Re: [COUPERS-TECH] GRANDPA'S ERCOUPE IT FLYS - IT FLYS!

[dr . beeman]

What a wonderful story. In the Great Game of Aviation it doesn't get any better than this.

 

Dr. R. Beeman

-----Original Message-----
From: Randy Hougham <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Jun 3, 2006 11:54 PM
To: Coupers-Tech
Subject: [COUPERS-TECH] GRANDPA'S ERCOUPE IT FLYS - IT FLYS!

----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any advice in this forum.]----


Hi All,

Yesterday was a day for celebration. NC87384 flew.

In march of '05 we accidentally found the 1946 Ercoupe that my grandfather
owned in the 40s and 50s. We found an old picture that my mother had taken
when she was a teen ager in 1948. We could read the N number on the Ercoupe
so we went to the FAA web sight and punched it in. It was still flying and
was far from home in Kansas. I called the owner of it to see if he might be
interested in some old pictures we had of it. Well, at the end of the phone
call he said that his health was bad and that just last week he had decided
to sell it. The airplane only had about 1700hours TT and 600 hours on the
engine.

Well, we bought it. As things turned out it had been out of annual for 6
years and the engine was shot.We drove out to Kansas and trailered it back
home to Illinois.

I am now an expert on how projects can turn out to be much BIGGER than
they first appear.We went through the air frame last summer and did some
minor work to the engine in hopes that the low oil pressure didn't mean that
we needed a major overhaul. We took off and in 15min. of flight we new that
we had a worn out engine.

When we tore the engine apart we found that we needed a new crank,new
cylinders,cases reworked, the works.My Brother-in -law is an A&P, so him and
I put the engine back together ourselves. It wasn't just the engine though,
we had to work on just about everything we touched.

My lovely wife has had to put up with this Ercoupe mania for over a year
now. She has been just great. Warms up supper when I get home late, sits in
a cold hanger and watches me work on stuff and listens to hours and hours of
airplane talk that she doesn't understand.

Well, yesterday we flew. It went off with out a hitch. Ran perfect and
flew nice. It's got a new engine and a fresh annual! And I am now a student
pilot with 1.1 hours under my belt.

Before we started this project we knew NOTHING about Ercoupes. The guys
on this list have been a life saver. Every one that I have met in the
aviation community has been more than helpfull. I want to thank some of the
main players in project. I know that I can't remember every body that has
helped so if I leave your name out please don't feel bad. I have spent hours
reading this list and have learned alot just from the conversations that you
guys are having, so you may have helped me and not even known it.

Special thanks to
John Stutzman, My brother-in-law and A&P for free hanger space and hours and
hours of help.
John Wright Jr. for the loan of his Ercoupe trailer, answering hundreds of
phone questions and helping me find parts.
John wright Sr. for answering the questions that his son didn't know.
Harry Fransis told me about the Wrights.
Dave Albold IA for doing test flights,giving me hardware, and signing off
our work.
John Cooper of skyport for talking to me for hours on his 800 number even
when I wasn't buying something.
Bill Coons gave me and my son our first rides in an Ercoupe. Gave me
manuals, an intercom and headset and tail raising informatrion.
John Spoor for letting me borrow manuals and tools and for giving me misc.
nuts,bolts,etc.
Ed Burkhead for all his Ercoupe information on the internet. His prepurchase
inspection list saved me thousands of dollars. Don't buy an Ercoupe without
it.
Bob Pointeck sent me pictures of Data plate details.
John H. for sending me pictures of how to route the throttle cable.
Bill Bayne for help with Data plate, date and serial number information.
Eliacim Cortes for clear information that got me started on my Sport pilot
Vern Erhart for opening his shop time after time just so that I could buy
the odd nut bolt or washer.

Lots of other people helped out too and through this whole project I didn't
run into one bad apple.
Thanks everyone!

Randy Hougham
Grandpa's Ercoupe NC87384

==============================================================================
To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm