Thought I'd send an update on my plane since I've made a few changes lately and had some maintenance done on her as well. I passed the 250 hours mark on N1852Z and she is ready for another trip to Oshkosh and the KR Gathering this year. This spring I installed a Dynon D6 in the cockpit. I have added a short video of the instrument panel and some flying to my web page at _www.robert7721.com_ (http://www.robert7721.com) if anyone is interested. The D6 was a very tight fit and I was not able to use the regular wiring harness. I made my own connections and I have only the power and ground wires installed to the unit along with Pitot and Static inputs. The D6 does not have an internal compass, it requires an external unit and I do not have that hooked up right now. I have plenty of other directional information from my magnetic compass and GPS.
I also did some engine work on my VW Revmaster engine. My problem started out as a loss in RPM (about 200) that I could not quite determine on a flight. I checked valve clearances, spark plugs, etc. This were all fine so I then pulled the heads. Both heads had cracks in between the center valves developing - I did some checking and this is actually fairly normal for VW heads. I had the heads reconditioned by a local machine shop in Kansas City. They said I also had two burnt exhaust valves and needed new springs. I called Revmaster and Joe Horvath sent me the parts - cost was less than $60. The cylinder head shop re-welded the cracks in the heads, reworked the seats, installed the new exhaust valves for about $120. All told less than $200 to repair the cylinder heads. It only took me about 2 hours to remove the heads, but probably 3 to reinstall everything. All told I was out of the air for about 4 weeks. I've been flying again for a couple weeks and yes, everything is back to normal. This has probably been my most expensive repair on my KR since it started flying in 2006, I'm pretty happy about that. It was more depressing to not be able to fly for about a month. I plan to be at Oshkosh in the Homebuilt Camping this year. Hope to see a few other KRs there as well. Should be flying in on Sunday morning. Probably be there till Friday or Saturday. On a separate note, Terry Chizek (KR2) is having his annual fish fry and BBQ again at his airport in Marion Kansas (43K) this summer, so if you are in the area please drop in. Date is going to be Saturday 21 August. Rob Schmitt N1852Z Kansas City
