BUILDER HINTS L/E (Long—EZ) V/E (VariEze)
(From CP36, Page 6, April, 1983)

V/E & L/E Fuel tank vents icing over — none of us should fly into icing conditions. However, if it should happen to you inadvertently, it is possible to have your fuel tank vents clogged by impact or rhime ice. This could cause your engine to quit! The remedy is to drill a #50 hole on the aft side of the vent tube per sketch.

V/E & L/E John Sheffles (Long-EZ N682S) reports that he recently was able to get his engine checked for vibration on a helicopter balancer. At 2000 RPM his Long-EZ had a reading of ‘3’, about average for a light plane. By adding a nut and bolt of the correct weight at the proper location on the starter ring gear, this reading was reduced to 0.5! John reports a noticeably smoother and quieter airplane.   Any FBD with a helicopter rotor balancer should be able to do this, or stop by Great Falls airport, In Montana. "Rocky Mountain Air" can do the job for a reasonable price. All it takes is a couple of hours — sounds like a great suggestion John, thanks.

 V/E & L/E Phil Cornelius turned in this neat method of tracing a fuel tank leak. This assumes you have the fuel cap holes cut and have a small enough leak not to be detectable using soapy water. Push an ammonia soaked rag into the tank and seal the caps. (Phil bondoed an aluminum cover over the hole). Then soak a rag in Phenolphthalein (C₂0 H₁₄ O₄) and hold it against the outside of the tank moving it around until you see a purple spot. This purple spot is your pinhole leak! Pop off the aluminum cap covers, remove the ammonia rag and vacuum the vapors out of the tank. Wipe down the outside of the strake with soap and water.  You should be able to scrounge a small baby food jar’s worth of C₂0 H₁₄ O₄ from your local high school or college chemistry teacher. If it’s in powder form, use alcohol to dissolve it into solution.  CAUTION — phenolphthalein is hazardous if it comes In contact with your bare skin. Use only with rubber gloves.

V/E & L/E Gear up warning systems. It has come to our attention that several builders have installed the gear position micro switch so that it is contacted with the gear in the up position. This is totally unacceptable and is cause to ground your EZ until the switch is mounted such that the gear is down and fully locked when it contacts the switch. This is very important. You will have no warning if the arm has backed off from its safe over-center position.