A side project to all of the engine work and testing has been the stiffening of the steering mount. We had fabricated this from tubular steel, but it was bending and twisting more than we liked, so...
At AirVenture this week, Switchblade Owner Nick Leonard gave an engaging Forum presentation discussing various aspects of the ever-growing flying car arena. The talk covered VTOLs, regulations,...
Since we had to put in the tube frame X-brace to stiffen the tube frame tail supports, the alternator had to find a new home. The X-brace ran right through where the alternator was! So we fabricated...
We brought back specialty welder Brian Trainor to weld the X-brace which is part of the tube frame at the rear of the vehicle. This will provide additional stiffening for the tail to frame...
Now that the spray-on wax lubricant was applied, the chain (for gear reduction to the prop) was installed and tested to check for heat tolerance and suitability. We ran the engine up to 7,000 rpm...
We had an oiling system for the chain gear reduction to the prop for our prototype, but found that there is a well-proven spray-on wax lubrication that removes the necessity of an oiling system. We...
Our new exhaust pipes were mounted, and you can see this in the image below. The silver exhaust used to run down below the engine and out the back, but the higher temps of this lean burn engine...
We had Switchblade Owner and aircraft builder Nick Leonard up for a day, and took advantage of his avionics expertise to update the Dynon Skyview main display. Like most electronics, there are...