tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-94398242009-06-30T08:44:24.486-07:00My intention here is to create a little window into my world, or maybe a window out of it. To put on "paper" thoughts that have been richocheting around in my head, but had no direction home. I love to write, and journaling is reputed to be a good way to get better at it. I've never found a journal form I like, so I'm trying this one. My interests are pretty broad, but I'll largely concentrate on relationships, sexuality, parenting, and homebuilt airplanes.flybynightkarmarepairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01047639300653750871noreply@blogger.comBlogger50125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9439824.post-67801756545564520292009-01-01T20:26:00.000-08:002009-05-24T23:54:43.370-07:00

I've been commuting by bicycle ever since I was allowed to ride my Sears Spyder (Sting Ray knock-off) to school in the 3rd grade. This is my current working ride, adapted to my needs and preferences.This started out as a Bianchi Avenue hybrid bike I bought via E-Bay for about $150. The Planet Bike fenders were the first addition, as the rack was part of the original deal. The Topeak front

flybynightkarmarepairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01047639300653750871noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9439824.post-12046021069973334842008-10-28T01:32:00.000-07:002008-10-31T00:29:21.681-07:00

Mal Raff is a flight instructor with California Airways in Hayward, California. I've flown out of this FBO for about 5 years, never flown before Saturday with Mal. I've flown with some pretty good pilots, some good instructors, but Mal gave me one of the best lessons I've had in a small plane.I've learned that instructors have teaching styles, and they may differ markedly from the student's

flybynightkarmarepairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01047639300653750871noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9439824.post-86503405310830951472008-10-20T21:31:00.001-07:002008-10-20T21:36:01.599-07:00

TOP 5 REASONS OBAMA SUPPORTERS SHOULDN'T REST EASY 1. The polls may be wrong. This is an unprecedented election. No one knows how racism may affect what voters tell pollsters—or what they do in the voting booth. And the polls are narrowing anyway. In the last few days, John McCain has gained ground in most national polls, as his campaign has gone even more negative.2. Dirty tricks. Republicans

flybynightkarmarepairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01047639300653750871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9439824.post-72296903982822683922008-10-18T22:34:00.000-07:002008-10-19T01:55:25.029-07:00

Follow this link, and scroll down a bit within it to read about a Zenair 601 with Corvair Power and it's fuel system at www.FlyCorvair.comI've purchased, read & digested William Wynne's books, both the Corvair conversion manual, and the relatively new ZenVair installation manual. He's made a pretty convincing case for the things he does by laying it down WHY he does things, and if you follow his

flybynightkarmarepairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01047639300653750871noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9439824.post-80184877017915932192008-05-03T23:17:00.000-07:002008-10-27T22:17:17.507-07:00

About two weeks ago, I pulled my Tillotson cores out of the tub of toxic methyl chloride carb cleaner. They'd been sitting in there since, oh, last May.Lots of parts were ruined. Both floats at the very least.The pot metal pieces looked OK, but the brass parts seemed to have dissociated.So, yes, let the stuff do it's work, but a month is probably as long as you should let carb parts sit in this

flybynightkarmarepairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01047639300653750871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9439824.post-64392490341398446792007-10-13T08:24:00.000-07:002007-10-13T08:57:52.286-07:00

A recent kerfluffle on the Sonex newsgroup compels me to take up this matter again.This post:VW Cranks (Was Re: Sonex Incident - 9/29/2007)Frank,I have sat back too and read this thread on theVW problems ....part of me just said to keepquiet .....but the other parts says to share whatyou know .....I am no expert but 20+ years of aerovw use has taught me some stuff ......so here goes;You hit the

flybynightkarmarepairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01047639300653750871noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9439824.post-64879338587878899502007-09-16T12:10:00.001-07:002007-09-17T00:17:56.241-07:00

There are County Fairs in Northern California, and there are parades as well, but the most common and popular form of community gathering seems to be the Street Fair, of which there are a wide range of forms, from outre to mild.Solano Avenue runs from the flats of Albany to the hills of North Berkeley. It's the main commercial street in that part of town, and for 30 years or so, the merchants and

flybynightkarmarepairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01047639300653750871noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9439824.post-71437549341469136092007-09-16T12:10:00.000-07:002007-10-13T08:26:16.896-07:00

6V SET GENERATOR LIGHT by Bravo Sports/Bike Access - More Bicycle Accessories at doitbest.comI continue my allegiance to this type of light. The Union sets may be nicer and the Schmidt and Dymotec systems CERTAINLY are, but the Chinese made unit I installed over 2 years ago is still going strong.Last night's ride from Girlfriend's apartment in Berkeley to my house in El Cerrito reminded me again

flybynightkarmarepairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01047639300653750871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9439824.post-4382651083017783282007-08-17T21:27:00.000-07:002008-10-27T21:17:48.810-07:00

Partisans of various brands of VW aeroengines like the throw stones at each other about the service experience of The Other Team. NTSB reports tell the truth, so here are links to every one I could find mentioning "VW" "Volkswagen" "Aero Vee" "Aerovee" "Great Plains" "Revmaster" "HAPI" "Mosler" "TEC" "Limbach" since 1962 in the NTSB database that seemed to engine related.Great Plains Powered

flybynightkarmarepairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01047639300653750871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9439824.post-76211608606319714842007-08-12T16:32:00.000-07:002008-10-27T21:20:02.305-07:00

Initial try, wood block represented the (theoretical) cross section of the carb heat stove.Unfortunately I forgot to account for the pushrod tubes. So the carb heat stove had to get substantially slimmer, and the the 180 degree bends got "clocked" vis-a-vis the exhaust flanges a little bit. I'm using hot melt to hold the bends to the exhaust flanges. It works great, it holds securely enough

flybynightkarmarepairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01047639300653750871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9439824.post-64261753262779312412007-06-10T22:44:00.001-07:002008-10-27T21:23:08.909-07:00

With a double wall cardboard box from the local recycling center, and some hot melt, the spatial relationships of the engine to the front of my fuselage are getting clearer. This design uses a "bed mount". The sides of the case are flattened, and aluminum angles are bolted through the walls of the case. Resilient "Barry Mounts" then bolt up to these "fingers, built up of extrusions and sheet.

flybynightkarmarepairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01047639300653750871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9439824.post-87850773359510186342007-06-08T00:27:00.001-07:002008-10-27T21:40:44.485-07:00

In order to work out the intake and exhaust, I've built a mockup out of a junk case, 2 junk heads, and some aluminum spacers. I've got it mounted to my engine stand, so I can flip it all around with relative ease. Below is my first cut at what the plumbing will look like:Symmetry is the hobgoblin of the unimaginative. The objectives here were a crossover 4 into 2 into 1 exhaust, take carb heat

flybynightkarmarepairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01047639300653750871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9439824.post-76658300792807326122007-05-29T22:46:00.000-07:002008-10-27T21:56:29.556-07:00

A Tillotson Model X Stripped BareWhy bother farting around with a carb that's been out of production for at least 30 years? Well, some think that it's still an excellent choice for a flying VW engine. It's simple, robust, and does a pretty good job, for this size engine, of supplying the right fuel-air mixture over the entire speed range of use, which is about 800 to maybe 3600 RPM max, and that

flybynightkarmarepairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01047639300653750871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9439824.post-38835058614771526142007-05-12T02:06:00.000-07:002008-10-27T21:42:20.660-07:00

Some of us believe the proper way to mount the prop to a VW engine is via the Flywheel end of the engine. Great Plains Aircraft Supply has some around to this way of thinking, and now supplies pieces to make this happen. They have not, as yet, posted very good pictures of the stuff, so I'm stepping in to give out some clues. R.S. Hoover, in the Chuggers and AirVW Yahoo groups, has posted some

flybynightkarmarepairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01047639300653750871noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9439824.post-46915494408063985952007-05-12T01:23:00.000-07:002008-10-27T21:28:01.527-07:00

Hummel Aviation uses a rather unique method of mounting either a half or a full VW engine in their designs. Rather than the usual "Conical" mount (usually via an accessory case), they bolt a couple of aluminum angles to the sides of the oil sump, and work shock mounts from there.It's a bit of a chore to do this accurately. Scott Casler, the Hummel Engines guy suggests using a belt sander. Not

flybynightkarmarepairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01047639300653750871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9439824.post-66618252558179326582007-01-28T23:10:00.000-08:002008-10-27T21:25:00.236-07:00

Air Popcorn Popper Method I first learned of this method from that dearly departed font of useful knowledge, the Whole Earth Review. Lately, I've been focusing attention on sensuality, mostly of food, but also other sensate experiences. I've never been a big coffee drinker, and I HATE bad coffee, but lately I've been intrigued with it's possibilities as a beverage.To make a long story short,

flybynightkarmarepairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01047639300653750871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9439824.post-88950701033193354522006-12-08T19:33:00.000-08:002008-10-27T21:43:04.515-07:00

An update to my last post:I splurged and bought a nice dead blow hammer. For this sort of work, I think you need to Go Big. A 3# hammer is a nice compromise between getting the job done and irritating my tender shoulder.And the E-Bay vendor I bought the brake I found inadequate refunded my money. Life is good, my trust in Human Nature still largely intact.

flybynightkarmarepairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01047639300653750871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9439824.post-1164611831113561042006-11-26T22:06:00.000-08:002008-10-20T21:40:46.097-07:00

You may recall I was working on an "Amateur Folder" per Michel Columban, the French designer of the Cri-Cri. But I was stretching the limits, again. I need to bend stuff up to about 4 feet long, at least, substantially longer than the Prototype was designed for. To make a LONG story short, it didn't work when bending the 2219-T8 I have in abundance. So, I'd noticed what looked like a suitable

flybynightkarmarepairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01047639300653750871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9439824.post-1164604892526774092006-11-26T21:21:00.000-08:002008-10-19T02:19:58.942-07:00

Air cooled VW heads are aluminum; if you "hot tank" them, all you'll be left with will be the studs, valve guides, and seats. You need to cold tank them. Shops around here charge $40 just to cold tank the heads.Radiator Specialty Company, the makers of GUNK, sell a suitable "digester", that eats anything carbonaceous, and leaves the metal untouched. There is at least one other brand, with

flybynightkarmarepairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01047639300653750871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9439824.post-1162793569358523362006-11-05T21:56:00.000-08:002008-10-27T21:41:21.948-07:00

I sleep a pretty un-troubled sleep, but sometimes.....The scenario: I'm in a theatre, watching a really, really bad 1950's vintage horror movie, and people are starting to walk out of the theatre. But the people walking out are the people who were in the movie. I start talking to them. One of them is Soupy Sales. I ask the man how he got to be in such a stinker, and he tells me, hey, it's a

flybynightkarmarepairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01047639300653750871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9439824.post-1162281270887211402006-10-30T23:46:00.000-08:002008-10-27T21:24:15.731-07:00

There is nothing like a fire in your oven to induce you to clean it.I should not be allowed to toast walnuts under the broiler, particularly when I'm trying to pull a meal together. I get preoccupied. Even though girlfriend could smell something burning from outside, the first thing I notice was when the carbon-y soot, produced by a fire that had sucked all to oxygen out of the oven, caught

flybynightkarmarepairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01047639300653750871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9439824.post-1159948040563092512006-10-04T00:47:00.000-07:002008-10-27T21:19:11.904-07:00

The current infrastructure project is a "Amateur Folder", or bending brake, per Michel Columban, the designer of the Cri-Cri/Cricket and the Ban-Bi. Part of making it involves putting a fairly small radius on some aluminum bars. I do this by SCRAPING the metal, an operation not much used anymore, but a very handy one at times.Think of a scraper as a file with but one tooth. In this case, I took

flybynightkarmarepairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01047639300653750871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9439824.post-1158644657691566932006-09-18T22:44:00.000-07:002008-10-20T21:42:18.606-07:00

Violence Changes Fortunes Of Storied Baghdad Street - washingtonpost.comLately I've been noticing a conservative and/or liberal hawk commentators trumpeting the free press of Iraq as a piece of evidence that all the bloodshed in Iraq is worthwhile. I'd really like someone like Juan Cole to weigh in on just how free and vibrant the Iraqi press is. Perhaps the reader might take in the Iraqi Press

flybynightkarmarepairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01047639300653750871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9439824.post-1158126616857702552006-09-12T22:50:00.000-07:002008-10-27T21:26:00.524-07:00

You may recall my futzing about with a small air compressor. Well, just when I finished the enclosure for it, to cut down the sound, I turned it on, and it leaked air out of the controller. A long,boring, and horrible disassembly resulted in the determination that it was un-salvageable. The enclosure was SOOOOO tight, no other compressor would fit in it, and I didn't want to throw it out,

flybynightkarmarepairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01047639300653750871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9439824.post-1157089256451993192006-08-31T22:14:00.000-07:002007-10-13T08:26:16.896-07:00

You may recall my enthusiasm for generator lights. After my last commuter bike, equipped with the Good Stuff (which was really the low end of the Good Stuff, the Dymotec 6 and a standard Lumotec; you can spend a LOT more than I did) was stolen, I said the hell with it, and went back to a clunker approach. I had my current favorite bike shop put Planet Bike Freddie Fenders and a low end generator

flybynightkarmarepairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01047639300653750871noreply@blogger.com0