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Stephen R. Smith's Page

Latest Activity

Gave my brother Dave, who helped build the plane, a birthday ride: 397 meandering miles.
on Tuesday
Bing carburetor: replaced stock white floats with black Ethanol resistant floats & installed new rubber diaphragm. Test flew to 18,000 feet.
on Sunday
A photo by Stephen R. Smith was featured
August 26
Stephen R. Smith is attending Doug Dugger's event
Quality Sport Planes Fall Fly-in at QSP 222 Airport Rd., Cloverdale, CA Locator O60
October 9, 2010 all day
It seems like the summer season is getting close to being over. How about a final fly out to Cloverdale? QUALITY SPORT PLANES at 222 Airport Rd., Cloverdale, CA (O60) would like to invite all Zenith Builders and Flyers to attend our Fall Open House…
August 23
Stephen R. Smith added 2 photos
August 22
August 19
August 17
Flew to Willits open house. Also practiced engine-out on takeoff, return to field. Its a tricky, fun challenge. Want 2 work at it some more.
August 8

Profile Information

Aircraft Model
ZODIAC XL
Project Status
Flying
Building From
Partial kit
Building Experience
Have already built an airplane
Flying Experience
Sport Pilot (or Ultralight)
Profession / Employer / Background Info
Self Employed. Software developer.

Stephen R. Smith's Photos

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Stephen R. Smith's Blog

Stephen R. Smith

Two upgrades in 13 days at QSP

Would you pay this man to help you upgrade your airplane? We did and it worked out much better then the picture would suggest.




This blog is not a how-to. There have been plenty of well done how-to blogs. It’s just some pictures wit

Continue

Posted on March 2, 2010 at 12:30am — 18 Comments

Stephen R. Smith

Jabiru 3300 engine overhaul part II

I will start this blog entry by revealing the ending. My Zodiac XL is happily flying again powered by its smooth-running powerful Jabiru 3300 engine. Saturday I flew 126 miles with the overhauled engine.

Now back to the beginning…

My Jabiru 3300 engine is serial number 1,256. It is about three years old and has 600 hours on it. Since it was manufactured several improvements have been introduced by Jabiru to address high oil temperatures in the cylinders. They are:

1) The oil cooler size has b… Continue

Posted on October 11, 2009 at 4:18pm — 46 Comments

Stephen R. Smith

My Jabiru 3300 is undergoing a major overhaul

At 600 hours I am replacing all 6 pistons, cylinders and rod bearings. The heads are being overhauled.

My engine is almost 3 years old and has been flying for 26 months. It is serial number 33A 1256.

A few months ago I replaced a burned valve. Recently oil consumption has been going way up. Last Saturday the engine used 2 quarts in 5 hours. It was time to find out why.

When I did my annual a few months ago I performed a leak down compression check. All cylinders came in between 65 and 75 whic… Continue

Posted on September 10, 2009 at 12:58am — 9 Comments

Stephen R. Smith

Jabiru 3300, Bing carburetor and air intake system on in the Zodiac XL

Having flown my Zodiac XL about 600 hours with my Jabiru 3300 and Bing carburetor I must say it has had it good points and bad.

The short story is that initially the performance I got was quite poor. With some minor changes, performance improved to the point where it seemed acceptable. However problems remain which are perhaps serious.

Now the longer story...

First, in defense of Jabiru and the Bing I will say that the firewall forward kit I got with the engine did not properly address instal… Continue

Posted on August 30, 2009 at 1:33pm — 16 Comments

Stephen R. Smith

600 hours and counting

Today I added 3.7 hours to the log book which brings the plane up to 600 hours. Today's flight was a lazy sightseeing flight with an average speed of 87 MPH.

I spent a little time seeing how low I could get my fuel burn and maintain altitude. Around 2.8 GPH is as low as I can get it without sliding out of the sky.

When I got home I upload my GPS track like I always do to review my flight. This one looks like I perhaps I had a bit too "much to drink" with all the S-turns. I find that 80 miles p… Continue

Posted on August 21, 2009 at 1:07am — 4 Comments

Comment Wall (53 comments)

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At 5:18pm on August 25, 2010, Phill Barnes said…
Hi Steve
Thanks for your comment on my photo.
Yes that lock wiring was frustrating at first but once I figured out the best technique, a few feet of wire an 3 coffee's later, it was a piece of cake. I think that those who didn't do it need to consider how dead they will be if the cap screws come loose.

After your upgrade, have you noticed any more smoking rivets?

Phill
At 7:01pm on July 18, 2010, Paul Hammond said…
G"Day steve
Iwas wondering did you ever fit the cobra head
i ordered a cobra head and air box lid just not sure how to put it all together
At 10:59am on July 5, 2010, Jake Reyna said…
Steve, as an Experimental I'll have to do 40 hours. Mack only had to do 5 hours as an ELSA, same as you right? The DAR was very generous with my flight test area and gave me a 100 statute mile radius, just need to avoid the Boise, MHAFB and Twin Falls airports.

Jake
At 8:01am on July 5, 2010, Jake Reyna said…
Steve, I think I can, I think I can ;-) I'm heading back around the 15th and am about ready for the first flight. The engine is running great and it's time for that leap of faith ;-)

Jake
At 3:43pm on March 27, 2010, Carlos Sa said…
I just visited "Animusic" - Fantabulous ! !! !

Thanks for the introduction.

Carlos
At 9:03pm on March 16, 2010, Steve Weston said…
I m puttin my pants back on very soon.
Tonight my wife and I went for a sunset flight around the desert valley and on the way home I went full throttle.... Straight and level, full throttle I had 135 MPH on the ASI and 133 on GPS....
After my pants reinstall I report back....

SW
At 10:49am on March 15, 2010, Jake Reyna said…
Steve, I did get your drift on the front bearing wear, but I thought that adding a nylon bearing to match the rear would be a good thing. It does make for smoother action. I've added 1/16" nylon to my next order will use behind the shim along with some grease.

I posted this as a reply to your comment on my blog.
At 4:31pm on February 26, 2010, Doug Norman said…
Steve,

I just posted a comment on Mat's forum. I'd welcome your thoughts.

Doug N.
At 3:00pm on February 23, 2010, Phill Barnes said…
I look forward to reading your blog. Thanks for the info.

Regards
Phill
At 11:24am on February 23, 2010, Sebastien Heintz said…
Good job Steve! I look forward to seeing pictures of your next cross-country adventures...
Sebastien.
 
 
 

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