Cowl Flap Broke

[aviatoreb]

The cowl flap knob and rod pulled out in my hand today on departure. Nothing like a handful of knob pulling out into your lap... I quickly determined that it was not a critical issue and proceeded to home 25 minutes way - just a few knots slower with the flaps open.

I wonder how much this will run? Any guesses? Out of the blue I guess 0.2MMU for knob and 8 hours to install.

[OR75]

DIY ?

[AndyFromCB]

DIY ?

I agree. I don't see 8 hours there but then having have spent about 20 swapping a KI256 I could be wrong.

Andy

[Omega703]

Aviatoreb,

I had that cable break in my rocket last year. You are pretty close on your estimate. I had to have a cable fabricated, and getting at the cable forward of the firewall was described colorfully by my a&p, as he had to remove a fair mount of parts to get any space to work with. I love the rocket, but the cowl flaps could use some improvement. Mine won't retract unless I'm <105 ias

[aviatoreb]

Aviatoreb,

I had that cable break in my rocket last year. You are pretty close on your estimate. I had to have a cable fabricated, and getting at the cable forward of the firewall was described colorfully by my a&p, as he had to remove a fair mount of parts to get any space to work with. I love the rocket, but the cowl flaps could use some improvement. Mine won't retract unless I'm <105 ias

Hi Omega703, oh - thanks. Do you have any words of wisdom that might save some time on the fix? Or maybe a pointer of where you got your cable fabricated to save us some leg work of tracking down the part - I am presuming then that you were unable to find OEM. Is this part by the way different from the original 231 - seems like it might be just from the original 231.

By the way folks - for the text not so savvy - what does DIY mean?

Thanks,

Erik

[Nathan Peterson]

Hi Erik,

DIY ( Do It Yourself)

Good luck on the project... keep us up to date on it and what you find out please.

Nate

[RJBrown]

Had an 80 Rocket. If yours is the same it will be a preflight item. The stop bends and makes it so it goes overcenter and wont close. Never close at speed the extra force will bend things. Close the flap just Before you level off. DIY item for sure, figure out how it works to keep it working well.

[201er]

I concur with Omega.

[FBCK]

http://www.mcfarlane-aviation.com/

I understand these guys can fabricate any cable and do it fast, you just send them the old and these use it as a template, reasonable priced as well.

[aviatoreb]

http://www.mcfarlane-aviation.com/

I understand these guys can fabricate any cable and do it fast, you just send them the old and these use it as a template, reasonable priced as well.

Wow! Thanks.

[aviatoreb]

Had an 80 Rocket. If yours is the same it will be a preflight item. The stop bends and makes it so it goes overcenter and wont close. Never close at speed the extra force will bend things. Close the flap just Before you level off. DIY item for sure, figure out how it works to keep it working well.

Since ou recommended it RJ, I have been inspecting the cowl-flap elbow near the exhaust before each flight. It has been working pretty well for some time now after some initial hiccups following purchase. I was allowing some speed to build after a long climb for cooling but it never seemed a problem. Yesterday was after a practice approach climb out - so it had worked without a problem on the initial climb out of the day. The cable simply broke under moderate force - I guess it must have been frayed and ready to go.

[aviatoreb]

http://www.mcfarlane-aviation.com/

I understand these guys can fabricate any cable and do it fast, you just send them the old and these use it as a template, reasonable priced as well.

Thanks FBCK - looks like mcfarlane will be my route for parts.