William Wynne

Corvair College #8 Page 2 November 12-14, 2004

www.FlyCorvair.com Hangar, Massey Air Ranch, Edgewater, Fla.

Above, Dan Weseman is working on his 3,100cc Corvair well past midnight. Dan is a professional rigger from the Jacksonville, Fla., area. Note how thick the 5x10' steel table is. Dan dropped this off as a present two weeks before the College. When a rigger offers you a heavy duty table, he means it. It weighs 2,400 pounds, and we had to borrow a crane to take it off his trailer. The oil pump test rig is in the foreground. The case on the right hand side has just had its studs painted. The sections of 3/8" hose keep paint off the threaded area. It's much faster than taping the ends of the studs. In the background is Dave "The Bear" Vargesko's ColtVair/Wagabond sitting on its gear.

Dan Weseman talking to Gus and I at the welding table. The table will one day be in the Corvair Aviation Museum. Amongst many other things, Mark Langford's KR-2S Motor Mount was built on this table at Corvair College #3. Today, we have a purpose built KR-2 Motor Mount jig. But the design owes its origin to the top of this table.

Ah, the new friends you make at Corvair College. Ivan Carlson, Super Pulsar builder from Louisiana, brought down all of the parts to assemble a hybrid Corvair/VW engine based on 90.5mm cylinders. This yields an engine of 2,882cc. Ivan had done a lot of prep work, but these engines are significantly more difficult to assemble than a standard Corvair. In our shop, Kevin has assembled a number of these engines, and guided Ivan through his assembly. Kevin's special sense of humor seemed to grow on Ivan day by day.

Glen Bankston, Dragonfly builder from Moultrie, Ga., who'd previously attended Corvair College #6, brought his engine back for some more assembly work. Glen carpooled down with Larry Koutz. Most impressive was Glen's handmade computerized engine monitoring system. In the course of our work with Corvairs, we've come across some of the most clever craftsmen you'd ever hope to meet in aviation. Although not everybody is a professional mechanic, a number of the people at the College had impressive backgrounds in the mechanical world which they brought to the building of their own engines.

Larry Koutz of Moultrie, Ga., is a highly experienced Q-200 pilot. He is currently exchanging his Continental engine for the Corvair engine you see running here. This is Larry's test stand mounted on his trailer. He actually drove it around the hangar ramp on engine thrust. Greg Jannakos provides steering at the trailer tongue. Note that Larry has built a baffle box to cool his engine. All air cooled engines need this crucial piece of equipment when being operated on the ground, especially freshly overhauled ones.

Jack Cooper, left, and Mike Hyers are friends who drove down from North Carolina together. Jack was a helicopter pilot for many years, and Mike had a career as a C-130 flight engineer. Mike impressed many of the people at the College when he visually spotted an out of track propeller hub on a running engine. We disassembled the engine and found a burr underneath the prop hub. After re-installation, it ran dead nuts on. Steve Upson checked Mike's eye with a dial indicator, and the run out he found was only .008". Not bad for a guy who wears bifocals.

601 building team from St. Louis, Missouri, Louis Kantor, left, and Vince Olson, carry their case to the bench. Both of these guys hold ATP ratings, and fly regional jets for a commuter airline. They picked up their engine from a builder who'd purchased the parts but had made little progress. In two days, Vince and Louis got their engine about 50% done. While not everyone can come to the College, the rewards in aviation go to those who show the initiative to just get started. Above the Embry Riddle sign in the background rests a dormant Corvair/Cassutt project.

Greg Jannakos' engine under power on the dynamometer. The starter shown in the photo is our standard low profile model. After the runs were done, we modified Greg's starter to the ultra low profile, which fits inside the 601 nosebowl. The carburetor that ran every engine on the stand is an MA3-SPA from an O-200. In the background, from left, Gerry Scampoli, Mark Thomson and Glen Gingras. Mark had recently picked up a Corvair engine project and was somewhat skeptical of the motor until he visited the College. Once he saw the resources and friendship available to Corvair engine builders, he completely changed his opinion and now is a solid Corvair convert.

Larry Hudson's Fokker D-VIII engine, above. The appropriate cowling for this airplane is very large, and thus it can use a standard front starter. We ran this engine at our shop last year. Larry brought it back to have it on display. It's a very well built engine, but I'm going to make Larry a new set of intake pipes, which will better match the craftsmanship he put into the rest of his engine.

If you're a KR builder, you probably have your own bet on who's going to be the next person in this photo. We have half a dozen Corvair/KR builders who will become airborne soon. What should be important to you is that in time, you too will join the ranks of Corvair/KR pilots. While pilots could buy another engine, the respect and camaraderie afforded those who build their own airplane and engine is unique. In this photo is Steve Makish, left, Bob Lester, center, and Bill Clapp, the Vanguard of Corvair/KR pilots.

Bill Clapp of Valdosta, Georgia, directly over our hangar at 190mph. His KR-2S won Best Engine Installation and People's Choice awards at the 2004 KR Gathering. Ask anybody who attended, and they'll tell you how good this plane sounded at speed.

Gus takes Larry Hudson out for a familiarization flight in the 601. He flew 15 people at the College. The 601's engine is a completely by the book 2,700cc conversion. Some of Gus' passengers were in the 240-250 pound range. The fact that the plane easily flew all of them speaks volumes of the 601's design and how good a match the Corvair is for it.