preparing my first RV-8 flight

after ten years, my RV 8 building is almost completed
some modifications have been carried on, the main one is endurance, the one can be as long as 32 hours...
now facing with problems related with EMD and Lasar,,as they have become old. for instance, my microvision VM1000c, golden,,is no longer supported
I am sending a picture of my 5 years old daughter, who is preparing herself for the first flight [/URL][/IMG]

Congrats on you accomplishment.

Congratulations on getting close to the end. Good luck with the million unexpected final details, the first flight, and the flight test program.

32 hour endurance? Interesting. Tell us about your long range fuel, and your plans for flights that might need it. I have occasional dreams about flying to Brazil.

Great pic!

Congrats on the build, good luck on the first flight!

Welcome to VAF!

Michel, welcome to VAF, and congratulations on getting the plane finished

Kevin Horton said:

32 hour endurance? Interesting. Tell us about your long range fuel, and your plans for flights that might need it.

Click to expand...

I think there may be a clue there in the board name 'rtw'.

Nonetheless a great accomplishment and I too would love to hear your long range plans. Possibly another Bill Randolph?

rtw said:

after ten years, my RV 8 building is almost completed
some modifications have been carried on, the main one is endurance, the one can be as long as 32 hours...
now facing with problems related with EMD and Lasar,,as they have become old. for instance, my microvision VM1000c, golden,,is no longer supported
I am sending a picture of my 5 years old daughter, who is preparing herself for the first flight

[/URL][/IMG]

Click to expand...

Hola, que bueno saber de ti, recuerda si necesitas asistencia para tu traves?a, ac? estaremos esper?ndote en Chile

LASAR OLD?

You say the LASAR system is old but you haven't made the first flight yet. I assume your concern is for product support in the future. I think that is a valid concern but the system has been reliable for me in general. The timing has to be set correctly with the LASAR timing tool. That caused me some problems initially. My experience is the sensor and non-sensor mags are good for 400-500 hours before starting to fail in my O-360-A1A installation.

Last December I worked with Red Hamilton and installed new high compression pistons and a new requirement was revealed. It has to do with torque on mounting the magnetos. I was always careful to tighten the mounting nuts hard but the space is tight and I did not put a torque wrench on them. The timing instruction book warns against torquing over 17 ft-lbs. With the new high compression pistons the engine rotated the mags in their mounts and changed the timing indicating mag failure in the mag check even though the mag was still OK in some cases. I used the necessary tools to enable the use of a torque wrench and found that I had under torqued the nuts. The lesson in this case is torque the nuts to the full 17 ft-lbs to prevent the magnetos from rotating in the two small mounting clamps and changing the timing.

The way I am supporting my system is spare LASAR sensor and non-sensor mags. I race the plane and have been flying 250-350 hours per year the last two years at 2450 (cruise) and 2700 (racing) RPM. It starts well and seems to perform as advertised.

I have heard of a new electronic ignition system that has a non-electronic magneto backup mode but I personally know nothing about it.

There is a man in Ohio that bought the inventory of LASAR units when they went out of production. His name is Harry Senton and his phone number is 815-566-2735. They are new units still in the original Unison packaging and he sells them at a reasonable price. I have bought two from him and they are perfect.

You can still buy new LASAR magnetos from Aircraft Spruce but they are special order and once the order is placed it cannot be cancelled. I ordered one and it was built by Champion who now own the system. The price is around $2500 and there is a core charge of around $250. You must be very specific with your order and it is good to talk to a sales person. The list in the catalog and on line does not include the 4770 non-sensor mag but I am sure you can order them. The important thing to note is the system is still supported.

Champion has an employee named Joe Logie Who worked for Unison and is the expert there on the system. His phone number is 864-843-1162. He informed me a few months ago that Champion is developing a new electronic ignition system but it is not available yet.

There is a company in British Columbia, Canada the repairs LASAR magnetos if they are repairable. it is Aero Progressive Air Service and their phone number is 250-376-6226.

Bob Axsom