LC20 Leveling the Fus Update

Submitted by Anonymous on

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From: Pieter Pienaar <Pine [at] CPro.co.za>
Subject: LC20 Leveling the Fus Update
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1998 20:32:05 +0200
To: LancairList <lancair.list [at] olsusa.com>

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Hi All



Please note that I bought my plane second hand and that the nose wheel well

is already installed into the fus. I don't know if that was done at the

factory or by the first owner. This nose wheel well covers the center hole

in the firewall.



Hope this clears up the confusion.



Pine Pienaar

pine [at] cpro.co.za

Lancair 360 #664





[Pine... the nosegear tunnel should not interfere with the alignment mark

on the front of the firewall in any way.  I'm not at the shop right now

but I seem to remember that the two lines which were drawn at the factory

to indicate the leveling point crossed at 8" below the top of the firewall.

With the fuselage inverted and level across the longerons, the vertical

line should be plumb and running down the center of the firewall.  The

horizontal line should now be 8" up from the (inverted) top of the firewall.

The water level will allow you to get that point and the line which

the instructions tells you to draw 5" down on the side of the aft

fuselage to be at the same level.  I hope this helps with your problem.

    <M>]

LC20 Leveling the Fus Update

Submitted by Anonymous on

From: Curtis Krouse <ckrouse [at] worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: LC20 Leveling the Fus Update
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1998 12:52:05 -0600
To: <lancair.list [at] olsusa.com>
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Pine,



The manual that came with the fast build kit shows the front to back level

reference as the longerons.  With the fus inverted it should be rested on

two sawhorses.  One under the forward longerons and one under the rear

longeron.  You can use a water level to check the front to back level and

shim as necessary.  The side to side level can be measured on the front

longeron underneath while the fus is inverted at the FS position where the

foam blocks (main spar spacers) are attached to the fus.  The only thing the

firewall is used for in the FB manuals is to find the center string line for

the fus.



I haven't done any of this yet, but have read that section of the manual

about 10 times and this is my understanding of the process.  I hope this

helps.



Curtis Krouse N753K

LC20 Leveling the Fus Update

Submitted by Anonymous on

From: Curtis Krouse <ckrouse [at] worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: LC20 Leveling the Fus Update
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1998 19:09:14 -0600
To: <lancair.list [at] olsusa.com>
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Marv,



Thanks a bunch....you are absolutely correct.  Thank God I'm not going to

try to build this thing without a set of manuals!!  HAHA.  The process you

described below is the correct way.  I also checked out the blueprints and

the level hole is referenced on the firewall prints.  I suppose that Pine

could use that to triangulate the position of the hole to level his

fuselage.  The drawings are full scale so the dimension from the nose gear

tunnel should be easy to measure.



Thanks again for correcting me Marv.  ;)



Curtis



-----Original Message-----

From: Marvin Kaye <marvkaye [at] olsusa.com>

To: Curtis Krouse <ckrouse [at] worldnet.att.net>

Date: Thursday, December 17, 1998 7:49 PM

Subject: Re: LC20 Leveling the Fus Update





>Hi Curtis,

>

>I see that you've read through the leveling procedure a number of times,

>but your recollection of the process isn't quite correct.  In Chapter 3,

>step 5 says that you level the aircraft in the roll axis by leveling the

>longerons from side to side.  To level the fuselage in the pitch axis

>(front to rear) you use the mark which is located where the 2 lines cross

>on the front of the firewall as the front level point, and a mark which you

>place 5" up from the inside bottom of the fuselage on the side as the rear

>level point.  You then use a water level to get those two points in the

>same level plane.

>

>We should have the same manual pages, mine are dated in '91, and to my

>knowledge there hasn't been an update to that section at all.  The process

>outlined in step 5 works just fine.  There is no guarantee that the

>longerons will be perfectly level from front to rear when the fuselage is

>inverted and leveled according to the manual.

>

>    <Marv>

LC20 Leveling the Fus Update

Submitted by Anonymous on

From: Pieter Pienaar <Pine [at] CPro.co.za>
Subject: Re: LC20 Leveling the Fus Update
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1998 08:19:53 +0200
To: LancairList <lancair.list [at] olsusa.com>
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Hi Marv



Thanks, this is the way to go. I did read the plan a couple of times but

never thought of using the clear tube method to get it level.



Thanks this should make it a breeze. "Even Houdini can do this, and without

mirrors, :) "



Pine Pienaar

pine [at] cpro.co.za

Lancair 360 #664



>From Marv Kaye, 12/17/98

>>>

HI Pine...



I just thought I'd check with you to see if you solved your leveling problem.

I would recommend you re-read step 5 in the manual (Chapter 3) where it

defines the process. The longerons are used to level the fuselage in the

roll axis.  The mark that you're looking for on the firewall is on the front

(engine side) not the inside where the nosegear tunnel is.  The water level

lets you establish the level plane from front to rear... there's a

drawing in the manual regarding the location of the aft mark which goes 5"

above the inside bottom of the rear of the fuselage, and placing one

end of the water level at that mark and the other end at the junction of

the + on the front of the firewall as I described earlier will get the

fuselage level from front to rear (in the pitch axis.)  



If you're not familiar with the water level concept it's really quite

simple... buy yourself about 25-30 feet of clear 3/8" or 1/2" hose.  

Fill it with water to within maybe 6-8" of each end.  You can take one

end of the hose and attach it someplace and then take the other end and

attach it someplace else... the water will be at the same level at both

ends of the hose.  Try to keep air bubbles out of it when you fill it,

as air bubbles will cause some inaccuracies with it as they are compressible

when compared to water.  The addition of a little bleach will soften the

water and make the level more sensitive.  I keep mine filled up all the

time and attached to my stub wings (on the outside of the BL 50 ribs) from

side to side to keep the fuselage level in the roll axis.  That has really

simplified doing the gear work.



   <Marv>

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