Builder’s Log

Apex Trike S/N 229

Begun May 9, 2003

Arthur and Vicki Thompson

Shelton, WA

 

Specifications

Apex Cross-5X Trike                           S/N 229

Verner 133M engine                             S/N 120112

Northwing Contour 14.5 Wing  S/N

 

Some background: This is now the third trike I have owned personally. The first was a kit supplied by Venus out of Gates, Oregon. At $2K for the kit plus engine and wing, a relatively cheap way to get into triking and a very good way to force-feed myself the knowledge needed to do my own repairs. IMHO if you haven’t built your own aircraft or at least gotten some formal training as an A&P mechanic, you probably should let someone else do your maintenance. Anyway, the Venus had a rather severe landing gear design flaw, which my wife eagerly exploited during her initial training. After breaking it, redesigning it and breaking it again, I began searching for a better trike. I will say that after I showed all the problems to the Venus designer, he did a redesign of the main landing gear, which completely eliminated the problems and he sent me the new gear free of charge. By then I had been invited to Scapoosh, OR to take a flight in an Apex trike. One look at the outrageously strong construction of the Cross-5 and I was hooked. Dick Phelps and I spent all day flipping coins to see who got front seat. Dick immediately bought the demo unit we were flying and after the second crunch of the Venus, I ordered a Cross-5 airframe, transferred my instruments, wing and trusty 503 to it and never looked back. A couple of years later, Dick bought the import rights for Apex and is now the North American importer and I one of his dealers. My first Apex Cross-5 is safely at its new owner’s California home where it received many compliments from the local UL pilots. This Cross-5X project is now underway and because of the impending Sport Pilot rules, I have decided to do a builder’s log for the DAR who may or may not want to see it. I am also thinking that if SP is a flop, I can always bump the certification up to experimental amateur built and use my PPL to fly it.

 

Date                Start    Finish              Work Done

 

06/09/03          0545    0700                Began electrical drawing

            1445    1730                Uncrated kit and inspected for damage.

                                                            Photographed crate exterior and interior           

                                                            Removed all components and photographed

                                                            Labeled component locations in crate in case of shipment

                                                            Back to vendor

                        1830    1930                Uncrated and photographed engine. The Verner comes with

                                                            a very nicely equipped tool box which includes: Metric combination

                                                            wrenches, metric Allen wrenches, 2 screwdrivers and a feeler gauge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Crated Trike – Top Left                        Nose Pod Mounted On Main Keel   Verner 133M – Top Right

Discreet Components – Bottom                            Top Center                           Engine Mount – Bottom Right

Left                                                            Engine Electronics and Verner

                                                                   Tool Box; Instruments & Panel

                                                                                 Bottom Center

 

06/10/03          1830    1930                Attached main landing gear struts and draglinks

 

06/11/03          1900    1930                Greased axels and mounted wheels.

                                                            Ordered prop. Ivo won’t sell a prop for the Verner

                                                            engine due to sympathetic vibrations in the prop.

                                                            Verner recommends Warp. Hub is HP-L R912

                                                            compatible, left hand rotation. 75mm x 6 x 8mm

 

06/15/03          1545    1700                Weighed trike airframe without instruments or engine

            Front wheel      64 lbs.

            Left wheel        60 lbs.

            Right wheel       57 lbs.

                 Total           181 lbs.

 

Mounted Verner 133M engine without electronics,

exhaust or oil cooler and reweighed.

            Front wheel      45 lbs.

            Left wheel        135 lbs.

            Right wheel       138 lbs.

                    Total        318 lbs.

 

Bare engine weight        137 lbs.

            Does not include exhaust, oil cooler, rectifier, starter solenoid

            or engine control electronics.

 

NOTES:           1. Use aluminum anti-size on engine mounting bolts; torque to 25 ft lbs.

2. Port forward engine mounting bolt stripped with ~15 ft lbs.

This appears to be a defective hole/tap as I was careful to finger

tighten the bolts before applying a wrench. However, the bottom

particle board on the shipping case was broken and it is possible

the thread was damaged while in transit.

3. Apex sent ¾” 10mm bolts for the motor mount. One inch will fit

nicely without bottoming out. Will recommend to Apex.

 

06/16/03          0700    1100                Fit and screwed instruments to panel.

1330    1500                Replaced engine mounting bolt with longer 1” bolt. Same result. Will invoke warranty

claim to have machine shop drill and tap for 12mm x 1 inch hole

 

06/19/03          1830    1930                Mike the welder over to look at the exhaust system. He will fabricate manifold, pipe

and muffler system. If it works out, maybe add them as an option for the 133M.

 

06/20/03          0900    1200                Off to Steve the machinist to have a helicoil installed. That seems to have solved the

                                                            stripped motor mount. Discovered that the new motor mount brackets from Apex

                                                            are ½” too short and allow the bottom of the gearbox to touch the frame. Mike to

                                                            make new ones; Art to notify Apex factory. Checked with importer and mine is the

                                                            only Cross-5 to show up with the shorter motor mounts. Note sent to QC.

 

                        1400    1730                Added new holes to instrument panel for idiot lights: Master switch on, oil pressure &

                                                            battery charging. Installed strobe switch and instrument labels. Installed choke cables

but will have to cut them down a bit. Installed new Warp 2 blade prop. Just as cranky to

adjust as they ever were but we know that Ivo and Powerfin are not stiff enough to prevent

sympathetic vibrations.

 

06/21/03          1000    1200                Finished choke cables.

                        1400    1700                Wired instrument panel. This is done with the multicolored ribbon cable that comes with

                                                            Apex trikes. I put grounding braid over it as a shield and additional ground plane. Then

                                                            the whole wiring package goes into plastic sleeving, the split kind, that is attached to the

                                                            keel with tie wraps. (See photos)

 

 

06/22/03          0800    1500                Instrument panel completed except for tachometer.

                                                            Installed throttle cables for cruise and right foot.

                                                            Sanded pod scrape and applied first coat of paint. Of course it ran. Bloody epoxy paint

is an exact color match but too thin to work withL

Charged new battery.

06/23/03          1930    2000                Sanded and applied second coat to patch. No runs this time

06/24/03          1930    2000                Sanded and applied third coat to patch.

06/25/03          1500    1800                Sanded and applied fourth coat to patch. Getting good at this?

                                                            Hang Block and intercom arrived.

                                                            Restrung seat belts.

Began fabrication of electronics mounting plate.

                                                            Worked on assembly manual.

06/26/03          1000    1630                Chased parts for oil cooler and exhaust lock nuts. No joyL

                                                            The Verner came with copper self-locking nuts on the exhaust

                                                            studs. One of them has been misplaced or lost and there do not

                                                            appear to be any suppliers in this country. The oil cooler lines are

                                                            metric 13.5mm I.D. but ½” hose fits nicely. Had to go to a racing

                                                            part supplier to find an oil cooler with ½” fittings. Will insist that the

                                                            Verner importer either stock them or publish a U.S. source.

                                                            Finished fabrication of electronics mounting plate and applied first

                                                            coat of paint.

Applied 5th coat of paint to pod patch. No runs, no

                                                            drips, no errors. (Charlie Hustle?) 

Found oil cooler on Internet, will order tomorrow and check on tach status.

Installed hang block.

 

06/27/03          0800    1530                CHT/EGT sensors arrived. Installed CHT sensors

                                                            EGT sensors are screw type so will have the welder install them.

                                                            Began final wiring.

                                                            Chased parts for oil temp sensor. Finally decided to install a T on the

                                                            hose that comes out of the bottom of the engine. Found the parts in a

                                                            hydraulic supply store. One side of the T has an adapter for the ¼ inch

                                                            probe; the other sides of the T have ½ inch multi-barbed hose fittings that

                                                            13.5mm ID hose supplied by Verner will fit.

                                                            Ordered the oil cooler from Summit Racing. $69.95 for Ford trucks: 17 x 7.5x 1.5

                                                            with ½ inch hose fittings.

                                                            Applied 6th coat of paint to pod. This one looks like it is the last coat. Now, a light

sanding with 1000 grit wet plus 7 coats of  wax and it will be very hard to find the

damage. Look for a shadow created by the somewhat flat spot and you might see

where it was scraped.

 

06/28/03          0800    1500                Finished most of the wiring at the engine end. Pretty lights come on to tell me I

                                                            have DC power and no oil pressure. Keep turning the key and the prop goes around.

                                                            Wife is nearly finished with the custom cover. Did final fitting today.

                                                            Packed up the trike and took it over to Mike the Welder to have the exhaust system

                                                            fabricated and installed. When I left he was muttering about tuning the pipe length and

                                                            did I want the noise to go up or down or back. He was holding a small propane tank

                                                            that was amazingly light weight and talking about tuning it up as the muffler. I guess we will

                                                            have to wait and see what he comes up with. Any body ever hear of Rube Goldberg?

 

07/02/03                                              Oil cooler and new 15” sewer tube arrived and delivered to the welder. Hopefully we will

                                                            have it all back by tomorrow. Tiny tach arrived. Do not intend to use it for other than

                                                            setting prop pitch so will sell it when the 3 inch arrives.

 

07/05/03          1000    1500                Finished ringing out wiring and dressed same. Had Midas bend the 1 ¾” exhaust pipes.

                                                            Welder busy fabricating exhaust system when I left.

                                                            NOTES: 1. Verner did not supply the exhaust flanges, only the gaskets.

                                                                           2. A lot of time and money is going into a “custom” exhaust. Factory should

                                                                               offer a stock solution.

 

07/06/03          08300  1230                Brought drawings up to date.

Bitched to importer about parts availability. We can do better!

Muffler and tailpipe assembly fabricated. Some touchup welding, sandblast and paint

tomorrow. Materials consist of 1 ¾” stock Midas pipe, 2 3/8” thick steel flange plates

custom cut and drilled for each 4 bolt exhaust and 1 roughly 12 inch diameter propane tank.

§        

 
Tank was cut in half and  a 1” section removed from the middle.

§         A 90 degree longitudinal plate (light weight angle iron) was welded in place to

      allow motor mount frame clearance and the interior of the tank was lined with

      fiberglass mat with a mesh cover welded in place to hold the fiberglass packed in place.

§         2 90 degree bend pipes were shaped to fit the chamfered rectangular exhaust ports and

      welded to the flange plates. The other end of each pipe is placed approximately 1” through the

      muffler and welded in place.

§         The tail pipe is capped on the end that is inserted most of the way through the length of

            the muffler and drilled in numerous places with 3/8” holes along its length.

§         A 90 degree bend points the tail pipe up approximately 6” with a slight bend to vent the exhaust

      gasses up and back near the root of the prop.

§         Muffler, tailpipe and flange weight = 15.5 lbs.

 

07/07/03          1000    2000                Finished muffler prep and painting.

                                                            Installed oil cooler on top of the keel and under the sump as required by Verner. About ½ of it is

blocked by the gas tank but will try it that way to see if there is enough cooling. If not, will move

it under the keel and just live with the rocks and grass that will inevitably hit it.

Vicki got the new sewer tube. Turns out that the end cap from a 12” ID tube will fit inside a 15” tube

quite nicely. Drilled a hole top and bottom for a brass rod that will hold it in place during transit.

The rod has clevis pins at each end, outside the diameter of the 15 inch tube and a red flag with a

sewn end that the rod goes through to keep the HP happy.

Installed the EGT probes at the gauge ends.

Got word from Northwing this morning that the wing will be delivered at ArlingtonJ

Got word from Northwing this afternoon that the sail cloth for the wing is the wrong color and it

will NOT be ready for ArlingtonL

 

07/08/03          0800    1300                Bolted the muffler/tail pipe assembly in place.

                                                            Aligned and welded the wing tube support brackets onto the trailer.

                                                            Installed wing tube and bolted top brackets to bottom support brackets.

                                                            We are off to the 2003 Arlington EAA Fly-in

                                                            Arrived in Arlington and offloaded trike to be informed by the Verner importer that you “can’t use

                                                            a two blade prop because it has too much sympathetic vibration.” This in spite of the very clear line in

                                                            the Verner manual that 2 or 3 blade Warp props, 68-72 inches long are recommended. I came close

                                                            to violence and ask him why he had not already made that clear. His response was, “I thought everyone

                                                            knew you can’t use a 2 blade prop on a 2 cylinder engine.” “Well you better tell that to Verner because

                                                            they damn sure don’t know it,” I responded rather heatedly. “$500 bucks down the tubes

                                                            even when I read the manual.”

 

07/09/03          0700    1800                Set up trike at the fly-in. Borrowed a Profi wing.

                                                            Forgot the fittings to install the EGT probes so Vicki off to Olympia and back by 1pm

                                                            Installed EGT probes in tail pipes.

                                                            Tried to start the Verner for the first time. No joy! Spent 2 hours troubleshooting the problem

                                                            to find that the +12 volt wire to the control box was broken. Fixed same and she started right up.

                                                            Had a noticeable vibration just above the 800 rpm idle speed, probably caused by the 2 blade prop.

                                                            Checked blade pitch but it was OK. Pulled a 3 blade prop off a Verner that was having severe

                                                            vibration problems and got severe vibration on my Verner. That prop has something very wrong with

                                                            it. We later put my 2 blade on the other engine and the severe vibration was replace with the minor

                                                            vibration at the low end, same as my engine.

 

07/10/03          0800                            Put the two blade prop back on. and did first test flight. A single trip around the pattern, 8 minutes total

                                                            flying time. EGT max was 1400, CHT max was 390 on the cylinder with the plugs in the rear and 350

                                                            on the plugs in front. Oil temp went to just under 230f. That is at the high end of factory spec so will

                                                            be moving the oil cooler down under the keel at first opportunity.

 

07/11/03          0700    0800                Found a beautiful 3 blade, ground adjustable, wooden GSC prop that Bradley from Arrowquest had.

                                                            Installed it with pitch set to 15 degrees and got big time vibrations. Reset pitch to 6 degrees (5 is

minimum on that prop) and got rid of most of the vibration. Still a tiny bit just above idle but none in

any flying rpm range. Bought the prop. Anyone need a Warp 72” 2 blade with less than an hour on it?

I will throw in the custom blade covers.

 

07/12/03          0700    0725                Longer flight this time. Flew out over the home of the folks we are staying with and back. About 25 minutes.

                                                            Oil temp got up to just under 300f. Too high! Oil cooler will definitely be moved.

 

07/13/03          1700                            Flew in the manufacturer’s showcase for about 5 minutes. 3 low passes and some wing waggles.

                                                            Observers said the muffler and engine were very quiet. The were also impressed with the climb rate

                                                            that the Verner can generate. Less than 10 seconds from 100 feet to 400 feet.

 

07/18/03          0800    1900                Began construction of sliding seat rails. The Cross-5X is built for 6’7” pilots and wife is 5’2”. Will use 2.5”

aluminum angles with one side cut down to keep the seat bottom at the same height as the original and

provide clearance for the cross bar brace. Then 1” angle aluminum bolted to the bottom of the seat and

 pinned to the bottom rails with push pins.

 

 

07/19/03          0700    1500                Finished seat rails. Not a lot of clearance to get the push pins in under the seat but enough to get the job done.

                                                            Painted pipe brackets for rear seat steering mechanism. I would very much like to see Apex do a factory

                                                            mod for this and the sliding seat rails. One offs are too time and $$ consuming.

 

07/20/03          0800    1200                Began rear seat steering. Another one off but the factory offering is not suitable for instruction.

 

07/25/03                                              Picked up new Contour wing at Northwing factory. Watched Kamron test fly and then did 1st flight on

Apache/582.

 

07/27/03          1000    1145                First test flight on Apex trike. Very trashy air with big thermals but wing seems quite stable. Stall buffet at

                                                            33-34 power off. Gets up to 70 with minimal bar pressure. Landing approach is much too fast with bar in

                                                            so will center bar on short final. Can easily fly at 40 mph with bar at arms length.

                                                            Continued rear steering. Finished bracket mounting and steering bar. Rest of parts on order.