My FX-3 Build

[Tsquared]

@Tsquared welcome. Yes, that is one reason for the 5 point. Another reason is to prevent "submarining" under the belt with sudden deceleration. I want to install one of these belts so I will be looking for a way to make it work to a hard point. There are hard points under the rear floor for the rear seat but it would require a hole in the floor.

thanks Turbo. agreed on the preventing submarining aspect. Personally I hate having my lap belt ride up my abdomen reminding me I need to lose weight....

 

[Tsquared]

Regarding the 80/26 vs 83/29 question. Mission drives the gear. Most of the guys I’ve meet who own FX3 are not taking $300k+ planes into hard back country. I have no doubt there are guys who do that, but I’m not one of them. Are you really going to take your plane into a situation where a 200ft per minute climb is the difference between getting out or putting it into a tree? If the margin of error is that tight.... Be it a 200ft per second climb rate or a 100 ft takeoff difference, most of the time I doubt you’d be able to notice a practical difference unless your high altitude, high DA or high gross weight, Or all three. If your going to do STOL competitions than the 83” prop would be the way to go.

For me, my mission is a fun tail dragger I can fly where ever I want to. 80/26 meets those requirements. The iFR panel is another level of safety in case things go pear shaped and you find your self in IMC. Granted good pre flight planning should keep you away from IMC but ive had enough experiences where weather came up that was not in the forecast. Knowingly flying into IMC at freezing temps in most GA aircraft isn’t stupid, it’s suicidal.

To turbos point on the 80/26” combo vs the 83/29” combo. Show me the data. Short of objective data the only way we’re going to get real data is to but a 80/26 next to a 83/29, set them to the same weight and put data loggers on them.

 

[Neal]

The battery I was referring to is an antigravity XP3 (link below). The intent is to use this to jump start things on the ground in the event the main starter battery dies on you. My experience with flying a flight schools CC LSA in the winter is that the battery isn’t that strong. the first start in the morning was ok, the second start that morning had problems. After lunch we had to hand prop it. if you go with this get the clamp less harness that allows you to plug in the battery vs having to rotate the pilot seat up to use the alligator clips. You can see the connection in the 5 pt harness picture Neal posted.

the starter problem I was referring to was I’m told that CC got a bad patch of starters that would fail. I’m told the problem was resolved and the starters being installed now are good to go.

Amazon.com: Antigravity AG-XP-3 Micro-Start: Automotive

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This sounds exactly what @turbopilot was telling me with the 340 engine and Carbon Cubs where they are hot after flying and get hard to crank and people kill the batteries in the process. Maybe @turbopilot can explain this better but it sounds what you've observed. I'm not sure if this is a problem in the FX3 with fuel injection, it may be a carb engine issue?

I am opting for the heavier duty SBS-J16 battery, I'm hoping with this we wouldn't need the option you added but I added it to my amazon shopping list for later consideration. As @turbopilot found this J16 battery is much cheaper aftermarket at about $190 vs. CC's $450 I asked Jeremy from TacAero. He said yes, order this with your plane so it's all wired in, etc. I guess it's not a simple swap later as some wiring may need to be done.

 

[turbopilot]

You should have bought Dave's airplane. What a sharp guy.

 

[Neal]

Haha. I didn’t not buy it because of him. Perfect plane terrible timing.

 

[turbopilot]

Yup, but I would much rather call Dave than CubCrafters is I had a question or a problem.