We haven't wired this in or put in the display readout. The main tank sensor comes pre-calibrated but the secondary one is a new idea for us which we will have to calibrate ourselves.
Ah well, if you've got this far, then you will be wanting to know what modifications we've incorporated into the design.
This is a list of the changes specified by the factory, and I've indicated which are included in the kit we've got, and how easy or hard they were to do.
| Modification/ Revision Number | Modification Description | Our thoughts |
| Teal | Not Applicable | Items in this colour are not relevant to our kit, either early part shape changes (included) or not in our kit, so no comments that I can provide. |
| Grey | Not Included | Optional modifications we didn't choose to use. |
| Yellow | Not yet done | Included in the kit, but we've not done them yet. |
| Olive | In Progress | In Progress. Details mentioned if interesting. |
| Green | Included | These modifications are relevant to our kit, and were included, and have been done. |
| 1/1 to 5/1 | Early kit design changes or fabrication errors | All of these were fixed before we bought the kit, and were correctly provided in our kit. |
| 6/1 | Tailplane rib t.e. closeout bid bracket | Instructions for tying the tailplane internal ribs to the trailing edge came with the empenage kit we bought, and were no sweat. Mind you, I'm glad we didn't have to do it as a retro mod. |
| 7/1 to 11/1 | Early kit design changes | Minor design modifications incorporated before our kit(s) were issued. |
| 12/1 | Rudder pedal stiffening | Mandatory for all aircraft, tubular stiffening inserts glued inside the rudder pedal tubes where the pedal 'T' in to the tubes about which they pivot. The material for these was included in our fuselage kit. They were quite a loose fit which needed packing with a lot of flox/redux. We roughened up the insides of the tubes with a Dremel rotating sanding attachment. |
| 13/1 | Bungee Attachment | Included in our kit, a modification to the mono-wheel undercarriage weight-relief bungee cord fixing. We've made the main undercarriage leg without incident, shaping and attaching the bungee fixing to the leg. |
| 14/1 | Fuel Tank Spacers | Mandatory, they're two spacers that keeps the tank (which swells quite a lot with the fuel) from pressing onto the controls. The spacers are made of wood, with an aluminium bracket, and have a flexible fibreglass pad to press onto the tank. We made these and installed them before the tank went in, and the (fuel impregnated) tank was a tight fit into the remaining space. No question but they were essential to keep the tank off the aileron link rod. In fact it's so tight that we've fine-tuned the spacer position to ensure it presses evenly onto the tank and thus spreads the load over a wide area of the plastic tank side. |
| 15/1 | Forward lift pin / fuselage stiffening | Mandatory, a fibreglass stiffening beam to increase the rigidity of the fuselage sides around the front wing fixing hard point. Instructions came with the kit (p.30-6 17/1/96), and it's all a bit of a non-event, really. Doesn't seem to limit knee room, either. |
16/1 29/2 | Shock-absorber block shape modification Undercarriage damper (issue 2) | Our blocks (with the fuselage kit) were already modified with the 'V' shapes pre-moulded into them. The blocks also had the holes in for the optional hydraulic dampers. We bought the dampers from Europa, and they've been assembled into the undercarriage compression fitting. At this stage, with no load on it, it all seems very stiff - however I'm sure it will compress just fine with Bill and Eddie in the plane. It's worth noting that modification 51/2 may need you to put the bolt holding the top of the dampers (29/2) in with the head on the port side, for increased clearance. |
| 17/1 | Rudder Cable Guides | This is a mandatory mod (p23-7 17/1/96) to ensure the rudder cables don't fret as they pass down the length of the fuselage. The pulley's for the rudder cable are fine, but the bottom of the fuselage can flex upwards and pinch the cable when we put the fuselage on a stand. The tufnol blocks to capture the rudder cables either side of the landing gear were easy to install. |
18/1 50/1 | Pitot Positioning Underwing Pitot/static | This mod moved the pitot from the fin to under the wing. The advantage of having it on the fin was to avoid a connection to the wing. We've read through a lot of comments on the 'net and from various people who've built and tried the various designs at one time or another. The only one which seems to be consistently acceptable is per mod 50, with both the pitot and static mounted as one assembly under the wing and near the trailing edge, so we've used that instead. There are a couple of quick-connect fittings to pass the pressure lines between the wing and fuselage when you rig the wing. |
| 19/2 | Rear lift pin top-hat stiffener | This is a mandatory stiffening rib at each side of the fuselage where the rear wing lift/drag pin is attached. The details for this were included with the fuselage kit for our aircraft but it all becomes rather irrelevant when you put in the optional weight modification (52/1). The weight modification also includes a cross-brace between the two rear lift/drag pins, which dramatically increases this stiffening. The cross-brace is bonded to the cockpit module back, and further stiffening seems redundant. |
| 20/1 | Throttle closed stop | Rotax, we've not used it. In fact we designed our own throttle quadrant. |
| 21/3 | Replacement of OR4P/S,OR7,OR11 | Outrigger mechanism update, which was included in issue 3 and our wing kit. I have no idea what the details are, although there were some early discussions about outrigger mechanisms not locking properly, or drooping. |
| 22/1 | Drilling of tailwheel rubber blocks | Not applicable because we are incorporating the new tailwheel (43/5) which is mounted quite differently. |
| 23/1 | Rudder pedal floor stiffening | This has been incorporated into our fuselage kit (bits of foam under the plywood floors), and we've incorporated them. We decided to put in two rows of foam to make darn sure that floor wouldn't sag. It has also been suggested to us that we should put resin and glass over the whole rudder floor to prevent the rudder pedal pivot blocks from pulling out of the floor... |
| 24/1 | Seat width increase | This was an optional modification to make the bum area of the seats wider. The original classic fuselage had an over-large space for the central wheel well, at the expense of seating area. By immense luck (and a little prevarication) we were not ready for the fuselage kit until the seat mod had been introduced. As a result, we got a classic fuselage kit but with the seat modification already moulded into the cockpit module. We like it, but didn't have to do anything special to achieve it (sorry). |
| 25/1 | Rudder pedal crank positioning | Mandatory modification, but was included in our rudder pedals as shipped, and I really don't know what the modification was. |
26/1 36/1 37/1 | Landing Gear shock absorber Undercarriage mounting frame "U" bolts Modification to undercarriage system | All modifications to improve the mono-wheel landing gear for heavy landings and sideways loads. The first two were cancelled and replaced by 37/1. The second modification (a couple of strengthening U-bolts) was a temporary measure that was replaced by the third - a stronger undercarriage/engine mount frame. This stronger frame was incorporated in our kit - even though it's only a classic fuselage skin, many of the other components are more recent. |
| 27/1 | PRO 805 fuel filter | Rotax engine installation - we've used a different engine, with a large fuel filter. |
| 28/1 | Landing gear stiffening struts | Our kit was late enough to be correct, and we did not need to do anything. To be honest, I haven't worked out quite which bit this is. |
| 29/2 | Undercarriage damper | See 16/1, earlier |
| 30/1 | Outrigger leg length increase | Mandatory longer outrigger legs which stop the aircraft rocking from side-side while taxying - this was meant to improve the ground handling. It was possible to extend the fixings on the existing legs, however we didn't like this option, so we've bought the longer nylon outrigger legs and are using them in place of the originals. The left-over nylon bits are handy for other things, too. |
| 31/1 | Fuel Sight Gauge | Mandatory, and included in our kit (again, I'm not sure what it is). |
| 32/1 | Engine bay fuel line insulation | Actually relates to a Rotax engine installation - The fuel line insulation is a good idea, and we have used fuel hosing with stainless-steel braiding wrapped in a silicon and glass fibre heat/abrasion covering. The 3300 fire-wall forward kit does include silicon/ fibreglass heat swaging for the fuel & oil lines. We are using a return fuel system with a combined (low) pressure regulator/ filter/ gascolator before the carburettor and a return line dumping excess fuel back to the tank. The return feeds into the reserve side of the tank, so that this is kept replenished, even after out-of-balance or bumpy manoeuvres. |
| 33/1 | Water drain valve installation | This is an optional modification, which both we and our inspector liked the sound of. We've installed the drain valves into the floor of the rear fuselage, which was easy. Modifying the fuel fittings at the bottom of the tank was also easy, since we did this before the tank went in. The fuel lines from the tank to the drain valves are quite long, so a goodly amount of fuel must be drained to get a good sample. They also need careful fastening to avoid chafing on the rudder cables. Since doing this, I've seen someone route the two fuel drains to the same side of the fuselage, so you can take both samples while on one side. Shame I didn't see it earlier! |
| 34/1 | Fuel tank vent extension tube | This optional modification allows the air to fully vent from the top of the main tank when you're fueling up. Particularly relevant for a tail-dragger where the tail-down ground position creates a larger air pocket. The aluminium extension to the air vent fitting (which allows it to draw air from the front of the tank) was a doddle to install. Very cheap and worth while - do it. |
| 35/1 | Door handle guard | Required to prevent inadvertent operation of the door latch - particularly useful as the doors will detach if opened in flight. We've included the instructions for this in the door section of our manual, and I've decided to try to mould it out of fibreglass at the same time as the stiffening / cover plate for the door latch. I shaped some foam onto which I could lay-up the door latch cover and added bid layers onto the foam at the same time as making the latch cover. This way it blends in better - although if it doesn't work I can always go back to the old method using an aluminium plate. This is about the only modification still outstanding. |
| 36/1 | Undercarriage 'U' bolts | See 26. |
| 37/1 | Modification to undercarriage frame | See 26. |
| 38/1 | Fuel tank and sight gauge vents | This is a small hole drilled at the back of the vent tubes, to allow them to continue breathing even if an insect blocks the main entrance to the tubes. Instructions incorporated in our manual, and completed - no excitement here. |
| 39/1 | Modification to door latches | The door latch pins are re-shaped to reduce the taper on the point and ensure more of the main body of the pin enters the retaining holes in the fuselage. The aluminium pins took a lot of filing down to get the new shape (a grinder and sanding wheel helped here, but mainly lots of elbow grease). The actuating rods for the pins need to be longer to ensure they engage fully, and luckily we had incorporated this mod into the manual before we did this bit. While I'm on the subject, though, the slots in the push rods were a bugger to make - eventually got there with three hacksaw blades in the one handle, which pre-formed most of the slot, then a small file to finish it off. |
| 40/1 | Modification to Rotax fuel system | Rotax specific. |
| 41/1 | Modification to nose gear | Ours is a tail dragger. |
| 42/2 | Cold air inlet plenum modification | Optional, Rotax specific. There are plenty of helpful details and a largely pre-fabricated air cleaner/plenum in the 3300 FWF kit |
| 43/5 | Modification to tail wheel design | The factory highly recommends this modification, and so do I. By moving the tail wheel further back, lifting the decking angle and matching pedal movement and force for both rudder (aerodynamic) and tail wheel (tractive) steering, the ground handling should be significantly improved. The mod. involves mounting the tailwheel on a spring-steel fixing which passes through the rear close-out and is bolted to the bottom of the fuse about 40cm further forward. There are several strengthening lay-ups to support this. The modification kit describes how to do the lay-ups and install the spring after you've completed your aircraft, whereas we did it before the two halves went together. We got the mod. kit for a Europa Classic (which our fuselage nominally is...) and also requested a copy of the instructions for the XS - in which this tail wheel modification is standard. The XS constructs the whole rear section of the aircraft rather differently, but we've come up with our own solution which we prefer (and which the factory has OK'd). The strengthening lay-ups for the rear fuselage were done with the top off. We cleco'd the top onto the bottom and attached the rear close-out to the bottom only - with one layer of bid on the outside. Now with the top off we have applied the 12 layers of cloth on the inside - and just for good measure, we deleted the aluminium plate from rear bulkhead (fixing point for the old tailwheel) and floxed it into the lay-up to re-inforce the rear close-out where the tailwheel spring goes through. Then we drilled the hole for the spring and formed the re-inforced point in the fuse bottom for the spring end. Final decking angle adjustments (with the finished aircraft weight) will be made with a washer or two at the spring end. One slight problem with this is that we will have difficulty getting the access to attach the rear bulkhead to the fuse upper. We shall do a splash moulding onto the fuse upper in the appropriate place, and then fix it to the rear bulkhead ready to make the glue joint to the upper half. |
| 44/1 | Tri-gear nosewheel modification | Not relevant to a tailwheel aircraft |
| 45/1 | Nosewheel bungee mounting | Not relevant to a tailwheel aircraft |
| 46/3 | Pitch torque tube end-cap replacement | The end fittings for the pitch torque tube have modified in design a few times. The ones we received were up-to-date, which seem to minimise the tortional loading into the bolt which holds the bearing at each end. We're very happy with the way the pitch torque-tube went in. There appears to be no obvious lash in the whole system. |
| 47/3 | Extended baggage bay modification | Optional modification which we bought with our fuselage. It extends the luggage bay another 30cm further back (supported on ply formers over the flap linkage). We've cut off the original rear wall from the cockpit module, and there is a new one supplied as part of the mod. We didn't find any of this particularly exciting. Climbing into the fuselage rear to do all the final tie-in lay-ups between baggage bay and fuselage was no picnic! |
| 48/2 | Re-routing of oil return hose Rotax912 | Not relevant to our aircraft - again the Jabiru 3300 FWF kit has fully defined oil system, but see my notes on the 3300 engine for details of how to make it. |
| 49/1 | Modification to fuel filter | Recommended for Rotax 912 engines, but not relevant to us. |
| 50/1 | Underwing pitot/static | Optional (recommended) mod, which we did, but I have included with the earlier modification - see 18/1 |
| 51/2 | Landing gear retract lever strut | Optional for mono-wheel aircraft. It stiffens up the linkage between the retract lever and the retract actuators. We've incorporated this, adding it into the undercarriage mechanism while adding the retract handle. Two comments: They only point out at the last moment that you had to be careful with the bolt fixing the top of the damper mechanism, as it can foul this stiffening strut. Until you finalise the installation and put in the final split-pins, the brace can foul on the other nearby bolts during retraction. This happened to use and bent the brace! New one now fitted... |
| 52/1 | Gross weight increase to 1370lb | Optional for all Classic aircraft. This modification adds larger bushes to the wing spars; a cross-brace between the rear wing fixing pins (which are articulated); and ties to stop the wing spars flexing within the fuselage. We bought it and have started fitting it. The bushes took a lot of courage to fit (drilling out the existing ones and floxing in the new ones) however a good quality starret cutter made the process pretty painless, and it was only the trick of finding a big enough curing oven for the two wings attached together. |
| 53/1 | Long ranger fuel tank | Optional for all aircraft. We have the details on this, and all of the modification can be done later, so we are not choosing to do it until we want it. |
| 54/1 | Cranked 1" control columns | Optional for all aircraft. We looked into this, and decided we liked the idea of having the control columns closer to our hands. We've bought the mod kit, and had no difficulty fitting the columns. We've bought the hand grips, and they look good too, although they're not wired in. The co-pilot column has been made removable, and we bought a pip-pin at Cranfield to hold it in - but we haven't sorted out the connect for the press-to-talk switch. Clearly a removable column is ideal when you want to accomodate that lovely passenger with the tight skirts. |
| 55? | Speed-kit fairings | Sounded like a nice modification, so we bought it. We have heard that the fairings on the smaller hinges of the flaps are counter-productive. We shall install this after we get it flying, so no details yet. |
| Modification Description | Our thoughts |
| Dual electronic fuel level gauge | The fuel sight gauge provided is sensitive only to one side of the saddle-tank, and has some slight difficulties with potential for the fuel to be drawn the wrong way. We are replacing this with our own preference - an Avelec dual head capacitance fuel gauge, which displays both saddle contents independently. We've installed the sensing heads, which involved shaping an elliptical plate (not supplied) into the top centre of the fuel tank, and putting in two holes to suit the two angled sensor supports. Lots of careful measurement and cutting, but not technically challenging. We haven't wired this in or put in the display readout. The main tank sensor comes pre-calibrated but the secondary one is a new idea for us which we will have to calibrate ourselves. |
| Oil thermostat modification | This should keep our oil at optimum temperature all year round, and increase warm-up rate to optimum temperature. Undergoing approval application with the PFA. Here is a link to the document with the PFA Caution, it is a 788k pdf document. |
| Sadly, few details as yet - except as shown above | |
Page updated on 4th September 2003