Hello Net well over two months have passed since I last reported on the progress of my engine buildup. All this time I have been patiently waiting for the welder at a shop to fabricate the exhaust for my turbo system. He finally finished the work two days ago and I was able to take my engine back to the hanger and do a final assembly. The engine accessory case was modified for the Subaru starter. I tried to fit the starter with the case mounted to the engine mount and one of the support tubes for the mount was in the way. So, it was back to a welder, this time a different person. I can't afford another 60 day delay. As is, with the gathering in only 50 day, I will have to put in a lot of time to get the KR finished and flight tested before making a cross country trip. I made a hasty order to AS&S for some 4130 5/8 x .049. It arrived the next day. The tubing will be used to relocate the interfering cross member. I also had to make some adjustments to the turbo plumbing to get everything to fit under the cowl just right. I'm hoping to get all this finished by Tuesday and start my final assembly. The copper head gaskets that I needed arrived after over a month of waiting. They were made by Geers engineering. I anticipate that my next big headache will come from trying to tune the engine, especially adjusting the Revflow carb. Hopefully I will have the exact needle that is needed for the increased gas flow required by the addition of the turbo. Another issue is all the added weight of the turbo. I'm guessing that I added a good 20 lbs up front. I still had a slight pitch up at full power and suspect the addition of the weight will not cause me any problems. I plan to run some W/B computations, to see what the paper says. I can always remove my large auto battery from the firewall and replace it with a lighter unit or move it to behind the seat. At this point I'd bet my total weight is close to 700 lbs. One of the main goals for the turbo installation is to be able to carry a passenger and maintain a minimum climb rate of 500 fpm. As this is my KR's 20 birthday summer, making it to the gathering is #1 priority, but only we can make it there safely.
Orma Southfield, MI N110LR To the gathering or bust
