New A model owner

[N754TA]

Hey everyone! IR PPL fixed wing, commercial instrument rotary, Army UH/HH-60M pilot here. I have owned a Kitfox 3 with a Rotax 912 and a Mustang II with an O-320 previously.

Purchased my Sonex Legacy N754TA, serial #1033, earlier this year. She has a Camit3300 engine which is a new one for me. Flew it from TX to upstate NY where the Army has me stationed. On the long XC I got to learn about the plane. Mainly how badly I need to add cabin heat and heated seats! Only got to put 22 hours total on her before I had to deploy but looking forward to making improvements when I get back!

My to do list:
- Add cabin heat
- Add heated seats
- Replace AeroInjector with Rotec TBI
- Seal up cabin better to keep water out and warm air in
- Make mods to cowling so EZ heat plug and Battery tender plug are accessible
- Replace soft pitot/static tubing to hopefully improve low speed readings

Would really like to get more speed out of the plane through whatever means possible. I bought it as an XC machine and she has AP and altitude hold. Not sure what I can do to gain some knots but hopefully this forum can help! May get the plane instrument certified, but it won’t have any approach guidance so this would only help to allow me to depart places that maybe had a thin but low ceiling. I wish IFR certified GPS’s were not $5k used!!! And putting a Localizer/ILS is probably way too much work as well…

Hope to learn a lot here!

[Bryan Cotton]

Welcome to the forum! Not sure I can help with the stated goals but would like to know if you figure out how to make it water tight. Mine isn't!

I used to work for Sikorsky and have some familiarity with the 60L/M. Thanks for your service, especially given the instability the world is facing today.

[daleandee]

Purchased my Sonex Legacy N754TA, serial #1033, earlier this year. She has a Camit3300 engine which is a new one for me.

Beautiful plane!

It's been 14 years but I remember seeing that plane when Bob flew it to the American Sonex Association in 2010 (I flew my trigear VW Sonex to the fly-in).
Here is an excellent video by Tom Huebbe (sure do miss that man) of the meeting that year. Pilots and planes attending are shown with pics at the very end (Bob gets special mention early in the video for the distance he traveled):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShlWr6P41xg

Welcome aboard!

Dale
3.0 Corvair/Tailwheel

[N754TA]

Dale,

Thanks for sharing the video! It is a very well build machine and has great fit and finish.

Bryan,

So far I have just put some amazon door seal liner around the canopy. It definitly helped to reduce the draft, but still has a way to go! I am honestly not sure how good you can really get it with the canopy design the way it is :/ Coming home from Nantucket this past May we passed through some moderate showers and I still had drips falling on the dash.

[pappas]

Nice Sonex! You are already truing out at 175 mph at 4000msl and 2788 rpm. That is about all the speed can get in a 3300 Sonex/Camit/Jab unless you get higher.

My first Waiex was a fast one with the 3300 Jab. WFO it would get to 186 mph at about 3000 feet but it was burning more fuel than I wanted it to and pushing the revs higher than was prudent for a long cross country. I always planned my flights for 2800 rpm,161 mph, burning 5.9 gph at about 8000 ft.

Mine was watertight just by using "D" shaped adhesive backed weather stripping something like this:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/M-D-Buildin ... &gclsrc=ds

everyplace the canopy meets the windscreen and airframe. On the rear bulkhead, I did not attach the weatherstrip to the canopy. I attached the weatherstripping to the rear bulkhead so the canopy would come down and seal against it. It made a huge difference in keeping the water and wind noise out.

Look at a bunch of different weatherstrips. This one needs to be small, soft, and very flexible. It gets changed every few years.

I had the same trio A/P in my first Waiex and it performed great. Heated seats are the way to go. I did put a heat muff on my second Waiex and it worked well for me. Others have not had the same result. Best of luck with your new Sonex.

[pappas]

By the way. Dynon has the correct tubing and fittings to replace the soft lines that you have. Look at their site for it. Blue for angle of attack and green for airspeed is the way we orient them.

[daleandee]

I had the same trio A/P in my first Waiex and it performed great.

Just wanted to also give a thumbs up to the Trio auto pilot. Mine works very well and it can spoil you a bit. Sometimes even when I'm on a short 30 minute flight over to get fuel I reach up and touch the button as I hear a voice in my head that sounds very much like Jean-Luc Picard saying ... "engage!"

Dale
3.0 Corvair/Tailwheel