N44L IVPT Nearing Finish Line

[Tom Sullivan]

N44L, a IVPT owned and mostly built by Joe Trepicone, is approaching the finish line. Joe is from Columbus OH and bought his kit shortly after I bought mine in 1998. About 3-4 years later we discovered each other as IVP Turbine converts, in the process of converting our kits to the Walters Turbo prop engine. The conversion was largely undocumented but pretty well supported by guys out of Deland, Florida. By networking together we were able to share our experiences with the conversion and, in a lot of ways, coming up with a better upgrade as a result.

I made many trips down to Columbus over the years, helping him close his belly tank and with wiring before his business was at a point he wanted professional help with the final wiring and instrument panel installation. My best friend Steve Phillips, was an A&P, had worked in the fielld for many years and, offered to help with that project, but only if Joe did the traveling to the U.P. He wasn’t going to live in Ohio helping him get that done.

The plane came up to our hangar July 19th, 2018, just a week before my completed IVPT went to Oshkosh for the first time. Steve, with Joe’s assistance, got a good start on the electrical and getting the instrument panel ordered. He also transported Joe’s wings to Tennessee for Brad to install his TKS panels and refit the winglets afterwards. Steve also ran the engine down to Quentin in the spring of 2019 to inspect and run, since it wasn’t one of Quentin’s engines. On Veterans Day, 2019, Steve left this world…. way too soon. I took up the commitment to help Joe get to the finish line, in spite of way too many projects on my plate already. Joe has been extremely busy as well with his Architectural Business so progress has been slower than either of us expected.

Although the plane was mostly complete, we found it was truly 90% complete, with 50% to go. A lot of that was upgrades Joe saw on mine that he wanted on his. I will try to document some of the upgrades we completed since it arrived to the U.P.

This is Post One.

Tom

[Tom Sullivan]

One of the upgrades was modifying the tow bar with a locking mechanism to keep it from slipping off. We also built a storage system to keep the tow bar secured in the plane with a micro switch to indicate an alert if it’s not stowed during the prestart checklist.

We also fitted and bonded in the door seal.

Tom

[Tom Sullivan]

Joe decided the TKS deice system was a must so we immediately started building and installing his fluid storage tanks. They are incorporated into the floor, which he had already built the factory floor system installed so we removed that and built in the tanks.

The center area behind the console ends up being the draw tube location and the pumps and filter go right above there. We also include a drain valve in the nose wheel well so the fluid can be drained in the off season (TKS Fluid weighs nearly 9 pounds per gallon). The filler is mounted behind a small access door on the pilot side near the engine cowl. Total storage is nearly 5 gallons. I have a fluid level induction system as well.

Tom

[Tom Sullivan]

More pictures of the TKS Filler point and door. Like the actual fluid tanks, the filler bucket was eventually sealed with fuel tank sealer. The door received a primer coat when all other areas needing primer were sprayed.

[Tom Sullivan]

Other TKS work required. We installed the TKS panels on the Horizontal Stabilizer. Not fun working upside down for the bottom side work. We set up saw horses and large blankets allowing us to work while laying on our backs. Proved to be a great idea for old farts taking on young men’s work!

I had a spray bar welded up by a local stainless steel welding guru and sent out for “EDM” machined .014” holes at 1” spacing across the tube. The wind deflector was laid up over a Styrofoam mold, body worked and primed.

I added a few pictures of my special A/C drive with auto belt tensioning system. The drive was designed by me, machined by a Menonite in Central Wisconsin, and has worked flawlessly on my own IVPT driving a 16,000 BTU A/C system.

[Tom Sullivan]

A few more TKS pictures from installing on the HS.

I added the beautiful bracket built by Garth for the brushes on the prop for prop heat. A ton cheaper than Avia.

[Tom Sullivan]

Joe had lost his interior panels, made out of carbon fiber. He bought some Divinycel (core) and we laid up all his new panels with one layer of CF on each side, then vacuum bagged them. They turned out AWESOME! Very light yet stronger than the original Lancair ones made with fiberglass.

We installed the upper closeout aft pressure bulkhead and then his A/C evaporator / fan assembly. It is a hot rod conversion unit and 12 volt so he installed a nice size voltage converter. His inlet air to cool his condenser is routed from the aft NACA Duct in his vertical tail, with a servo controlled scoop on the exit. That was wired initially by an Airbus tech from Europe, but was extremely complicated with multiple relays and circuit boards, with no wiring diagrams. We de-complicated the system with new simple relays.

His baggage tank was installed for extra fuel capacity. He will have well over 5 hours of fuel range.

[Tom Sullivan]

Joe asked me to check his engine angles because I had a much more precise method (with lasers and electronic angle meters) of locking in the angles. My plane was a true 300 knot airframe, while most are in the 270 - 280 knot range. Although many other speed mods had been incorporated in mine (of which most were also added to his) I believe this setup to be one of the most critical.

After resetting his engine angles, we found some misalignment we needed to address of his cowls and intake system. Another of my speed mods (noted by both Quentin and Brad) was my overlap flanges on the front of the intake transitions to the intake scoops, sealed with a specially designed rubber “strap clamp”.. We use the Chris Scoppe intake system which is clearly superior in efficiency to other systems, but now with a virtually sealed connection. It also “locates” the lower cowl firmly in the same place during every installation. The ram air effect of intake air via this intake system is evident in cruise speeds.

[Tom Sullivan]

More cowling and intake plenum work.

The top several pictures are his intake plenum and modified intake transitions after an amazing clear coat finish.

The Skoppe top cowl had an update after the first couple kit deliveries, namely a stiffener added at the top aft area to give the cowl rigidity. Joe’s turbine conversion kit was an early one without the stiffener. Mine had the stiffener but needed modifying because it was too narrow at the aft flanges. We prepped and cleaned Joe’s top cowl, fitted foam for the stiffener, and overlaid carbon fiber on it. We installed peel ply and then installed the cowl so the curvature of the stiffened cowl exactly matched the final installation fit.

Another issue of this otherwise great cowling was the sides along the seam, at 300 knots, would get pushed in enough on mine that the cowl fastener back area would rub on the intake plenum, creating damage almost immediately. I designed a stiffener out of 1/8” x 1” aluminum strap on edge, radiused in a vice to the exact curvature of the cowl for each side, attached with epoxy and then reinforced with 4 bids of CF. Result, the lower cowl seam to the upper cowl gains a ton more strength with no deformation under 300 knot wind loads.

[Tom Sullivan]

A few more cowling repair pictures and a bump out for A/C controls in the overhead.