures the build process Boet has molded me a new cowling to enclose the Lycoming it is a piece of art as only Boet can do.

So here it comes in the next few weeks


Cheers Oupa-G
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Re: Building the new Bushbaby SAFARI

Postby KFA » Sat Jun 14, 2014 10:21 pm

Great news Oom Frans,
I want a cowl please. I have some customers that bought the 233 motor and I am looking at the 150hp version for myself as well. Keep us posted and lots of pics please.

Just as a side note. On the BMW installation I did at the factory we did not install a vent from the header to the tank but we routed the fuel return lines straight to the tanks so we are not having trouble with the header running dry.

Keep us posted
Luck-The moment when preparation meets opportunity.
"Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right." -Henry Ford
"Opportunity Is Missed By Most Because It Is Dressed in Overalls and Looks Like Work." - Thomas Alva Edison
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Re: Building the new Bushbaby SAFARI

Postby Boet » Mon Jun 23, 2014 9:37 pm

Stefan, ek het die molds.
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Re: Building the new Bushbaby SAFARI

Postby Oupa-G » Thu Jun 26, 2014 10:20 pm

I am working flat out I am taking pictures with my cellphone still have to figure out how to do the transfer. Have made some nice changes to simplify the wiring. The cowling is stunning Boet did a magnificent job. He made the cowling for me the shape is perfect my deal with Boet was I paid for the materials but the intellectual ownership is with Boet so he keeps the mold and he should be rewarded for all the love he put into it. The builders with Lycomings should talk to Boet.

There are some mods to come in the form of NACA ducts air induction etc


Cheers Oupa-G

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