SonexBuilders.net

Hi Jeff,

I’ve leaned the mixture at full throttle in the past with no success. I may still give it a try at altitude if the weather ever cooperates.

In the mean time I decided to do a little playing with induction. I bought a 3” flex coupler and installed it in place of the standard of me that’s between the carb and the intake, it’s kind of jammed in because it’s longer than I really wanted. You can see it here:

https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aqvegj5EiW7apj3c6FgySF0QWkt3

I’m not going to fly with it like it is, this is just ground testing. The #5 EGT is typically 50F higher on ground wot than during climbout. With the 3” coupler, the #5 EGT was almost 100F cooler.

I’m going to shorten the coupler an inch, and test again in a couple days. It would be nice if I could find one just like the original Jabiru one, that has the ridges in it to better “lock” it in place, but an inch longer.

The Sonex has quite a long range with wing tanks:

https://youtu.be/lBVHVFzYE3Q

I'm really happy with how this project turned out. Finally have the stopping/holding power I've been wanting.

https://youtu.be/25grcb_RCj0

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Keywords: Aerobrake, Brakes, Hydraulic, Pedals, Hager

What a great experience is was to fly my own plane to KOSH. Having a friend with me that has done it several times made it a lot less stressful. It was also nice that he only weights 170lbs, so the "simulator" could account for baggage weight as well.

The Sonex flew great, and we even got 170 mph ground speed at times on the way home thanks to a tailwind. Way nicer than driving through Chicago.

Video of trip:
https://youtu.be/_wuzunEhzZ8

Cool video, thanks for sharing!

Glad the storm ended up being a dud, but it was fun to see the creative ways people tried to protect their planes.

Great video Paul. Sorry I missed seeing you there.
Happy Landings
John
N50NX

Thanks John.

It was a whirlwind week. I didn’t even know I was flying to KOSH until a couple days before. I actually had my Jeep packed with a small microwave and refrigerator for use at camp. The refrigerator wouldn’t fit in the baggage area of the Sonex though. :-)

Thanks for the video. I saw your plane there on the end of the row. Next to it was a nicely done A model with a corvair engine. Nice to see alternatives.

Great video Paul! I enjoyed looking your Sonex over during AirVenture and was glad you made it to the show! Your airplane looked great!

Thank you for sharing your video!

Testing temperature rise recirculated fuel continuously pumped for 1hr.

With proper shielding from engine temperature, the pumping contribution to temperature rise doesn't appear to be an issue. During actual flight, there would have been 6 gallons of ambient temperature fuel passing through the system, which should help.

Ambient Temp: 50F
Fuel in tank 80F
Warmest part of system 96F

No indication of boiling or vapor lock.

https://youtu.be/0dCYrXpIGs0