I built one long enough to bend the rear spars without a splice. As it turned out, I MIS-CUT the channels, and ended up with the splice anyway. Oh, well!
I wasn't advocating running with the secondary ignition in IMC. In fact, you couldn't pay me enough to fly a Sonex IMC. It's a neutrally stable aircraft to start with, which means you need to fly it all the time. And if you've ever been in visible moisture/rain in a Sonex, you'll know why it's a VFR...
Like Keith was saying, the fuselage takes up a lot more space than the wings on a storage structure. I was building in my basement and could not have built the fuselage before the wings due to space considerations.
Regarding the electrical output, I always turn OFF my secondary ignition once I'm a couple thousand feed above ground. It's not needed to run the aircraft if the primary magnetos are working. The coils of the secondary ignition require power, so turning them off allows the battery to fully charge, a...
Hi: I have the Timesert tool and loan it out often. PM me if you are interested. Like Keith said, it really should be done before any heads are sent to a buyer. As far as compression, the VW is a very loose engine. It was designed to be simple, with simple tolerances. It will tolerate a lot of slop....
This is what I've used successfully for 9 years: http://www.mykitlog.com/users/display_log.php?user=mikesmith&project=698&category=7622&log=196165&row=7 How to remove the pin and open the canopy is part of my passenger briefing. That pin and it's location, along with the spring, is ...
Your cylinders are covered by the silver metal held together with wire. Why!? That's not the VW super-tin, and you are blocking all the air flow to the cylinders. I would have to say THAT is why you are running hot. This is the the standard Revmaster shrouding, it wraps around the barrels and heads...