The Turbo has landed!!!! And some other parts too...........

It was just one of those things that I just wasn't prepared to fully appreciate until it arrived.  Upon opening the box it seemed like Christmas again! The courier driver graciously left the seven thousand dollars or so of aircraft parts just sitting on my front verandah over Christmas, while I was 450 kms away in Perth. Needless to say, I was ecstatic to see it there when I got home today. The fact that it was all still there and untouched, made my day.

I have had a brief look at all the components and tomorrow I will need to check all the items of the manifest. I have noted straight away that the two brand new heads are not in the package and have been listed as 'back ordered'. I have no idea what's going to happen there regarding freight but I am surprised Sonex didn't mention that it was shipping incomplete. Waiting for the heads to arrive and sending it complete would have seemed like a more sensible option. If I was given a choice I would have just waited as I still have soooooo much more building to do before I'm ready to hang the motor. However  it's nice to see that turbo sitting pretty in my lounge room.

I have lost count with how many turbos I have fitted and replaced in my 20+ years as an automotive car mechanic. It wasn't until tonight that I picked up the bare unit and appreciated how heavy they really are. When using them on cars little thought is given to the weight in my dealings with them but as the brain was switched into aircraft mode the automatic scales on the end of my arm kicked in. Now tell me, who when building a plane before hasn't sat there with something in their hand , be it a bolt,fuel filter, bracket, starter motor and just thought about the weight? I think it's an automatic built in feature of a aircraft builder to question every parts that goes into the plane and think "can I make this lighter?" or " does this really need to go on?" or the big one "how much will this affect my climb rate?"

Anyway,,, I did these calculations all tonight in my head, in probably what was all of three milliseconds, and summed up the requirements as " oh hell yeah, I need those extra horses".
It would be like going into a motorbike shop and asking for a power restriction kit to be added. Same thing, buying a sport plane but without the sport motor????. For me it was a no brainer, I had to have it.


Anyway, I hope everyone had a great Christmas and the new year brings a few more dreams to reality  ;)

So,,,, yep,,  huh,huh, um, yep, go order that Sonex kit, you'll love it :)