NetHeads,
Bill Clapp's speed brake handle comes directly out of an aircooled VW, probably
a Beetle. It's simple, and can be scrounged from the junkyard for free, I'm
guessing. All you need to take with you is a small screw driver to pry a wire
clip off the pin that holds it in place, two 10mm open end wrenches and a
screwdriver to loosen the parking brake cables, maybe a pair of vice grips to
grab the cable if the nuts don't want to come off. You'll need to snag the
toothed plate as well as the handle. You could even use the switch (bring a
phillips screwdriver for that one) that turns on the parking brake warning
light on the later ones ('68 and later) and you'll have a built in flap warning
indicator. It's dirt simple, and the two photos at
http://www.krnet.org/krs/bclapp/040929279m.jpg and
http://www.krnet.org/krs/bclapp/040929282m.jpg pretty much describe it. Grand
total for the weight would probably be about the same as a motor, but
lightening of the toothed plate (or making a new one out of aluminum with only
a few positions) would make the VW setup lighter than the motor, I'll bet.
The only downside is that it'll interfere with cockpit space somewhere, whereas
the electric motor can be put just about anywhere.
Or you can study the design of this thing and make a smaller one out of
aluminum that would weight a third of what this one weighs, which would pretty
much describe the Rand Robinson version...
Mark Langford, Huntsville, Alabama
see KR2S project N56ML at http://home.hiwaay.net/~langford
email to N56ML "at" hiwaay.net
