Last fall I installed a TOCA (thermostatic oil cooler adapter) on my Jabiru 3300. This allows for faster warm-ups during cold weather and eliminates the need to partially block the oil cooler during the winter. Steve Rance, the inventor and vendor of this TOCA, said I needed to upgrade my AN6 stainless braided/teflon lined oil cooler lines (which I had fabricated from the Jabiru USA firewall-forward kit materials) to AN8 lines and fittings to get the best oil circulation and pressure. One of the lines I had built had a slight seepage that always annoyed me, so I decided to spring for professionally-built custom lines with pressure tested, crimped fittings.

Steven Tschurwald is a Zenth.aero member and a principal in Aircraft Specialty, custom fabricators of many items used in experimental aircraft. I ordered a set of lines from him and promptly received them. Unfortunately, one of the line's fitting leaked when installed! I was not sure if it was a defective fitting or if I had damaged it somehow during installation. I called Steve that afternoon and he said it made no difference whether I had damaged it or not, the line was 100% guaranteed. He said he would fabricate a new line immediately and ship it overnight to me at no additional charge! I told him overnight shipping was unnecessary as I was going out of town for a couple of days and to just ship it 2-day express mail and that would be fine! He requested I return the defective line (at his expense) for failure analysis - so he included a pre-paid return label with the replacement hose.

Later that same evening, Steve sent me an email with a video file showing a short movie of my new hose being pressure-tested! It was in the mail the next day. When I returned from my trip I installed the new hose and it fit perfectly and there were no leaks!

Here's a pic of the new hoses:

Just thought this might be of general interest to the Zenith.aero community .... I like to recognize vendors that deliver quality products with superior customer service!

John

N750A

(the usual disclaimer - I have no business interest or financial affiliation with Aircraft Specialty - just a happy customer!)

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John,

Thanks for the feedback.  It is greatly appreciated.  All of our hoses come with a 10 year guaranty, but are not time limited on replacement.  If they aren't damaged, they should last for the life of the aircraft.

In addition, EACH and EVERY hose that comes out of our facility is pressure tested to ensure safety and reliability.  We have some fabrication videos on our site, that show how the hoses are both built and tested.  

More information can be found at http://www.aircraftspecialty.com/kitplanehoses/hoses.html

I am also attaching an image of a recent project we did for a 750, which was a complete firewall forward retrofit of a Rotax 912 engine.  We swapped out ALL the non standard aviation fittings, with flared fittings and fire sleeve.

Take care,

Steve

 

Steve,

That is a CLEAN config! I bought your flap switch lever a couple years ago and it is beautiful. I have been following your products since then and it is evident that you make nice stuff. Thanks being a part of our sport.

Cheers,

Joe

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