Joe Horton stopped by yesterday, on his way to the Corvair college in Florida. As I watched him make a perfect landing and taxi up to the hangar, I kept thinking how much the quality of the KR's, that are being built today has improved over years ago. I think you can blame that on the KRNet. He has a really nice KR2S with a big Corvair engine. We were both musing about how nice our planes were, when we took them to the airport, and how quickly they proceeded to get bunged up.
I think I will go to Vair College next year, to investigate using a Vair on my plane. So far, I have not been very satisfied with this engine and still cannot get the OP up high enough. I really don't understand why I am having issues with this engine. It should have been "plug and chug", but has been nothing but trouble. I am going to put on a bypass hose to take the oil filter out of the equation, to see if that could be the problem, and go from there. I know there are a lot of you guys out there using a 2180 with a remote filter. I wonder what you did, or did not do, to keep yourself from having this problem. I had the same set up on my first KR, with no cooling or pressure problems. The 2 flights that I made yesterday were pretty good with the exception of the OP problem. I think I have the OT under control, but time will tell on that one. My last landing was a squeaker, my first one was a bouncer. It is all about getting set up properly. On the last landing, I got a real surprise, when I tried to apply brakes, I did not have any. I found that the reservoirs were almost empty. This is the third time that I have had to fill these things. I don't see where the fluid is going. I had the same reservoirs on my first KR, but with Goodyear wheels and brakes and I never had to fill them. I guess you get what you pay for and I will have to be more diligent about filling them on a schedule. It was a bit hairy getting stopped by the end of the runway. It makes me think again about the belly board. I wanted to fly for the rest of the weekend, but the winds are forecast to be up again, so I guess I will put it off till another day and do some work around the house. I can always take off during the day for a couple of hours to get a flight in when it is calm out. I want to keep this plane in one piece. It was great to see Joe and his plane yesterday, and I hope he can make this his stop on the way back home on Sunday. See N64KR at http://KRBuilder.org - Then click on the pics See you at the 2007 - KR Gathering There is a time for building and a time for FLYING and the time for Flying has begun. Daniel R. Heath - Lexington, SC
