Posted by Collin on Tuesday, July 16, 2019 @ 10:56 AM:
Hello,
I was lucky to be asked to fly RF4 N2186 (#4066) to it's new home in Mojave, California from Alabama. 2100 mile trip.
The trip started June 26th with a phone call asking if I can make the trip on the 28th. Also was asked to bring a set of cylinders heads. The only early 40hp heads I had that was together was the heads from Mira Slovaks '68 Atlantic crossing engine.
The 28th Steve Ericson (new owner) and I arrived to Mobile, Alabama rented a car and drove to Treeo airstrip in Daphne, Alabama. That night we replaced the cylinders heads and I test flew Saturday morning. Landed for quick refueled headed West to try to say head of all the thunderstorm. The trip was 4 days and 22 hours of flight time.
Steve followed with a rented car and we met of each night. Also in Las Cruces, New Mexico we meet Bill Madden. He has owned his RF4 seen 1974.
The States I flew threw Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas (1 hole day flying threw Texas), New Mexico, Arizona and California.
The next day I rode back to Oregon on my Honda Transalp (1135 miles) That also was 4 days. Steve rode with me the first 2 days.
Steve starting to remove the cylinder heads.
Mississippi River
Engine quit on final. I think it was carb ice. The rest of the flight I kept the RPMs between 1,500-2,000 rpm on final.
Odessa, Texas. Free hangar for the night with fillup (only 6.1 gallons)
Copper Mine, Casa Grande, AZ
Blythe, California. 10am it was already 100 degrees!
Bodie Ghost Town
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Posted by sericson on Thursday, July 18, 2019 @ 02:51 PM:
Many thanks to Collin for his expertise and skills with these aircraft. Collin helped me and came to my rescue when I had troubles with my RF5B. When I considered this aircraft I contacted Collin right away for his advice. Also many thanks to the previous owner Greg Burris for all his help and ground support getting N2186 ready for its journey west. You meet great people around these aircraft!
I traveled a month earlier out to Daphne to inspect, purchase and partially prep N2186 for its flight to its new home in Mojave, CA. During this inspection we found a leaking exhaust valve on one cylinder. Collin made the decision to swap both heads vs attempting a field repair and the risk of a potential discovery of more issues. The head swap went quickly and without drama. It also gave me a good chance to further inspect the project.
I have now flown N2168 and of course found the handling qualities exceptional. I rolled it on the first flight. I'm in the process of fixing or cleaning up a few things. The cowl has been stripped, repaired and is getting painted this weekend. Polyfiber mixed up the no longer catalog listed 175 color code for me. Soon I will tackle the rest of the fiberglass (paint peeling). Overall the fabric work on this airplane is very nice and my complements to the people that recovered it for a job well done. The ICON handheld radio worked fine but I'm going to install a Becker COM (had a new one laying around) in the panel and a stick mounted push to talk to clean up all the cords in the cockpit. Mojave is at 2750 feet, so I'm also seriously considering 1400cc cylinders.
There are now 3 RF4Ds and one RF5B at Mojave airport!
Thanks Collin, Greg and all other the people and friends on this forum!
Steve
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Steve Ericson
N2186 RF4D
N55SE RF-4D former F-BPLI Project
N99809 RF-5B
Posted by Jorgen on Friday, July 19, 2019 @ 04:53 AM:
Congratulations Steve,
well done, "the 4's is strong with this one!" as Vader said...
And to Think you crossed the continent without a banananometer Collin :D(see previous thread on Collins RF5b flight)
Getting ready for my next US trip, Wisconsin and Minnesota this time but I need to get down to Mojave soon again to check out your new mount Steve;-))
May the 4's be with you/ Jörgen
Posted by Bob Grimstead on Saturday, July 20, 2019 @ 03:09 AM:
What a magnificent journey Collin, and thank you so much for all those superb photographs.
It just shows what excellent touring airplanes our Fourniers are, even more than fifty years after they first flew.
And VERY economical.
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Posted by Jorgen on Thursday, July 25, 2019 @ 02:51 AM:
And Bill Madden has an excellent taste not only for Aeroplanes but also cars. Looks like a nice specimen of the "Volvo P 1800" from Sweden built in the 60-ies.
There's a funny story about that, Volvo reportedly wanted to get away from their traditionally "boxy" designs that were said to be "too Swedish" and asked one of the Italian design studios (an auxilliary to Pininfarina I think) to design their new sportscar, and the firm gave the job to a new design apprentice, namely a certain Pelle Pettersson visiting from- Sweden! Pelle later went on to design mostly sailboats were he had a distinguished career.
Glad to hear you like your new mount, Steve. It still takes me a long time to wipe the grin off my face after each flight.
May the 4's be with you/ Jörgen
Posted by sericson on Thursday, July 25, 2019 @ 07:02 PM:
It's a small world
I met Bill about 30 years ago through a mutual friend. So it was very funny when Collin ran into someone at the Las Cruces airport that introduced Collin to Bill. I joined up by car about an hour later to discover they had linked up.
Bill also has 2 old Great Lakes biplane projects which were a subject of our meeting many years ago and these are what brought us together. Bill showed me at that time his RF4D project along with the GLs. I built a large RC RF4D when I was 13 and Bill was the first person I met that had one. Afterwards I was determined to own one.
I now have 2 Great Lakes biplanes, a 1931 and 1974 and 2 RF4Ds. You think Bill had a major impact on me?
One more small world item. We put Mira's Atlantic Ocean crossing VW heads on N2186 for the ferry flight. In 1975 Mira had an accident during the filming of a movie. It was in my 1974 Great Lakes! I got to spend some time with Mira at Santa Paula and his home. We talked about flying, the Great Lakes accident and Fourniers
Life is good
Steve
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Steve Ericson
N2186 RF4D
N55SE RF-4D former F-BPLI Project
N99809 RF-5B
Posted by Jorgen on Saturday, July 27, 2019 @ 02:40 AM:
It's a small world indeed.
Oh and don't worry about the paint peel Steve, I understand the XB 70 A "Valkyrie" too had substantial paint peel on it's first supersonic flight :D :D :D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=7mBVJZewbEI
(Check at 25:00)
May the 4s be with you/ Jörgen
Posted by sericson on Saturday, October 12, 2019 @ 12:25 PM:
update
Collin gave me a call and said he would be in my area on Sunday. Asked me if I would like to install 1400cc cylinders on 2168. So we installed a new set!
In about 4 hours we were set and I made a test flight. The results are excellent. Climb rate likely doubled (I will try to get some real numbers on a calm day) but generally over 500 ft/min indicated at a density altitude above 6000 feet at 75mph.
Collin mentioned doing this prior to the ferry flight from ALABAMA. We should have done it when we swapped the heads! The engine runs better, smoother, sounds much better and idles much better. The Cato prop seems well matched to the larger displacement.
Again Collin is the best
[Edit by sericson on Wednesday, October 16, 2019 @ 08:17 PM]
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Steve Ericson
N2186 RF4D
N55SE RF-4D former F-BPLI Project
N99809 RF-5B
Posted by Jorgen on Wednesday, October 16, 2019 @ 03:28 PM:
That's excellent Steve,
I've heard other testify that the 4' performs perhaps the best with the 1400cc. I've certainly been happy with that setup, I'm thinking about upgrading to a Hercules prop to get the most out of it.
May the 4's be with you/ Jörgen
