"Del Johnson, North Point Solutions, Inc" wrote:

A Glastar Builder, that lives near me, bought the firewall

forward Subaru

package from Crossflow.  It included their redrive.  The redrive failed
during the initial flight testing phase.  The builder received

poor support

from Crossflow and eventually purchased the Firewall forward

Subaru setup

from NSI.

I am surprised at that. It looks bullet proof for a Subaru.
Just way too heavy. What failed?

Paul Lamar

I clipped the following information off of the Glastar Net written by the
pilot who purchased/installed the Crossflow firewall forward setup:

My main reason for posting the alert was for safety concerns for other
builders/pilots of the Crossflow conversion.  I don't want this to reflect
on any other conversion, I haven't flown any other conversion and have no
experience with anything else.  My goal is to stay with the facts, what I
know, and not let my emotions enter in, as I am very frutrated right now
over this whole incident.

Having not flown this conversion before, I didn't know what was normal and
what was abnormal.  I did notice from day one that there appeared to be some
vibration at different power settings, but, the vibration would come and go
and be strong at times, and sometimes none at all.  I thought it was a
problem with the engine running too rich, as I had black soot all over the
belly of the airplane.  I had been trying to get someone to come out and
lean it out from the day I started flying until the day the reduction drive
said "so long".  I have a total of 45 hours on the plane, and not 65 hours
like some people have been told, and it has been one problem solving issue
after another.  Keep in mind this is just my experience and I am only
talking for myself.

Just before the drive seized, I had about 30 seconds of warning, I noticed
the usual vibration, but this time it just continued to get worse until I
was forced to shut the engine down.  After removing the reduction drive, I
found the rear shaft was loose and appears to be broken, I have not opened
the case yet, as I haven't decided what route to take in regards to having
the drive checked.  The company wants me to send the engine and drive back
to them for inspection, at their expense.  I have a problem sending it back
to them because, my experience with their turn around has been just one
broken promise after another.  I am just afraid that if I send it back to
them I will be grounded for an extended period of time.  I was told that
they would not be able to look at the reduction drive until sometime around
the third week of Jan. 2002.  I have rambled on enough and hope this clears
up some questions.

If you need further, please feel free to call me at home.

Richard Sack 989-743-3570

 
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