Well I finally finished my testing of the various mods done to my 1964 PA28 over the last couple of months.
The engine is with 1840 SMOH,at annual last year new plugs were installed, all compressions were mid 70's or better.A couple of months ago Carb was rebuilt after some issues.New mechanical fuel pump installed just because LOL.
The Mods;
Wing Root fairings
Flap Hinge Fairings
AMR&D tape gap seals (aileron & stabilator)
Flap/Fuselage fairing
Nose wheel fairing
Metco Wing tips (done 15 years ago)
Champion Air Filter replaced the Bracket
Results:
Airplane stalls much slower,during my BFR IAS was 38mph before she stalled @5500ft indicated CFI was amazed.Still the old Cherokee head bob but @ slower IAS
Ground run IS shorter on TO I'd estimate @ Least 10%,She wants to fly before 50MPH no flaps!
Climb IS better, I maintained 600+FPM 2 aboard 36gal fuel,@ 90mph up to 5500ft indicated DALT@ the field was 2800ft that day.
The plane maintains more stabilator authority @ flair.Gentle pull back yields more nose up @ slower speeds.
Continues to glide after power off, Doesn't shed speed as quickly & flies more like a taper wing Cherokee,No more drop like a rock power off approaches. This means a change in my short field techniques and slower approach speeds for all approaches.....looks like about 5mph.
Finally a pretty good speed increase was seen in todays testing. Average GS taken from 2 direction runs based on my GNC250xl,Aera660 and AVARE on a Nexus 7 tablet was 121kts. They all pretty much agreed.
IAS was seen on the old indicator 135 to just nudging 140mph a few times in straight and level flight @ indicated 2500ft.We didn't get any higher due to clouds and time constraints,DALT at field was 2300 today.
Prior to the mods IAS in straight and level flight was usually 120mph with power set @ 2550RPM ,same for these runs. Redline is marked @2700 on the Lycoming D2A.This was measured with the mechanical tachometer. We all know how accurate they are ????
Overall I'm OK with the testing and mods thus far,further testing for cruse speed will be performed @ greater altitudes soon.
You may not see the same result with your aircraft however.I apologize for the long dissertation too!!
The engine is with 1840 SMOH,at annual last year new plugs were installed, all compressions were mid 70's or better.A couple of months ago Carb was rebuilt after some issues.New mechanical fuel pump installed just because LOL.
The Mods;
Wing Root fairings
Flap Hinge Fairings
AMR&D tape gap seals (aileron & stabilator)
Flap/Fuselage fairing
Nose wheel fairing
Metco Wing tips (done 15 years ago)
Champion Air Filter replaced the Bracket
Results:
Airplane stalls much slower,during my BFR IAS was 38mph before she stalled @5500ft indicated CFI was amazed.Still the old Cherokee head bob but @ slower IAS
Ground run IS shorter on TO I'd estimate @ Least 10%,She wants to fly before 50MPH no flaps!
Climb IS better, I maintained 600+FPM 2 aboard 36gal fuel,@ 90mph up to 5500ft indicated DALT@ the field was 2800ft that day.
The plane maintains more stabilator authority @ flair.Gentle pull back yields more nose up @ slower speeds.
Continues to glide after power off, Doesn't shed speed as quickly & flies more like a taper wing Cherokee,No more drop like a rock power off approaches. This means a change in my short field techniques and slower approach speeds for all approaches.....looks like about 5mph.
Finally a pretty good speed increase was seen in todays testing. Average GS taken from 2 direction runs based on my GNC250xl,Aera660 and AVARE on a Nexus 7 tablet was 121kts. They all pretty much agreed.
IAS was seen on the old indicator 135 to just nudging 140mph a few times in straight and level flight @ indicated 2500ft.We didn't get any higher due to clouds and time constraints,DALT at field was 2300 today.
Prior to the mods IAS in straight and level flight was usually 120mph with power set @ 2550RPM ,same for these runs. Redline is marked @2700 on the Lycoming D2A.This was measured with the mechanical tachometer. We all know how accurate they are ????
Overall I'm OK with the testing and mods thus far,further testing for cruse speed will be performed @ greater altitudes soon.
You may not see the same result with your aircraft however.I apologize for the long dissertation too!!
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