Building the new Bushbaby SAFARI

[Oupa-G]

Ian Iwill have to ask Vliegvark. The last batch here in cape Town I have bought .They are quite dificult to get but good outboard people stock them you also get them with 1/4" and 5/16" nipples. Tonight I finished the airbox Vliegvark gave a hand and the pics speak for themself. I did not have such a productive evening because my X-ray machine the head stopped working maybe I have been x-raying to many engine mounts. Luckily I still had a spare in stock so my downtime was just one evening. I aligned the head checked all the milli-amps and the surrounding area for any X-ray leakage and all is 100%. You will see on the airbox I used solid rivets I still like them maybe because I was brought up on them . When I was an appey there were no pop rivets only solid rivets that had to be heat treated before use and then there were the solid shank Cherry rivets for the dificult places. You will also see I use anchor nuts the floating type 3/16" the non metric screw is 4.8mm in diameter, I just run a 5mm tap through them and then it is 5mm so that I can keep the aircraft metric. The thread of the 3/16" is so close to the 5mm pitch that one can get away with this without spoiling Quality

Enjoy the photo's

Cheers Oupa-G

[Boet]

Oupa, ek dink jy en Vliegvark moet nou eers die cowling pas.... dit wil al vir my lyk of daardie koeler n rapsie te hoog kan wees. These outjies are moving at a helluva pace. It seems like the deadline for end April is quite reachable.

[Oupa-G]

Boet we do have tape measures like all good workshops you are forever looking for the tape I solved the problem with numbers I just floded the workshop with them. No I must say the cowling fits perfectly I have already made the first duct for the oil coiler and yes we are still aiming for end of April. pictures will follow.

Cheers Oupa-G

[Oupa-G]

As I'm saying from now on what we do is permanent . The oil pipes were put in tested for lenght , the right materials that can take the temperature on this specific type of pipe I have 260hrs on my BMW trike and no problems. Then for easy stress free instalation I have a Banjo fitting on the one side and a bullnose fitting on the other side so the pipe can be installed without twisting. It is money well spent on proper crimping I have a small hate for Jubilee clamps on small radiuses. Just some oil pipe photo's.

Cheers Oupa-G

[Oupa-G]

Putting on the finishing touches finished the throttle cables turned the precision fitting on the throttle bodie see picture I'm using the teflon lined casing with teflon treated cable. Oil is a no no and with no oil no attraction of dust and no cable binding. It is wonderful that we can make use of the latest cable tegnology. It is a wonderful freedom we have being Non-certified. This however is a freedom that must be cherished and practised with diligence. The electical harnass is finished and will be installed and next weekend will be start-up time. I will keep you all posted.

Cheers Oupa-G

[Boet]

No excuses for quality. Oupa, you and your side of the team do us pride. Looking forward to seeing your aeroplane come alive.

[Oupa-G]

Boet thanks for the compliment but when we say ag its OK then it is not OK. I have been flying now for 45 years that is almost half the history of powered flight.
I have had nothing but joy from the flying and my fellow aviators. Here in the end I don't want to spoil it ! Here is just a photo of the oil pipes with there fire proof jackets on this shielding is woven glass on the inside and high temp silicone on the outside. All the fluid carrying pipes in the engine bay as well as all the wiring looms will be covered with this material . It is nogal expensive ,but then what is a life worth?
I have just come back from a flight to Beaufort West the capitol of single car accidents people fall asleap mostly. I was wandering between the thunderstorms and with the help of weather radar and the excellent Stormscope we weaved there and back . At BW we landed with a 35kts crosswind burbeling of the mountain , but luckily being a Trike pilot we are given eyes that can see turbulence before it hits you. All was well and I'm back in the workshop because next week the Bosvark must start. Enjoy the photo

Cheers Oupa-G

[Oupa-G]

While I was away Otto our in house "real rocket scientist" has been drawing diagrams and and cutting cables labeling them because we are using teflon covered wire and the role we have is all white the stuff is so expensive that labeling is the answer and not colour coding, that would have broken the budget. The part of the loom in front of the firewall will also be covered in heat shielding. My thinking is heavily inspired by the PC12 if you open that cowling it is also a masterpiece. We are aiming at something similar and there is no reason what so ever it cannot be done in Durbanville South Africa. Enjoy the wiring at the moment it is still simulating an Afro hairstyle but we all know that our fellow citizens are masters at brading and next we will show you the braded loom.

This morning I saw a fellow aviator who flies those narrow wings that spin he wanted some allie for his transponder aerial. He mentioned that he reads this site , I was moaning about small jubilee clamps, duly he inspected his aeries clamps and "Voila" there were the leaking clamps. So he has some work to do.

Enjoy the photo's

Cheers Oupa-G

[AndyCAP]

Thanks again for a lovely thread OupaG!

THis is positively the mose exciting project in SA! I really love the way you guys marry technical know how with practical common sence!

I am still toying around with ideas for a project/plane for myself, but your BMW conversion is definitely at the top of my list as a Rotax replacement . Yes I know it has not run in a cowled tractor arrangement yet, but as an engineer it it obvious to me that you guys are not leaving anything to chance!

Guys take Oupa's advice seriously regarding the freedom we should have with LSA/NTCA. There are so many of us who will not be able to fly if the CAA are allowed to simply remove our rights to do our own thing. Yes lets put checks and balances in place. Safety must come first - but dont over regulate and take away our freedom - otherwise it will simply make flying unaffordable for 90% of us .

(sorry about the rant Oupa! )

[Oupa-G]

Just received two foto's of the Loom it is devided into the loom that goes to all the components inside the baffles like injectors etc, and the a loom behind the baffles but still ahead of the fire wall and the 3rd loom will be inside the cockpit. It also helps with tracing in case of problems.

Cheers Oupa-G

[Boet]

As we always say: 95% finished, 50% to go!!!

[Learjet]

Oupa-G - The attention to detail and build quality you have applied to this project has raised the benchmark for homebuilds! I have been following this thread and comments with great interest, but last weekend it proved even more valuable...

Your previous comments regarding your disatisfaction with jubilee clamps on small diameter pipes made me go and double check all of mine carefully. None were visibly leaking but after gently tugging and twisting all my fuel line connections (with the fuel pumps running) I was surprised to find one that gave a little spurt of fuel when bent at a certain angle. I am now going to change all my Jubilee clamps in favour of Goetze clamps as soon as I can find some!

Thanks!

Dave

[RV4ker (RIP)]

As we always say: 95% finished, 50% to go!!!

Thought it was 95% to go

Looks great...

[Oupa-G]

I don't know the percentiges but I'm feeling closer to finished as before. I have taken the engine off for the final powder coating of the engine mount. This is the first time I now have the chance to reveal all the weights and here it comes ,All the weights are dry weight as it is difficult to ad oil at this stage but we know the engine needs 5lit of oil. The exhaust is 5kgs ,the oil cooler with airbox 4kgs, engine mount 3.5kg's baffles etc 1kg's Engine with oil pipes for cooler and throttle bodies 69kgs. The whole package stacked on the scale is 82.5 kgs I have documented this with photo's. This specific engine is 110hp . With this sort of output it compares well in the power to weight ratio found in other powerplants. As I have pledged before I will only give true figures .

Enjoy the photo's

Cheers Oupa-G

[MYR]

The whole package stacked on the scale is 82.5 kgs

It would be interesting if someone coud do the same thing with a Rotax 100 hp ...
No one can weight it and send the photo ?