Esser's Build

[Esser]

Woke up to a foot of snow this morning so it was a bit slow getting ramped up.

My friends Ryan and Kaleigh came over for a late breakfast and after that Ryan helped me and Daniel on the plane for the first time.


Popping the hinges on the door. Screwed up one hinge which is very frustrating but it is my own fault.



Ryan helping fit the boot cowl after trimming off the excess on the front.



Boot cowl clecoed on with the tape to mark where to trim the aft overlap.



Walter and Maude bored of waiting for the inspectors so that we can cover...

[KFfan]

"Walter and Maude"
How many 'youngsters' here can figure that one out?

[Esser]

Haha glad you caught on Lou. I had a 205lbs English mastiff named the dude before these two rascals and a spaniel named Donny when I was a kid. However, I think at 27 I'm probably one of the youngsters on this forum haha

[Esser]

Well today we were going to hang the engine so we could start fiddling with the cowl. The only problem is the correct bolts were not on the ring mount. Holy sh*t what a PITA. I now know everyone's pain. What a rubics cube.

I rigged up a ghetto engine mount to hoist it up so we could fiddle.












Daniel sizing up the ring mount.

[Paul Z]

I'm jealous a Turbo. I can understand the grin on your last picture.

[Kurt.A]

Very Cool Josh! We are definitely on the same page with our project thoughts. Fuel injected and turbocharged is the way to go. Is that a factory header or a handmade unit?

[Esser]

Hey Kurt,

We never ordered the exhaust as we bought this engine used with 75 hours on it. It is a custom ceramic coating but I'm not sure if it is a custom header itself as I am just getting familiar with Rotax engines now.

The guy we bought the engine off of said this was a $5,000 exhaust. I have a hard time believing that number but maybe it is true. All I know is that after shutting down the engine you can put your hand on the exhaust and not burn yourself. It should help with under the cowl temps and performance to a degree.

I'll keep you posted on the fuel injection stuff. We are just getting going on that side of things.

Since it will be a 914iS I think we are going to paint the valve covers orange to make people curious.


Paul, you are right. Daniel's smile was all about the turbo! Coupled with an airmaster prop, this thing should be a blast to fly if we ever get her done! Everything takes longer than you think. The fact that we are still waiting for our inspection to cover is slowing us down too.

[War Eagle]

Very Cool Josh! We are definitely on the same page with our project thoughts. Fuel injected and turbocharged is the way to go. Is that a factory header or a handmade unit?

It is a factory built header. See attached picture of my engine.

The exhaust is bright silver because it was ceramic coated. Cost under $300 at the time I did mine.

I don't think you will ever be putting your hand on the exhaust just after shut down. The exhaust gets very toasty even with the ceramic coating I have on it.