Zenith Aircraft Builders and Flyers

Build It! Fly It! The Companion Website to the Zenair Newsletter

Steve Weston
  • Fort Mohave, AZ
  • United States
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Steve Weston's Discussions

tail wheel conversion

Replied Mar 11

tail wheel conversion

Replied Mar 11

Q&A FAA Special Review Team Report - Zodiac 601XL/650 - FAA clarification letter

Replied Mar 9

 

Steve Weston's Page

Latest Activity

Need your votes. Wheel pants or no wheel pants. Please see my photo pages.. Pants are 12 pounds,,,, another two gallons..
14 hours ago
Flew off the five hours, then took my wife out for a $150.00 taco lunch....37 mile trip out to Kingman. Then a sightseeing trip home.
14 hours ago
See Forums, GREAT DAY !
March 5
Completed the upgrade. Ran a weight and balance.. 836 pounds. Thats more than I hoped for but I did do "things" that improved my aircraft.
March 4
Taxi tested to start phase 1 "again"
March 2
Steve Weston added 2 photos
February 28
Wings on,,,, what a mother project!
February 26
Steve Weston added a discussion
601XL Parts
For Sale:   Please see attached photos. I have upgrade parts that I'm not using. My loss is your gain.   Wing root doublers. 5/16 NAS spar bolts and nuts. Aileron stop.   Will sell as a lot or part out.    Lot (all three) = $55.00 Buy the bolts only…
February 14

Profile Information

Aircraft Model
ZODIAC XL
Project Status
Flying
Building From
Kit
Building Experience
Have already built an airplane
Flying Experience
Commercial / CFI
Profession / Employer / Background Info
Airworthiness Certificate 03/12/2009

Standby for Pilot reports.

Now flying as a Sport Pilot and I like it!
The less FAA in my life, the better......
Pictured you see the "old style" fuel sending unit location. Located on top instead of the tank end. I wish I would have known about this location BEFORE I cut into my tank ends.
I had mucho problemos with the sending units and had to remove and reinstall at least five times. It was a real pain to get my fat hand in the lightening hole to remove the senders....
Then on this site I saw someones senders on top of the wing.....Zenith did this years ago...
Actually it was an easy job to change it to a top location. Now when I need to service the senders, I lower the fuel to about half and open the top cover plate (pictured).
If, Ha Ha, I ever build again, I WILL install them on top in the first place.....
SW

Steve Weston's Photos

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Comment Wall (33 comments)

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At 1:19am on March 13, 2010, Jonathan Porter said…
Wheel pants add much more weight when they are full of mud, insect nests and become home to snakes, lizards, spiders and more - they also make inspection of the gear more difficult when out in the bush.... BUT if operating from tarmac and living in a non-hostile environment, look good and add a knot to the cruise... I doubt that helps... but you did ask...
At 12:56am on March 13, 2010, Paul Hammond said…
G'day Steve i prefer doing stuff with pants off
At 1:40pm on February 3, 2010, Steve Weston said…
Rolfe

What numbers did you get with the datum out past the tank.
I did the same as you at 1033 mm.

and thats very not every,,,,,,,,,,,,Duh!
At 1:37pm on February 3, 2010, Steve Weston said…
But, But...................all 601XLs have forward sweeping wings.

If you used the every wing tip as a datum, then the math works out the same.....
You just have a bigger number from datum to main wheel axle and a smaller number from datum to nose wheel axle.......

W x A = M
At 11:52am on February 3, 2010, rolfe benson said…
Hello Steve
Thanks for responding to the weight and balance question. Due to the foreward sweep of my wings, the CG does change if measured from different points on the leading edge so I used the rib outboard of the tank and calculated it in %MAC instead of the listed mm measurements. Rolfe
At 2:20am on January 24, 2010, Steve Weston said…
If you ream the holes and dont have access to a machine shop , your chance of perfect holes using a hand drill are slim.
I purchased a step reamer AND pilot guide but still the project was difficult.
At 2:17am on January 24, 2010, Steve Weston said…
Zenith and their employees are the best you will find in this business.
But,,,,,, I also was disappointed in the way my bolt hole issue was handled.
"They" talked about how critical these were and so I ordered a QBK just so I would have factory "perfect" holes...
There are other builders who also had the same problem. I got blamed for squawlking too much on the internet about this but I think it could have been taken care of btter by Zenith..
The QBK was expensive and all I wanted was quality...

I hear that some kits were built in South America and there were issues.
Anyway the reaming was a pain. I never did produce perfect holes. The 3/8 bolts fit loosly but when installed they seem ok. The concern is the amount of "meat" in the spar caps... Seventy seven hours flying and alls well.... With the new .125 spar doubler I "think" its a super strong wing...
SW
At 11:10pm on January 23, 2010, Jerold Ebke said…
Sorry meant Coast fab in previous.
At 11:05pm on January 23, 2010, Jerold Ebke said…
Steve, I am not real fast on keyboard, so forgive my short notes. Thanks for your reply and info on bolt source. My wing spars are factory built and not touched in bolt holes by me. 2 holes seemed egged in appearance so I purchased digital caliper at Ace and holes were both around.3200 in direction of obvious distortion and I understnd .3165 is max limit according to guide.Called ZAC and Caleb said no go. Must step up to some oversize bolt. I also am on nonmated 2nd center spar because 1st spar which came im my kit was crooked and unusable. This is why I am wonderig how difficult it is to up all holes to 3/8 as then I would have a supposed matched set. I am nervous about trying all holes when you suggest a certain amount of slop. I have ordered 3/8 reamer to at least do 2 bad holes, but will continue to pursue further discussions with Roger on Mon morning and see what he thinks about 2 or 12 holes. I do not want to end up trying to insert wings and bolts won't fit. It seems this is only another of many issues with factory errors in parts accuracy I have encountered in this 650 project which is my first attempt at building. I am having great fun but am disappointed in the number of faulty parts I have received and not even having a builders guide which shows 650 fuselage and it's differances. I have had a hard time finding 3/8 correct bolts, so will be anxious to call Franklin. Thanks, Jerry
At 9:58pm on January 22, 2010, Steve Weston said…
I reamed my spar holes with the wings on the fuselage. It wasnt easy to stand on my head and ream the holes....
With the mod kit I re reamed with the wings and center spar out of the fuselage.....
Please see my other comment.
Steve
notsew_evets@frontiernet.net

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